Dec. 2020 NPD: Half of the top 20 best-selling games were published by Nintendo, Switch the best-selling hardware for the 25th consecutive month

The software and hardware sales for December 2020 (and 2020 as a whole) are in! Here's what was big in the United States last month/year, thanks to a rundown by Mat Piscatella from The NPD Group.

December 2020 top 20

2020 top 20

December 2020 top 10 for Switch

2020 top 10 for Switch

Various tidbits
- December 2020 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories reached a December record $7.7B, 25% higher when compared to a year ago. Full year spending also set a new record, totaling $56.9B, 27% higher than 2019.
- Hardware dollar sales reached $1.35 billion in December 2020, an increase of 38 percent when compared to a year ago, and the highest total for a Decemeber month since the $1.37 billion achieved in December 2013.
- Annual hardware dollar sales totaled $5.3 billion, 35% higher than 2019, and the most since $5.6 billion was reached in 2011.
- Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in units and dollars for both December and the 2020 year. Annual dollar sales of Switch hardware were the 2nd highest for a platform in U.S. history. Only the 2008 dollar sales of Nintendo Wii were higher.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons was 2020's 3rd best-selling title, and the 6th best-selling game of December. In 2020 the title achieved the highest physical dollar sales for a Nintendo published game in a calendar year since Wii Fit Plus in 2010.
- Half of the top 20 best-selling games of December 2020 were published by Nintendo.
- Spending on video game accessories reached $546m in December 2020, 15 percent higher when compared to a year ago. 2020 spending gained 21 percent, to $2.6 billion.