So looking over the top ten sales for January 2011 and one this is clear: people like their dancing games. With Guitar Hero meeting its death and DJ Hero likely bowing out as well, it seems that the next new craze in the music genre is to get rid of the plastic instruments and to just plain dance. As expected Call of Duty: Black Ops still held the top spot, and here are the rest of the results.

Here are the top 10 best selling games from 2010 at retail. Download sales are not including in this data, but more than likely the rankings would hold about the same. Looking at the list, Halo: Reach was right up there, but you can see how the extra platforms helped to propel Black Ops into better positioning. It will be really interesting to see how Bungie’s next project fares. The Wii had the most exclusive titles in the top 10 with 3, while the 360 had one. The PS3 didn’t have any exclusives in there, though I imagine God of War III had to be close.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS)
2. Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
3. Halo: Reach (360)
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
5. Red Dead Redemption (360, PS3)
6. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
7. Just Dance 2 (Wii)
8. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PS3, PC)
9. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3)
10. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC)

Note: All games listed included their combined SKU numbers. For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops includes all standard, limited, and collector’s edition.

For the past few years November and December have been completely dominated by Nintendo. It seemed like a given each holiday season that Nintendo was touting record breaking numbers and impressively dominating margins between themselves and the competition. This year we had the first holiday season for Move and Kinect, Sony’s and Microsoft’s respective motion control peripherals. Both companies have been spinning PR  like crazy trying to look like the clear cut winner, but the NPD was able to shed some light on how things actually played out. One thing that was for sure, Kinect had some serious buzz going into the month. Here are the top 10 games for the month.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops – 360, PS3,Wii, PC, DS
2. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – 360, PS3
3. Just Dance 2 – Wii
4. Madden NFL 11 – 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP
5. Fable 3 – 360
6. Donkey Kong Country Returns – Wii
7. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit – 360, PS3, Wii, PC
8. Gran Turismo 5 – PS3
9. NBA 2K11 – 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, PC
10. Wii Fit Plus – Wii

Hardware isn’t reported, but it’s been clear based on NPD summaries that the Xbox 360 had the biggest month of all, selling 1.37 million consoles, thanks to the Kinect. The DS was the biggest hardware seller at 1.5 million, but that shouldn’t diminish what the 360 did at all. Sony’s numbers haven’t been put out at this time, and I don’t think we’ll get them as they’re surely under what Microsoft already shared. Kinect bundles were reported to have sold 5 to 1 in comparison with the Move.

The things that really stand out is that Call of Duty: Black Ops broke the sales record with 8.4 million sold, Gran Turismo 5 sort of stuttered, Wii Fit Plus is still on people’s minds, and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood did better than expected. Based on actual NPD reports, it seems that the Kinect really had a big impact and the big marketing push really put it into the forefront of shoppers’ minds over the Move. It will be interesting to see how the momentum holds up through 2011 and if it will end up extending the life of the generation or not.

In its first two days on store shelves in Japan, Pokemon Black and White sold over 2.63 million copies. In comparison with the last Pokemon installment, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Black and White did much better as those titles managed to sell “only” 1.4 million copies in their first two days and 3.38 million overall (Japan numbers only). Black and White seem to be ushering in more new aspects of gameplay into the Pokemon series than we’ve seen for a while, and it looks like Nintendo’s decision to mix things up a bit is really paying off.

A little change in the hardware sales this past month as the Xbox 360 was able to outsell a supply-limited Nintendo Wii. Microsoft has to be pretty happy about that one. Here’s the hardware.

Heavy Rain didn’t have a lot of time to chart, but I’m guessing that Sony would have liked to have seen some better numbers than they go. March could be a better month for the game, but honestly it’s going to be overshadowed by Final Fantasy XIII and God of War 3 in a big way.

1. 360 – BioShock 2 – 562,900
2. Wii – New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 555,600
3. 360 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 314,300
4. Wii – Just Dance – 275,400
5. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 272,500
6. PS3 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 246,500
7. 360 – Mass Effect 2 – 246,500
8. PS3 – Dante’s Inferno – 242,500
9. 360 – Dante’s Inferno – 224,700
10. PS3 – Heavy Rain – 219,300

Thanks to Gamasutra we have the top ten selling games of 2009 for the United States. As expected, Modern Warfare 2 took the top spot. Here is the full list.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision), Xbox 360
2. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo), Wii
3. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo), Wii
4. Wii Fit (Nintendo), Wii
5. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo), Wii
6. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo), Wii
7. Wii Play (Nintendo), Wii
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, Activision), PlayStation 3
9. Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, Microsoft), Xbox 360
10. Pokemon Platinum Version (Nintendo), NDS

Nintendo took seven of the top 10 positions, which is amazing considering that some of the titles didn’t even come out in 2009 that made that list. With two different versions of Modern Warfare outselling Halo 3: ODST, I think it’s safe to say that Modern Warfare has taken the crown from Halo as king of FPS franchises for the time being. We’ll have to see what sort of numbers Halo Reach can put up, but it’s doubtful that it’s going to do the same sort of quantity of sales as Modern Warfare 2, though still entirely possible. One thing is certain, however, the Wii games developed by Nintendo are sales juggernauts and software sales for the system are quite healthy.

Everybody’s favorite month to track the NPD sales is November due to the craziness of Black Friday and the kickoff of holiday shopping. Going into the month most people were predicting that the PS3 would be the big winner in hardware with Modern Warfare 2 cleaning up the software battle. See below to see how it all played out.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 1,700,000
2. Nintendo Wii – 1,260,000
3. Xbox 360 – 819,000
4. PlayStation 3 – 710,400
5. Sony PSP – 293,900
6. PlayStation 2 – 203,100

Software

1. 360 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 4,200,000
2. PS3 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 1,870,000
3. Wii – New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 1,390,000
4. 360 – Assassin’s Creed 2 – 794,700
5. 360 – Left 4 Dead 2 – 744,000
6. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 720,200
7. Wii – Wii Fit Plus – 679,000
8. PS3 – Assassin’s Creed 2 – 448,400
9. 360 – Dragon’s Age: Origins – 362,100
10. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 315,000

360 (4), Wii (4), PS3 (2)

So the Wii and DS just put up insane numbers. It seems that they most definitely have not hit critical mass at this point. The big surprise, however, was that the 360 outsold the PS3 by over 100,000 units and the dismal performance of the PSP platform, which includes newcomer PSPgo in the mix. Now it’s not all doom and gloom for Sony, but they definitely failed to make up ground on the competition despite price drops, some very slick ad campaigns, and some key releases. December might tell a different story, but really it’s November that is the key month for holiday sales figures.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is just crazy. I can’t think of a time when any game sold over 6 million units in a single month, and by all accounts the number is already over a million units higher when factoring in December. Remember, this is only the United States and does not factor in European, Japanese, or other region’s sales. Simply put, Modern Warfare 2 a beast like we’ve never seen before.

October is the last month of the year before the big holiday pushes begin, and it’s often an indicator of where people are leaning going into the holidays. October did see some good game releases, including a valid GOTY contender in Uncharted 2 and a possible dark horse runner with Borderlands. Here are the charts.

Hardware

1. Nintendo Wii – 506,900
2. Nintendo DS – 457,600
3. PlayStation 3 – 320,600
4. Xbox 360 – 249,700
5. Sony PSP – 174,600
6. PlayStation 2 – 117,800

Software

1. PS3 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 537,000
2. Wii – Wii Fit Plus – 441,000
3. 360 – Borderlands – 418,000
4. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 314,000
5. 360 – NBA 2k10 – 311,000
6. 360 – Halo 3: ODST – 271,000
7. PS3 – NBA 2k10 – 213,000
8. 360 – Forza Motorsport 3 – 175,000
9. NDS – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – 169,000
10. 360 – FIFA 10 – 156,000

Hey, some actual changes in the NPDs this month! Sony is riding high on the strength of the recent PlayStation 3 price drop, finally taking a convincing victory in the charts on the console front. Check out the numbers below.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 524,200
2. PlayStation 3 – 491,800
3. Nintendo Wii – 462,800
4. Xbox 360 – 352,600
5. Sony PSP – 190,400
6. PlayStation 2 – 146,000

Software

1. 360 – Halo 3: ODST – 1,520,000
2. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 442,900
3. 360 – Madden NFL 10 – 289,600
4. NDS – Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – 258,100
5. 360 – The Beatles: Rock Band – 254,000
6. PS3 – Madden NFL 10 – 246,500
7. 360 – Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – 236,000
8. PS3 – Batman: Arkham Asylum – 212,500
9. 360 – Guitar Hero 5 – 210,800
10. Wii – The Beatles: Rock Band – 208,600

360 – 5, Wii – 2, PS3 – 2, NDS – 1

Hardware sales are in a big slump right now. It could be the slow summer months, or it could finally be America’s recession making deep cuts in sales, but these numbers are down quite a bit. As expected, Wii Sports: Resort was the top seller in software. Here are the numbers.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 538,900
2. Nintendo Wii – 252,200
3. Xbox 360 – 202,900
4. Sony PSP – 122,800
5. PlayStation 3 – 121,800
6. PlayStation 2 – 108,000

Software

1. Wii – Wii Sports: Resort – 508,200
2. 360 – NCAA Football 10 – 376,500
3. PS3 – NCAA Football 10 – 237,400
4. Wii – Wii Fit – 164,300
5. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 156,600
6. DS – Mario Kart DS – 132,200
7. DS – Pokemon Platinum – 116,400
8. 360 – Fight Night: Round 4 – 116,400
9. DS – New Super Mario Bros. – 101,800
10. Wii – EA Sports Active – 96,800

Top Ten Share

1. Wii – 4
2. DS – 3
3. 360 – 2
4. PS3 – 1