Home » Only nine franchises make up the top 20 all-time best-selling PlayStation chart in the US – can you guess how many are Call of Duty games?

Only nine franchises make up the top 20 all-time best-selling PlayStation chart in the US – can you guess how many are Call of Duty games?

 September 10, 2025 0 Likes 1 Views
Only nine franchises make up the top 20 all-time best-selling PlayStation chart in the US – can you guess how many are Call of Duty games?

In honour of PlayStation’s 30th birthday yesterday in the US, data company Circana has dug out figures showing the top 20 best-selling PlayStation video games ever (date-range Jan 1995 to July 2025). Don’t get too excited.

Call of Duty dominates it, occupying nine of the top 20 spots, though Rockstar’s games lead the list, with Grand Theft Auto 5 top, Red Dead Redemption 2 fourth, GTA San Andreas fifth and GTA Vice City ninth.

The surprise performer for me is Insomniac’s relatively recent Marvel’s Spider-Man series, with the debut 2018 game in sixth and the PlayStation 5-launch-adjacent Miles Morales expandalone in 12th.

Elsewhere you’ll spot Minecraft, The Last of Us, God of War, Skyrim, and Rainbow Six Siege.

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The top-20 best-selling PlayStation games in the US ever, according to Circana senior director Mat Piscatella, are as follows.

Best-selling PlayStation games (all PlayStation platforms, US)

  1. Grand Theft Auto 5
  2. Minecraft
  3. Red Dead Redemption 2
  4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
  6. Marvel’s Spider-Man
  7. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
  8. Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War
  9. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
  11. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
  12. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  13. The Last of Us
  14. God of War (2018)
  15. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
  16. Call of Duty: Black Ops
  17. Rainbow Six: Siege
  18. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
  19. Call of Duty: WW2
  20. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

The list changes when you re-order it according to dollars made. There are now 11 Call of Duty games in the top 20, though GTA 5 still leads and Red Dead Redemption 2 is now third. The older GTA games San Andreas and Vice City drop down, presumably as they were less monetised, as does the cheaper Minecraft. But Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man series gains a third entry with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 showing up in 18th.

The most welcome change to this list, though, is Guitar Hero 3 appearing in 10th – its income presumably buoyed by the expensive plastic pack-in guitar peripheral and buyable, downloadable song packs. I miss that series.

Here’s the top-20 highest grossing PlayStation games in the US ever (date-range Jan 1995 to July 2025).

Highest-grossing PlayStation games (all PlayStation platforms, US)

  1. Grand Theft Auto 5
  2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
  3. Red Dead Redemption 2
  4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
  5. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
  6. Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War
  7. Minecraft
  8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
  9. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  10. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock
  11. Marvel’s Spider-Man
  12. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
  13. Call of Duty: Black Ops
  14. Call of Duty: WW2
  15. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
  16. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
  17. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  18. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
  19. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  20. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

But that’s not all, stats fans! While spelunking in the archives, Piscatella dug up two other notable best-seller lists. One of them was for PlayStation 1 games only, which is relevant because it was the 30th anniversary of PS1 yesterday (9th September) in the US. And the other was for the best-selling Dreamcast games ever. Why? Because the Dreamcast was released on the same day, 9th September, albeit four years later than PS1, in 1999.

In the PS1 list we see the origins of some of PlayStation’s longest-running series, such as Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid – series I’m somewhat surprised not to see in the best-selling all-PlayStations list above. We also see Spyro doing well, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater doing well, and the Driver series doing well – which has since disappeared. The most recent game in that series was the somewhat overlooked Driver: San Francisco from 2011, in which you could body-shift from car to car. Also present: Final Fantasies 7 and 8, and Crash Team Racing.

The best-selling PS1 games of all time (Jan 1995 to July 2025) in the US are as follows.

Best-selling PS1 games (US)

  1. Gran Turismo 2
  2. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
  3. Gran Turismo
  4. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
  5. Jampack Series: PlayStation
  6. Frogger (1997)
  7. Spyro the Dragon
  8. Crash Bandicoot
  9. Tekken 3
  10. Driver
  11. Final Fantasy 7
  12. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
  13. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
  14. Metal Gear Solid
  15. Namco Museum: Vol. 3
  16. CTR: Crash Team Racing
  17. WWE Warzone
  18. Driver 2
  19. Final Fantasy 8
  20. Spyro Dragon 2: Rage

On Dreamcast, meanwhile, we see an alarming amount of sports games. But besides them there are some absolute classics: Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi – I didn’t realise it was this popular. There’s SoulCalibur of course, Bass Fishing, Resi Code Veronica. What a console!

The best-selling Dreamcast games of all-time (Jan 1995 to July 2025) in the US are as follows.

Best-selling Dreamcast games (US)

  1. Sonic Adventure
  2. NFL 2K
  3. Crazy Taxi
  4. NFL 2K1
  5. NBA 2K1
  6. NBA 2K
  7. SoulCalibur
  8. Ready 2 Rumble: boxing
  9. Shenmue
  10. World Series Baseball 2K1
  11. Sonic Adventure 2
  12. Virtua Tennis
  13. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
  14. Bass Fishing
  15. Resident Evil Code Veronica
  16. The House of the Dead 2
  17. NFL 2K2
  18. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
  19. NHL 2K
  20. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

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