We often analyze weekly and monthly sales data to derive conclusions about what games are and aren’t selling well in the long term.  Now that we have entered a new year the data is beginning to flow regarding the top-selling games of 2021.  In this article, I will focus specifically on the UK market to see who belongs in the conversation as the “best-selling games 2021”.

Best-Selling Games 2021: UK Data

Top 10’s

Digital + Physical Sales

1. FIFA 22
2. Call of Duty: Vanguard
3. Grand Theft Auto 5
4. FIFA 21
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
6. Red Dead Redemption 2
7. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
8. F1 2021
9. Far Cry 6
10. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Physical Sales Only

1. FIFA 22
2. Call of Duty: Vanguard
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
5. Minecraft: Switch Edition
6. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
7. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
8. FIFA 21
9. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond
10. Grand Theft Auto 5

Last Word on Gaming Viewpoint

There are some familiar names at the top as EA Sports’ goliath FIFA series topped the chart.  The Soccer simulation game remains one of the most instantly recognizable franchises on the planet, and is still growing as it sold 10.3% more units than FIFA 21 did in its release year.  FIFA is followed up by another notable series as Call of Duty: Vanguard slotted in at second place. The rest of the digital and physical chart is loaded up with some of the bigger releases in recent history including Red Dead Redemption 2, Far Cry 6, and a surprising inclusion for F1 2021.

Despite being entirely absent from the first top 10 due to a lack of digital sales data, it is another strong year for Nintendo who occupied the entire middle of the table with Pokemon sliding in at ninth place in the physical sales charts. The Pokemon remakes flew out the door and quickly reached similar sales levels to their DS counterparts.

Also mentioned in the 2021 data is that the Nintendo Switch was the top-selling console in the UK of 2021.  This is, in part, caused by the stock issues that continue to plague Microsoft and Sony. That’s not to forget that the Switch OLED released in 2021 and likely spurred a few more folks into buying a Switch or upgrading from other versions.

This data was collected by gamindustry.biz