GTA V leads U.S. PlayStation sales as modern franchises dominate

PlayStation is marking its 30th anniversary in the United States on September 9, and new retail-tracking data released to coincide with the milestone underscores how the PlayStation library has shifted from the classics of the 1990s to blockbuster, service-era franchises. A dataset compiled by Circana and shared by analyst Mat Piscatella ranks the top 20 bestselling PlayStation games in the U.S. by both dollar revenue and units sold, covering sales from January 1995 through July 2025 across physical and digital channels.

The results place Grand Theft Auto 5 at the top of both lists, making it the bestselling PlayStation title in the U.S. by revenue and units. Take-Two Interactive reported in May 2025 that GTA 5 had sold more than 215 million copies worldwide. Modern Call of Duty entries and Rockstar titles follow closely: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019 and Red Dead Redemption 2 occupy the second and third spots by revenue, and multiple Call of Duty releases appear throughout both charts.

The most striking pattern is the dominance of a small number of contemporary franchises. Call of Duty accounts for 11 of the top 20 titles by revenue and nine of the top 20 by units sold,...