Another month, another opportunity to see what people are buying. Our monthly series on the best-selling video games at GameStop ($GME) and on Amazon ($AMZN) continues the long-time trend of Nintendo ($TYO:7974) dominating the charts. Which leaves poor old Sony ($SNE) and Microsoft ($MSFT) to rely on digital sales to bolster their numbers. We can't track digital data on the consoles, but we can predict what the future will hold using Thinknum's "retailer best-selling products by vendor" data.

And the future is going to see a lot of Animal Crossing. Like, a whole lot.

Amazon

Name

Category Rank (Avg)

Platform

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

4

Nintendo Switch

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age

5

Nintendo Switch

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

9.2

Nintendo Switch

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

11.2

Nintendo Switch

Luigi's Mansion 3

13

 Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Sword

18.1

 Nintendo Switch

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

18.9

 Nintendo Switch

Final Fantasy VII Remake - Deluxe Edition

22.5

 Sony PlayStation 4

Just Dance 2020

 23.9 Nintendo Switch

Minecraft

 26.5 Nintendo Switch

Layton's Mystery Journey

 27 Nintendo Switch

NBA 2K20

 27.8 Sony PlayStation 4
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove 28.5 Nintendo Switch
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Online Code) 30.3 Xbox One

Based on the levels of hype, internet chatter, previous sales of games in the series, and the charts above and below, we predict Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Switch will be the best performing game this year. Over Doom: Eternal, more than Cyberpunk 2077, and whatever the next Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed game is. Animal Crossing has an entire year to steamroll the industry, and it's already lighting up the charts a month before its release.

GameStop

Name

Category Rank (Avg)

Platform

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

5.1

Nintendo Switch

MLB 20 The Show 15th Anniversary Edition

32.9

Sony PlayStation 4

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

44.5

Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Sword

55.4

Nintendo Switch

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

57.5

Nintendo Switch

Persona 5 Royal Steel Book Launch Edition

59.1

 Sony PlayStation 4

Final Fantasy VII Remake

74.6

 Sony PlayStation 4

Luigi's Mansion 3

76.5

 Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Shield

86.7

 Nintendo Switch

Marvel's Avengers Earth's Mightiest Edition

91.4

 Sony PlayStation 4

Typically, when we look at the GameStop data, in particular, we see everything but video games in the top slot. Not this month. Animal Crossing did better than any controller, gift card, bundle, console, shirt, or toy. That's astonishing, having sifted through a lot of non-gaming related items over the last year or so. Animal Crossing is a juggernaut that will show up time and time again, so get ready to see it be the top seller in 2020.

Both lists have been edited to remove duplicate listings, gift cards, accessories, and other non-game items. The Amazon list, in particular, had a cutoff: a minimum of 28 days on the best-sellers list. Some games were number 1 for a day or two, but then fell off, and that doesn't accurately represent what sold the best during the month. 

None of these lists account for digital sales, which are how most games are purchased these days. It's only physical boxed retail discs sold or ordered.

The best-sellers lists are based on sales-rank data reported by both companies every day throughout the month. In this case, we looked just at the "Video Games" category, averaged each product's sales rank for the year, and then weighted based on the number of days each product remained a best-seller.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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