NPD: Xbox 360 Kills It in November, U.S. Sales Top 1.7 Million Units

Microsoft's Xbox 360 had another record month in November and remained the top selling console for the fourth consecutive month with 1.7 million unit sales in the U.S. alone, according to data released by market research firm NPD Group. That's a 23 percent year-over-year jump, but perhaps more importantly, Microsoft was able to move almost twice as many Xbox 360 consoles in the U.S. in November than Sony's PlayStation 3, which notched 900,000 sales.

After that, the most popular consoles in the month of November all belonged to Nintendo, who sold 860,000 Wii consoles, 795,000 3DS handheld consoles, and 350,000 DS units in the U.S.


"This is the fourth consecutive month in which the Xbox 360 has been the top selling hardware system," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "The gap between 360 sales and sales of the next best selling platform was the largest we’ve seen since December 2008 when the Nintendo DS was the top selling system."

Perhaps the sizable gap in sales between the Blu-ray-less Xbox 360 and Blu-ray-equipped PlayStation 3 is partially indicative of a shift towards streaming content and away from physical media. Sony's trouble with hackers earlier this year could also be playing a role.

As for the most popular games in November, they include (in order):

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)
2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC)
3. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
4. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC)
5. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360)
6. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)
7. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)
8. Saints Row: The Third (360, PS3, PC)
9. The Legend of Zelda: SkywardSword (Wii)
10. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)

What game(s) have you been playing lately?