Black Ops Cold War and Super Mario 3D World are the US' best-selling games of 2021 so far

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NPD's first quarter results are in

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
(Image credit: Nintendo)

The top-selling games of the year in the US are about covert ops and walking mushrooms, according to an industry analyst firm.

The NPD Group released its latest roundup of games industry sales data, accounting for sales both through physical retail and digital channels - except for Nintendo, which keeps its eShop data to itself. Since the end of March also marked the end of the first quarter of 2021, it's a prudent time to look back and see what games have seen the most commercial success so far. Here's the list of the top 10 selling games in the US from January 1 to March 31.

Best-selling games of 2021 so far

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
  2. Super Mario 3D World
  3. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  4. Monster Hunter: Rise
  5. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
  6. Mario Kart 8
  7. Minecraft
  8. Madden NFL 21
  9. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  10. Outriders

You're not alone if you feel like we've been in a bit of a drought for big games recently. Only three of the top-selling games for the year so far - Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Monster Hunter: Rise, and Outriders - actually came out in 2021. Now here's what sold the best in March specifically.

Best-selling games of March 2021

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
  2. Monster Hunter: Rise
  3. Outriders
  4. Super Mario 3D World
  5. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  6. Mario Kart 8
  7. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
  8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  9. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
  10. Minecraft

According to The NPD Group's data, Outriders came in at third place on both Xbox and PlayStation platforms. People Can Fly's new loot shooter debuted on Xbox Game Pass, but it seems like subscribers being able to play for free didn't cut into standard sales as much as you might expect.

That's what's selling best, now take a look at what's the most fun with our list of the best games 2021.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.