Today marks the 30th anniversary of the PS1's launch in the US, and that news might make you feel warm and fuzzy toward classics like Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, any number of Final Fantasy games, or an uncountable number of other legendary games. But those kinds of memories would put you very much out of step with the general game-buying public in the US, as a breakdown of the platform's all-time best-sellers suggest that the combined juggernauts of Call of Duty and Rockstar are mighty tough to topple.
Unsurprisingly, GTA 5 is the best-selling PlayStation game of all time in the US, according to a chart provided by Mat Piscatella of retail tracking group Circana on Bluesky. This chart counts games released across any PlayStation platform, from the PS1 up through the PS5. In terms of dollar sales, the number two spot goes to 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and there's a whole lot more CoD all the way down the list.
Happy (NA) Birthday to PlayStation, first released on September 9, 1995. Here are the top 20 all-time best-selling games on PlayStation platforms in the US, from Circana's Retail Tracking Service.
— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-09T15:34:25.360Z
11 of the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollar sales, and 9 of the top 20 in terms of unit sales, are Call of Duty titles. If you've paid any attention to game sales charts over the years, the success of CoD shouldn't be too surprising, but it's still a pretty stark reminder of just how much more successful Activision's FPS series is than, well, pretty much anything else in the industry.
The rest of the titles on the list include standbys like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Minecraft, as well as all three entries of Insomniac's Spider-Man series. The unit sales version of the chart – which likely favors games that continue to sell at lower prices well after launch – adds games like The Last of Us, God of War (2018), and Skyrim.
There are more gamers now than ever before, which goes a long way toward explaining why the list is dominated by newer games. A few PS2 games are still hanging on, though. In terms of dollar sales, you've got Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the number 9 spot, Guitar Hero 3 at number 10, and Vice City at number 20. At least a little bit of the old-school spirit is still alive.
Incredibly, the best Call of Duty game of all time didn't even make the list.
