Originally it was the day the music died - now 3D World gets the biggest slice of the pie.
As Mario's 35th anniversary celebrations wind down, the plumber picked up one more US sales victory according to the NPD Group's sales survey for February 2021.
Unless noted, all rankings and figures are based on dollar sales for the period of January 31 - February 27. Digital sales for Nintendo and Atlus published games on Switch are not included, though other 3rd parties do report their sales.
In hardware, the Switch's win streak in unit sales is now 27 months and it was also the top dollar seller in February as well (though its closest competitors are supply constrained). The unit and dollar sales are the highest in a February since the Wii in 2009, putting an upper cap on the system's sales at 753,000 units. The Switch is now also the second best selling Nintendo system (by revenue) in the history of the NPD survey, passing the DS and trailing only the Wii.
In software, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was the top selling game in dollars (and copies sold) for February, and is the second best selling game of 2021 behind only Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with its sales. The other Nintendo-published title in February, Bravely Second, did not make the overall top 20 or the Switch top 10, though it was only on sale for two days of the reporting period. (For comparison, Bravely Default was 10th in February 2014 and Bravely Second was 9th in a single-unit sales list in April 2016.) Two third-party February debuts also slotted into the top half of the chart, with Atlus's Persona 5 Strikers (February 22) stealing a third place finish and Little Nightmares II from Bandai Namco taking 6th.
Other Nintendo published catalogue titles in the top 20 are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in 8th, Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 9th, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 13th, Super Mario 3D All-Stars 15th, Ring Fit Adventure 16th, and Breath of the Wild 19th. 3rd parties were also represented by FIFA 21 (11th), NBA 2K21 (12th), Mortal Kombat 11 (14th), Just Dance 2021 (17th), Minecraft (18th), and Immortals: Fenyx Rising (20th): three quarters of the combined top 20 is available on Switch.
The Switch's top 10 sellers for February:
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Ring Fit Adventure
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Just Dance 2021 (Ubisoft)
- Super Mario Party
- New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe
