The 10 Best-Selling Games of 2026 So Far

Hey, it's Bea. I rank things, Jake plays things, and today we're splitting the job exactly that way. Below is the list everybody argues about in the group chat — the best-selling games of the year so far — and Jake's walking you down it from 10 to 1, one couch take at a time. Read the criteria first, because with this chart the criteria are the story. — Bea

The criteria, in plain words: Ranked by U.S. dollar sales, year-to-date through September 2026, per Circana. That's physical copies plus full-game downloads, U.S. only.

Jake's quick translation before we start, because you'll thank him later: this chart counts dollars, not copies. A pricier game can outrank a cheaper game that sold more copies, because the chart's following the money. And some of the numbers in here aren't till receipts — for publishers who don't hand over their download sales, Circana models an estimate and marks it right on the chart. Nintendo's the standing example. Circana prints two little marks to tell you which is which: ^ means the game's download sales are in there as real point-of-sale actuals, * means they include a digital sales projection. We kept the marks on every entry below so you can see it for yourself. If you want the full explainer, Jake's already written it — it's linked at the bottom.

The countdown, from number 10 to number 1

10. Pokemon: Pokopia — Nintendo* It's holding 10th, same spot as last month, and it's doing it on the projection side of the chart — that little * is Circana telling you Nintendo's download side is modelled, not handed over. Watch what happens when you play it: a Pokémon game doesn't need a launch-week spike to stay on a year-to-date list. It just needs to never leave the basket.

9. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight^ — Warner Bros. Games It's 9th, flat from last month, and it's got the ^ — real download receipts in the count. Two things you love, LEGO and Batman, in one box: that's not a gamble, that's furniture. It sits on the chart the way it sits on a shelf, and it doesn't wobble.

8. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream — Nintendo* It's 8th, flat from last month, projection side again for Nintendo. Here's the couch read: your whole friend list is quietly playing it without posting about it. It doesn't trend, it just accumulates — and on a dollars chart, quiet accumulation for nine months beats a loud weekend.

7. Forza Horizon 6 — Microsoft (Corp)* It's 7th, flat from last month, and it's the first of two Microsoft entries back to back. An open-world racer's superpower is legs — there's always a new road, a new season, a new reason to boot it back up — and legs are exactly what a year-to-date chart rewards.

6. Call of Duty: Black Ops II — Microsoft (Corp)* It's 6th, flat from last month. Yes, you read the title right — that's how Circana lists it in the year-to-date top 10, and we're printing the chart's title as the chart prints it. A Call of Duty entry holding a top-10 dollars spot deep into the year isn't a surprise to anybody who's ever watched this chart. It's the annual anchor doing annual-anchor things.

5. Crimson Desert — Pearl Abyss* It's 5th, flat from last month, and it's the highest-ranked game on this list that isn't a sports annual, a sequel in a giant shooter line, or a Nintendo evergreen. Hold the top five for nine months against that company and you aren't a flash — you're a fixture.

4. MLB: The Show 26^ — Multiple Video Game Publishers* It's 4th, flat from last month, and it's the only entry carrying both marks — ^ and * together — because Circana credits it to multiple publishers. Baseball's rhythm is this chart's rhythm: a long season, steady sales, no single weekend carrying the whole year. Fourth place, earned one series at a time.

3. 007 First Light — IO Interactive* It's 3rd, down one spot from 2nd last month — and before you call that a slide, look at what passed it. It didn't fall apart; basketball happened. A Bond game sitting on the podium of a dollars chart through September is a big-deal result, and it's still ahead of every sports title except the one at No. 1.

2. Resident Evil: Requiem^ — Capcom USA It's 2nd, down from 1st last month, with real receipts (^) behind it. Let's be clear about what this run was: Requiem held the year-to-date crown for most of the year — Circana's own September report is the moment it finally gives it up. Losing No. 1 in September to an annual sports giant doesn't shrink that run. It defines it.

1. NBA 2K27^ — Take-Two Interactive It's No. 1, up from 3rd last month, and here's how it got there in Circana's own telling: NBA 2K27 ranked 2nd in September itself, behind only Marvel's Wolverine's launch month, and that September was strong enough to push it past Requiem for the whole year. That's the annual-sports trick nobody else can copy — you don't need to win the month, you just need a huge month, every month, forever. Crown's yours, 2K. Wolverine, by the way, debuted at No. 11 for the year — one spot off this list, with the strongest launch month for a Sony-published game since Helldivers II back in February 2024. Remember that name in about a month.

That's the list, and that's Bea again for the close. Notice what the countdown just taught you: not one of these ten games moved more than two spots last month except our new No. 1. Year-to-date charts don't crown moments, they crown habits — and right now nobody's habit is bigger than basketball. The October chart lands in late November, in the middle of the biggest launch season of the year. Jake and I'll be back on this couch when it does. — Bea