Circana executive director Mat Piscatella has shared his first monthly sales report of 2026 for video game sales in the US, and it's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 taking the top spot on the premium sales charts for January 2026. Overall spending in the video game industry in the US was up 3% compared to last year, with subscription services and hardware sales driving that growth.
It's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's second month in a row sitting atop the US premium game sales charts, though finishing 2025 as the best-selling game of December was not enough to beat Battlefield 6, which was the best-selling game of 2025 in the US. That said, the lack of content coming to Battlefield 6 (its second season only arrived earlier this week) did not help its January 2026 sales, as the game fell out of the top three to fifth place on the sales charts.
Meanwhile, NBA 2K26 kept its second-place spot, Minecraft moved up to fourth place from eighth, and Madden NFL 26 went from fourth to third. Overall, not a whole lot of shuffle in the top five, but in the top ten, there was one very notable entry that moved up from 225th place all the way to ninth place.
That game was Final Fantasy VII Remake, which made its massive jump into the top ten thanks to its release on Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S last month. Technically, even though Forza Horizon 5 sits between FFVII and the only new release on the charts, Code Vein 2, it's probable that Code Vein 2 missed the top ten because of FFVII Remake.
That said, at least when looking solely at PC game sales in the US, Code Vein 2 sat at the top of the charts.
The only other game included in the top 20 for January 2026 that wasn't already one of the top 30 best-selling games in the US for December 2025 was Fallout 4, which just eeks in at the number 20 spot after being in 68th place in December 2025.
As we move deeper into the year, it'll be interesting to see how long Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 can hold a spot above Battlefield 6 in the charts, and which upcoming games are able to keep both of them out of first place.
Moving away from the sales charts, while January isn't known for being a major period in the year for players spending a lot on games, especially since it arrives just after the holiday craze, overall spending in the US video games industry was up 3% compared to January 2025, driven by hardware and subscription spending.
A sign that people were probably using their monetary holiday gifts to grab a new console, specifically the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, which were the number one and two best-selling hardware units for January 2026. Looking at hardware spending alone, January 2026 was a 16% increase compared to January 2025.
With the January 2026 report in the books, it'll be interesting to see where the charts line up for February 2026, especially since there are more than a few major releases from this month, including the one-million unit seller Nioh 3 and the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
