NPD: Black Ops tops 2010 chart

Despite not arriving until November, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops has been named by NPD as the best selling game of 2010 in the US.

The success mirrors the dominance shown by the shooter on this side of the Atlantic.

And also echoing the UK charts, EA’s football game claims second place – though of course in the US we’re talking American football as opposed to ‘proper’ football.

Halo’s American popularity is reflected in its third place finish (it could only claim ninth in the UK 2010 charts) while Black Ops’ predecessor Modern Warfare 2 manages an amazing eighth place one year on from its debut.

In total six games claimed Top Ten status on both sides of the pond – Activision’s Black Ops, Microsoft’s Halo: Reach, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, Nintendo’s Wii Fit Plus and Ubisoft pair Just Dance 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

Here’s NPD’s US Top Ten in full:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops* (360, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS)
2. Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
3. Halo: Reach* (360)
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
5. Red Dead Redemption (360, PS3)
6. Wii Fit Plus* (Wii)
7. Just Dance 2 (Wii)
8. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2* (360, PS3, PC)
9. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood* (360, PS3)
10. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, PC)

As with the UK data, NPDs numbers reflect only physical games sales.

For December, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft finished at No.3 with (physical) sales of 1.5m units while there was also Christmas success for Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Country Returns, Disney’s Epic Mickey and Ubisoft’s Michael Jackson: The Experience.

Here’s the December Top Ten:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
2. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
3. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (Blizzard)
4. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
5. Donkey Kong: Country Returns ( Nintendo)
6. Disney’s Epic Mickey (Disney)
7. Madden NFL 11 (EA)
8. Michael Jackson: The Experience (Ubisoft)
9. NBA 2K11 (2K Sports)
10. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (EA Games)