NPD December 2009: Nintendo finishes the year with multiple sales records

Nintendo has responded to tonight's December NPDs, citing Wii's best month in history, and DS' best calender year "of all time".

Thanks to the holidays, Wii sold more than 3.8 million units in December, a new all-time single-month US sales record. DS and DSi combined to sell more than 3.3 million, which was the second biggest month in US history.

With such strong numbers, the DS franchise sold more than 11.2 million units in 2009, another US calendar-year sales record for a videogame system. Wii finished the year with 9.6 million sold, which taking into account its November 2006 launch, it means that nearly one-fifth of all Wii units (18.7 percent) were sold during November and December 2009.

“Wii, Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi combined to sell more than 7 million units in the month of December alone,” said NOA VP Cammie Dunaway. "Clearly there is overwhelming consumer demand for fun games, motion controls and value.

"This remarkable hardware sales surge presents a tremendous software opportunity for Nintendo and its third-party partners as we head into 2010."

Lifetime US sales for Wii have surpassed 27.2 million units, with lifetime sales for the DS franchise topping 38.8 million units - surpassing lifetime sales of the Game Boy Advance franchise.

Nintendo also took 6 of the top 10 spots on the software chart for the month, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii moving 2.82M units.

For all of 2009, Nintendo finished with seven of the top 10 best-selling games of the year:

• New Super Mario Bros. Wii at No. 2 - more than 4.2 million sold
• Wii Sports Resort at No. 3 - more than 4.2 million sold
• Wii Fit at No. 4 -more than 3.5 million sold
• Mario Kart Wii at No. 5 - nearly 3.1 million sold
• Wii Play at No. 6 - more than 3.1 million sold
• Wii Fit Plus at No. 8 - more than 2.4 million sold
• Pokémon Platinum Version at No. 10 - more than 2.0 million sold