Video game sales data shows GTA 5 is officially the most tenacious game of the last 20 years

Market analysis firm Circana released a new batch of video game sales data, and it turns out GTA 5 is one of the most persistent sellers ever

Rockstar

Market analysis firm Circana released a new batch of video game sales data, and among other things – such as Call of Duty’s enduring popularity – it turns out GTA 5 is one of the most persistent sellers ever. Circana’s latest chart tracks the top 20 selling games since 2000, and while Call of Duty is, unsurprisingly, at the top of the charts for half the included years, the real standout is just how popular GTA 5 remained since it launched.

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It seems like a given, that GTA would sell well, but that wasn’t always the case. GTA Vice City was 2002’s top-selling game, before dropping to the 12th spot in 2003 and disappearing from the charts in 2004. That last piece of data is unsurprising, seeing as GTA San Andreas launched in 2004. It, too, claimed the top-selling spot that year before slipping to number eight in 2005. Vice City remained out of the top 20.

The decade grew older, the PS3 and Xbox 360 launched, and it seemed GTA fervor had wanted. GTA 4 launched in 2008 and only made it to the number eight spot, and that was the last time the series appeared in the annual best-seller charts for half a decade. Rockstar saw decent success with Red Dead Redemption in 2010. It claimed the number six spot for that year, just missing the top five rankings thanks to New Super Mario Bros (presumably the Wii version, though Circana doesn’t specify). New Super Mario Bros was a year old at that point.

GTA remained out of sight until 2013, when GTA 5 launched and became that year’s best-selling game. Unlike earlier GTA games, which saw rapid sales decay, GTA 5 held onto third place in 2014 and 2015, helped no doubt by Rockstar’s live-service game GTA Online which went with it as a companion experience. GTA 5 slid into sixth place for 2016 and 2017, then a bit further into 11th place in 2018 and 12th in 2019. 

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The Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and brought an influx of people turning to video games for enjoyment. GTA 5 climbed back to eighth place that year, then landed in ninth for 2021, 11th for 2022, and in 2023, hit its lowest point since launch at number 15.

Still, being the 15th best-selling game of the year over a decade after launch is a remarkable achievement. Most other games on Circana’s list never approached anywhere near that level of success, and even Call of Duty, which was the top-selling franchise for 12 years in the period from 2000 to 2023, saw sales for the previous year’s installment plummet as a new one arrived. 

It’s quite the act for GTA 6 to follow when it launches in 2025. If there’s a lesson Rockstar should perhaps consider learning from GTA’s sales history, it’s not to neglect GTA Online and rely on GTA 6 to break records.

If you want to see the report for yourself, you can check it out on Circana's website for free.