Sony PS5 now fastest-selling console in US history in both unit and dollar sales, says NPD

There’s a big reason you still can’t find a Sony PlayStation 5 anywhere. Consumers have apparently been snatching them up faster than any hardware platform in US history. This first became clear last month when NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella tweeted the latest stats on consumer video game spending, including that the PS5 was already at that time “the fastest selling hardware platform” in US history, in terms of total dollar sales.

But then, over a month later, Piscatella tweeted again with yet another metric — unit sales. 

Piscatella didn’t share an exact dollar amount for the PS5 but noted that consumer spending across video game hardware, software and accessories has already totaled $14.9 billion this year, $5.6 billion of that in March alone. That’s 47% higher than a year ago, in March 2020.

Sony also didn’t include specific sales figures in its February earnings report, but the company did indicate it shipped 4.5 million PS5 consoles in 2020 alone. Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said at a February news conference that Sony is aiming to sell upward of 14.8 million units in the coming fiscal year, which begins this month.

The PS5 did fall to second place for the second month in a row, according to NPD, in terms of both units and dollars sold. It was superseded only by the Nintendo Switch, which may have seen a sales boost on the heels of Super Mario 3D World — Bowser’s Fury, the latest Switch title, released in February.

If you’re fed up with FOMO and ready to put some effort into acquiring Sony’s must-have hardware, we’ve compiled a list of all the major retailers, with links to their latest PS5 stock updates.