The gift that keeps on giving (buying)
This year sees Christmas Day fall on a Saturday, the same day the charts for the previous week are compiled. As such, we already know the UK’s Christmas Number #1 video game for 2021, and it’s Electronic Arts’ annual soccer sim,FIFA 22.
The final UK Charts Top Ten before Christmas is a who’s who of by-the-numbers bestsellers, with the listings packed out with all of the titles one would expect to be rocking around the Christmas tree come December 25. Following FIFA 21’s premier position is Activision’sCall of Duty: Vanguardat number two, perennial mainstayMario Kart 8 Deluxeat number three, with positions four and five rounded out by Insomniac’s excellentSpider-Man: Miles Moralesand Innersloth’s viral sleutherAmong Us. Rockstar’s horrendousGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — Definitive Editionis also in the mix at number six. Lordy.
This is one of the many reasons I stopped reporting the weekly charts back in the summer of this year. Not only are high street sales becoming less lucrative on a yearly… nay…monthlybasis, but the UK Charts simply isn’t an authentic representation of what the world is playing, or which new releases are worth your cash. With the slow decay of physical sales, COVID-19 causing severe damage to the retail industry, and Britain’s unending love affair with the same four franchises —regardlessof output quality — nothing is to be gained from knowing what titles shifted the most copies last week at your local Sainsbury’s. Around half of the games in the Top Ten below didn’t even debut within the last 12 months.
FIFA 22might be Christmas No.1 2021, but it doesn’t pop the Top 30 when it comes to the year’s best video game releases. The UK Charts is an archaic concept, barely representative of the industry’s sales, product quality, or market share. While I dusted off the concept today to announce the UK’s “holiday favorite”, writing this up has only further confirmed that I made the right decision when I decided to stop reporting on it weekly.
U.K. video game sales chartw/e: July 13, 2025(Chart reflects in-store physical sales only)
1.FIFA 22— Electronic Arts2.Call of Duty: Vanguard— Activision3.Mario Kart 8 Deluxe— Nintendo4.Among Us— Maximum Games5.Spider-Man: Miles Morales– Sony Interactive Entertainment6.Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition— Take-Two7.Minecraft— Nintendo8.Just Dance 2022— Ubisoft9.Pokemon Brilliant Diamond— Nintendo10.Animal Crossing: New Horizons— Nintendo
