Sony's PlayStation 2 still holds the all-time record at 160 million units, but Nintendo's Switch has passed the DS and is closing in fast.
The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all time, at 160 million lifetime units shipped. The Nintendo Switch is second at 156.59 million and the Nintendo DS third at 154.02 million. The ranking uses lifetime hardware shipments in millions of units, as reported by manufacturers in financial results or official announcements, as of September 2026.
From the PlayStation 2's DVD-driven domination of the 2000s to the Nintendo Switch's hybrid handheld surge, only ten consoles in history have ever sold 84 million units or more. This list ranks them by official lifetime shipments — the number the manufacturer reports to investors, not retail estimates. The top two spots have been a two-horse race for years: Sony's 160-million-unit PS2 record still stands, but the Switch passed the DS in early 2026 and keeps closing the gap. Meanwhile, the PS5 cracked the top 10 in late 2025 by outselling every Xbox console ever made.
The undisputed champion. A built-in DVD player at a time when standalone DVD players cost more than the console, full backward compatibility, and a library of some 4,000 games made the PS2 the default machine of its era — a 160-million-unit record that has stood since production ended in 2013.
Nintendo's hybrid bet paid off beyond anyone's expectations. Over nine years after launch, the Switch officially dethroned the Nintendo DS as Nintendo's best-selling system in early 2026, and at 156.59 million it is the only console within striking distance of the PS2's all-time record.
The dual-screen handheld owned the mid-2000s, riding the casual-gaming boom of Brain Age and Nintendogs to become Nintendo's best-selling dedicated handheld — and its best-selling console of any kind until the Switch overtook it in 2026.
Tetris sold this machine, and the machine sold everything else. Bundling Nintendo's pack-in phenomenon with the original Game Boy created the first truly global handheld juggernaut; the Game Boy Color refresh kept it selling through 1998 and beyond.
Sony's second-best PlayStation ever. The PS4 won its generation outright after Microsoft's Xbox One stumbled at launch, and steady exclusives kept it selling long enough to become one of only five home consoles to cross 100 million units.
The console that made Sony a gaming giant. Its CD-based format lured developers away from cartridges, and titles like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid turned PlayStation into the defining brand of the 32-bit era.
Nintendo's motion-control revolution brought gaming to grandparents and non-gamers alike, making the Wii the company's best-selling home console of all time. Wii Sports alone became one of the best-selling games ever, bundled with most units.
Sony's current flagship entered the all-time top 10 in late 2025 when it passed the Game Boy Advance and Xbox 360. At 95.3 million units shipped through June 2026, the PS5 has already outsold every Xbox console ever made and is on pace to cross 100 million.
A rocky $599 launch and early years lost to the Wii and Xbox 360, but the PS3's Blu-ray drive and late-generation exclusives gave it a long tail that closed the gap to a photo finish with its rival — 87.4 million over a decade on sale.
Microsoft's high-water mark. The Xbox 360 defined the HD console era with Xbox Live and Halo 3, and its estimated 84 million units remain the best any Xbox console has ever done — the PS5 passing it in 2025 closed that chapter.
| # | Name | launchYear | manufacturer | type | unitsSoldMillions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PlayStation 2 | 2000 | Sony | Home | 160 |
| 2 | Nintendo Switch | 2017 | Nintendo | Hybrid | 156.59 |
| 3 | Nintendo DS | 2004 | Nintendo | Handheld | 154.02 |
| 4 | Game Boy & Game Boy Color | 1989 | Nintendo | Handheld | 118.69 |
| 5 | PlayStation 4 | 2013 | Sony | Home | 117.2 |
| 6 | PlayStation | 1994 | Sony | Home | 102.49 |
| 7 | Wii | 2006 | Nintendo | Home | 101.63 |
| 8 | PlayStation 5 | 2020 | Sony | Home | 95.3 |
| 9 | PlayStation 3 | 2006 | Sony | Home | 87.4 |
| 10 | Xbox 360 | 2005 | Microsoft | Home | 84 |
Ranked by lifetime hardware shipments (sell-in) in millions of units, as reported by manufacturers in financial results or confirmed by official corporate announcements. Where a manufacturer stopped reporting (Xbox 360, last officially stated above 84 million), the last official figure is used. Discontinued consoles carry their final lifetime total; active consoles (Switch, PS5) reflect the most recent disclosed totals. Game Boy and Game Boy Color are counted together per Nintendo's own reporting, matching the industry-standard convention. Ties broken by recency of data.
As of the most recent official disclosures (Sony and Nintendo financial results through mid-2026), the PlayStation 2 remains #1 with 160 million units shipped during its 2000–2013 production run. Sony confirmed the 160 million figure in November 2024.
Nintendo reported Switch lifetime sales of 155.37 million in its February 2026 quarterly results, and the system's running total reached 156.59 million as of mid-2026 — officially passing the Nintendo DS (154.02 million) and leaving it about 3.4 million units behind the PlayStation 2.
Yes, according to current totals: PS2 (160M), Switch (156.59M), and DS (154.02M) are the only three consoles to clear 150 million units. The Game Boy/Game Boy Color line follows at 118.69 million.
The Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 are still on the market (denoted by # in some tables), and both continue to climb. The Switch launched March 2017 and the Switch 2 arrived in 2025; the PS5, launched November 2020, sits at 95.3 million units and is expected to cross 100 million.
More like this: all Technology rankings · browse every topic