PS5 Best-Seller as Sales Drop - Americas Hardware Estimates for January 2026 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 20 February 2026 / 6,897 Views
The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the Americas (USA, Canada, & Latin America) with 240,901 units sold for January 2026, according to VGChartz estimates. The PS5 has sold 35.25 million units lifetime.
The Nintendo Switch 2 was the second best-selling console with an estimated 225,035 units sold to bring lifetime sales to 5.67 million units. The Xbox Series X|S came in third place with 90,078 units sold to bring its lifetime sales to 21.34 million units. The Nintendo Switch was the fourth best-selling console with an estimated 41,974 units sold to bring lifetime sales to 58.84 million units.
Switch 2 sales compared to the same month for the Switch 1 in 2018 are down by over 71,000 units as the Switch 1 sold 296,100 units in the Americas in January 2018.
PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2019 are up by over 5,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are down by over 121,000 units. PS4 sold 235,434 units for the month of January 2019 and Xbox One sales were at 211,095 units.
PlayStation 5 sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 68,866 (-22.2%). Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 62,464 units (-41.0%) and Nintendo Switch 1 sales are down by 124,247 units (-74.8%).
Looking at sales month-on-month, Nintendo Switch 2 sales are down by nearly 1.03 million units, PlayStation 5 sales are down by nearly 0.99 million units, Xbox Series X|S sales are down by nearly 242,000 units, and Nintendo Switch 1 sales are down by over 272,000 units.
Monthly Sales:
Americas hardware estimates for January 2026 (Followed by lifetime sales):
- PlayStation 5 - 240,901 (35,252,746)
- Switch 2 - 225,035 (5,672,018)
- Xbox Series X|S - 90,078 (21,338,558)
- Switch 1 - 41,974 (58,841,164)
USA hardware estimates for January 2026:
- PlayStation 5 - 188,185
- Switch 2 - 179,297
- Xbox Series X|S - 72,063
- Switch 1 - 28,981
Weekly Sales:
January 10, 2026 hardware estimates:
Americas:
- PlayStation 5 - 67,533
- Switch 2 - 67,399
- Xbox Series X|S - 24,849
- Switch 1 - 12,025
USA:
- Switch 2 - 53,697
- PlayStation 5 - 52,758
- Xbox Series X|S - 19,880
- Switch 1 - 8,290
January 17, 2026 hardware estimates:
Americas:
- PlayStation 5 - 60,576
- Switch 2 - 60,632
- Xbox Series X|S - 25,408
- Switch 1 - 10,985
USA:
- Switch 2 - 48,310
- PlayStation 5 - 47,321
- Xbox Series X|S - 20,327
- Switch 1 - 7,568
January 24, 2026 hardware estimates:
Americas:
- PlayStation 5 - 57,749
- Switch 2 - 49,697
- Xbox Series X|S - 20,225
- Switch 1 - 9,984
USA:
- PlayStation 5 - 45,109
- Switch 2 - 39,599
- Xbox Series X|S - 16,182
- Switch 1 - 6,885
January 31, 2026 hardware estimates:
Americas:
- PlayStation 5 - 55,043
- Switch 2 - 47,307
- Xbox Series X|S - 19,596
- Switch 1 - 8,980
USA:
- PlayStation 5 - 42,997
- Switch 2 - 37,691
- Xbox Series X|S - 15,674
- Switch 1 - 6,238
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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90K for Xbox is impressive considering it has practically no exclusives anymore, and the the XBSS costs the same as PS5 now
Switch 2 selling 25% less than Switch 1 in the same month is not a good sign. The writer means 2018 and not 2017 I guess, because Switch 1 wasn't even released in January 2017 :-)
5w v 4w… NS2 is doing just fine.
These are the VGChartz adjusted numbers. Shouldn't they cover the exact same time period every year?
Pretty sure VGChartz uses the same tracking periods as Circana.
Even if you calculate it by 4 weeks, it's still down sales per week overall.
Lol it’s down by single digits. Again, NS2 is doing fine. Hardware sales have been particularly weak in US as of recent across the industry— not even remotely a troubling sign for Switch 2 whatsoever. Best selling system WW for the month of January... that's more than NS1 can say for January 2018 or PS5 for January 2022.
Sales of the Switch 2 have dropped significantly. I've noticed it in my store, even more so this month, to the point that we're bringing back special offers: trade-ins with a 20% bonus on consoles to get the Switch 2 for much less. A month in four weeks doesn't change this situation, as sales had already fallen in December compared to the original Switch. This isn't normal for a new console, especially with the likely price increase. I'll say it again: here in Europe, the Switch 2 is too expensive for customers. Nintendo needs to speed up game releases, because this isn't helping sales either.
Respectfully, NS2 sold at a roughly identical pace to NS1 for their respective first January's WW (191k/wk versus 192k/wk). That means NS2 is still tracking among the fastest of gaming hardware sales— I think your store may just not be very popular when it comes to consumers purchasing a NS2. I really don't know what to tell ya lol.
Our Micromania chain of stores is the number one seller of video games and consoles in France. At some point, we have to stop being in denial. Nintendo Switch 2 sales have been declining everywhere for several months. Japan is the one saving the day and single-handedly carrying Switch 2 sales globally. France is a country that sells a huge number of Nintendo consoles, but that's not the case with the Switch 2. All stores in France are forced to offer discounts, which isn't normal for a new console. Nintendo needs to quickly release new Mario and Zelda games to boost sales, because if there's a real price increase, it's going to be tough for the Switch 2.
Nintendo switch 1 was still supply constrained in January 2018. Switch 2 was not. It's clear that the Switch 2 momentum is slowing down so I wouldn't say that it's doing 'just fine', i'd say that Nintendo must be quite worried that it will be a very tough first 9 months of the year for Switch 2
Keep in mind, today the trump tariffs have been knocked down by the Supreme Court. They have to pass through congress before they can become law. So I would think sales will start recover especially in march. (We are already at the end of February so it may not be affected as much). This also lowers the chances by a lot of Nintendo raising the prices in the US as the tariffs have been strucked down.
err I mean I guess you can claim it's the best selling system WW this month but really with the unofficial data that the site uses a 5k difference between the two this month is nothing special and basically a statistical tie given the uncertainness of the WW collected data.
Also, The PS5 in 2022 we all know was in heavy short supply at that time and Switch 1 sold almost 1.3M in January 2018 which is a big decline as well. You can try to defend it all you want, the fact of the matter is the Switch numbers are down and not impressive at all. That's not to say it won't rebound come March but these numbers aren't all that coming off of a console that sold 155M+ thus far. I am not saying Switch 2 is doomed so you don't have to defensive over it but it is a reason to critique it as so.
NS1 sold 0.963mil in January 2018 during a 5w month. NS2 sold 0.765mil during a 4w month. WW weekly average is nearly identical between the two.
Figures were adjusted down: look at the chart on front page. (https://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_date.php?reg=Global&ending=Monthly)
Fair enough, I still stand by my other points though regardless.
Switch came through very good holiday season of 2017 with Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Also, Wii U was selling abysmally and 3DS was not affecting Switch sales as well. So when we look at numbers holistically, Switch is still selling OK and Switch 2 is performing very well given 4 weeks performance. In my opinion despite a higher price and not having any must have games that were released in the holiday period to boost the sales, the console is doing remarkably well.
Final week of Jan the estimate is 42k so yes adjusting for equal numbers of weeks it's probably down around 10%.
$400 PS5 is fighting back.
VG Chartz team, if the figures have been adjusted post this article (figures on home page do not match the metrics on this article) can you please update the article with the correct numbers, thanks
They've only released a single "must play" IMO
Not too surprising considering
I imagine sales would tick up once they actually have a full Direct with 1st party bangers
