NPD: Black Ops leads US sales in January

By Tom Ivan for computerandvideogames.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best selling game in the US during January, according to data released this evening by the NPD Group.

Activision's shooter, which moved 8.4 million copies in the States the previous month to top December's software sales chart, held off competition from Just Dance 2, which moved up one place to No.2.

Dead Space 2 was the highest new entry at No.3, ahead of fellow chart debutants LittleBigPlanet 2 at No.4 and DC Universe Online at No.10.

Zumba Fitness: Join the Party, which we can't say with any certainty we'd heard of until just now, placed at No.5, followed by NBA 2K11, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Dance Central and Michael Jackson: The Experience.

January top ten

01. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, DS, PC) - Activision

02. Just Dance 2 (Wii) - Ubisoft

03. Dead Space 2 (360, PS3, PC) - EA

04. LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3) - Sony

05. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Wii, 360, PS3) - Majesco

06. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, PC) - Take-Two

07. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3) - Ubisoft

08. Dance Central (360) - Microsoft

09. Michael Jackson: The Experience (Wii, DS, PSP) - Ubisoft

10. DC Universe Online (PS3, PC) - Sony

While NPD has in recent months scaled back the data it releases to the public, this month's report was particularly shy of info because the research firm didn't provide its usual quotes or analysis.

No doubt we'll soon be getting emails from analysts and chest-puffing platform holders with some hardware and software sales figures for January, in which case we'll put them up on the site.

Update: Xbox 360 was the top selling console in the US in January, shifting 381,000 units.