November NPD: Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim, Xbox 360 on top

The latest 'data' from the NPD Group has been released, featuring the month of November. Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reigns supreme this month, which is perhaps the most unsurprising news we've heard all day, considering the publisher's recent boasting. Perhaps slightly more surprising is that “even with Call of Duty coming to market, Battlefield 3 was the third best-selling game of the month, and is now the best-selling title under the Battlefield property.”

Bethesda's fifth entry in the Elder Scrolls franchise, Skyrim, fit snugly into second position ahead of EA's Battlefield 3, which dropped from first position in October--a position it achieved despite only five days of sales tracking. "In one month, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is just about half a million units shy of matching Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in lifetime sales," NPD's Anita Frazier noted, adding that Skyrim's performance was "a five-fold increase over Oblivion's first month sales."

As for hardware, the Xbox 360 enjoyed its "fourth consecutive month" as the top selling system, helped by the system's "record breaking" Black Friday sales. "The gap between 360 sales and sales of the next best selling platform was the largest we’ve seen since December 2008 when the Nintendo DS was the top selling system," Frazier added.

Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms including PC)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC)

• Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC)

• Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360)

• Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)

• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)

• Saints Row: The Third (360, PS3, PC)

• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (WII)

• Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)

According to the NPD Group, Batman: Arkham City continues to sell well and its "just shy" of Batman: Arkham Asylum's lifetime unit sales. Also interesting were the sales of Super Mario 3D Land and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which Frazier notes would have made the Top Ten in sales if the list did not track combined platform data.

Of course, NPD data does not account for digital sales, so it's possible the top ten list could look remarkably different when all distribution avenues are combined.