EA has had more UK Christmas Number 1 games than any publisher

New data released by GFK has revealed that Electronic Arts has had more Christmas No.1 games in the UK than any other publisher.

FIFA and Activision Blizzard‘s Call of Duty both dominate the list, with each of the titles spending nine Christmases at number 1.

On the Nintendo side, interestingly, no Mario game has ever claimed the top spot, while The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – its only ever Christmas UK number 1 – won in 1998.

2021’s winner was FIFA 22, with Ubisoft‘s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla taking the top spot last year.

EA’s football game claimed the top spot on the boxed chart for the third week running ahead of Call of Duty: Vanguard and Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, according to GfK data (via GamesIndustry.biz).

Missing out on the top three by less than 200 sales was the PlayStation exclusive action game Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

New entries claimed the next two spots on the chart. Innersloth’s Among Us came in at No.5, with the Switch version accounting for 39% of its total sales ahead of PS4 (24%), Xbox (20%) and PS5 (17%).

Rockstar‘s delayed Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition debuted at No.6 following its PlayStation and Xbox release, with the Switch version now coming in 2022.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla took the top spot on the UK physical software chart last Christmas. It marked the first time the series and its publisher Ubisoft had topped the chart at Xmas.

It was also just the third time in 15 years that the Christmas No.1 position hadn’t been occupied by a FIFA or Call of Duty game – the others were The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2011 and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.

EA’s football series and Activision’s shooter franchise have now both topped the chart at Christmas on nine separate occasions, with Call of Duty’s last time coming in 2019.