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Tops of 2013: Entertainment

6 minute read | December 2013

Franchises—through sequels, prequels, and remakes—dominated the entertainment scene in 2013. This year’s three best-selling DVDs—Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (part of the Lord of the Rings series), and Skyfall (part of the James Bond series)—were all part of established series. At the same time, consumers across video gaming formats—Xbox 360, PS3, and PC—clamored for Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty: Ghosts, both of which are the latest games in two major franchises.

Book sales were also influenced by people eager to continue the story. Adults gobbled up Inferno (the latest in Dan Brown’s series that includes the best seller The Da Vinci Code) and The Great Gatsby (a reprint of the 1925 novel), the best-selling fiction books. And kids were no different—Jeff Kinney’s seventh (The Third Wheel) and eighth (Hard Luck) books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise were the third and first best-selling children’s books, respectively. The second best-selling children’s book was The House of Hades (the fourth book in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series).

The only entertainment sector not to see a series top the chart was adult non-fiction, where religious-themed books held the top three spots.

Top 10 DVD/Blu-ray Titles of 2013

Rank Title Distributor Release Date
1 Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 Lionsgate 3/2/2013
2 Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Warner Home Video 3/19/2013
3 Skyfall Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2/12/2013
4 Wreck-It Ralph Disney/Buena Vista Home Video 3/5/2013
5 Monsters University Disney/Buena Vista Home Video 10/29/2013
6 Hotel Transylvania Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 1/29/2013
7 Rise of the Guardians Paramount Home Entertainment 3/12/2013
8 Iron Man 3 Disney/Buena Vista Home Video 9/24/2013
9 Croods Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 10/1/2013
10 Star Trek Into Darkness Paramount Home Entertainment 9/10/2013
Source: Nielsen.
Data from Dec. 31, 2012-Dec. 1, 2013. Based on Aggregate disc unit sales (DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray/DVD Combo packs, etc.).

Top 10 Print Books of 2013 – Adult Fiction

Rank Title (Format) Author Publisher Publish Date
1 INFERNO (Hardcover) DAN BROWN DOUBLEDAY BOOKS 5/1/2013
2 THE GREAT GATSBY (Trade Paperback) F. SCOTT FITZGERALD SCRIBNER BOOK COMPANY 10/1/2004
3 FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (Trade Paperback) E. L. JAMES VINTAGE BOOKS 4/1/2012
4 AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED (Hardcover) KHALED HOSSEINI RIVERHEAD BOOKS 5/1/2013
5 SYCAMORE ROW (Hardcover) JOHN GRISHAM DOUBLEDAY BOOKS 10/1/2013
6 DOCTOR SLEEP (Hardcover) STEPHEN KING SCRIBNER BOOK COMPANY 9/1/2013
7 GONE GIRL (Hardcover) GILLIAN FLYNN CROWN PUBLISHING GROUP (NY) 6/1/2012
8 THE LONGEST RIDE (Hardcover) NICHOLAS SPARKS GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING 9/1/2013
9 FIFTY SHADES DARKER (Trade Paperback) E. L. JAMES VINTAGE BOOKS 4/1/2012
10 JOYLAND (Trade Paperback) STEPHEN KING HARD CASE CRIME 6/1/2013
Source: Nielsen.
Data from Dec. 31, 2012-Dec. 8, 2013. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 85% of the print book market and continues to grow. As of January 2013, BookScan includes sales from Wal-Mart.

Top 10 Print Books of 2013 – Adult Non-Fiction

Rank Title Author Publisher Publish Date
1 PROOF OF HEAVEN (Trade Paperback) ALEXANDER EBEN SIMON & SCHUSTER 10/1/2012
2 KILLING JESUS (Hardcover) BILL O’REILLY HENRY HOLT & COMPANY 9/1/2013
3 JESUS CALLING (Hardcover) SARAH YOUNG THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS 10/1/2004
4 LEAN IN (Hardcover) SHERYL SANDBERG KNOPF PUBLISHING GROUP 3/1/2013
5 HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY (Hardcover) PHIL ROBERTSON HOWARD BOOKS 5/1/2013
6 STRENGTHS FINDER 2.0 (Hardcover) TOM RATH GALLUP PRESS 2/1/2007
7 SI-COLOGY 1 (Hardcover) SI ROBERTSON HOWARD BOOKS 9/1/2013
8 THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY (Hardcover) WILLIE ROBERTSON HOWARD BOOKS 10/1/2012
9 THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES (Trade Paperback) GARY CHAPMAN NORTHFIELD PRESS 12/1/2009
10 AMERICAN SNIPER (Mass Market Paperback) CHRIS KYLE HARPER 1/1/2013
Source: Nielsen.
Data from Dec. 31, 2012-Dec. 8, 2013. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 85% of the print book market and continues to grow. As of January 2013, BookScan includes sales from Wal-Mart.

Top 10 Print Books of 2013 – Children and Young Adults

Rank Title Author Publisher Publish Date
1 HARD LUCK (Hardcover) JEFF KINNEY AMULET BOOKS 11/1/2013
2 THE HOUSE OF HADES (Hardcover) RICK RIORDAN DISNEY PRESS 10/1/2013
3 THE THIRD WHEEL (Hardcover) JEFF KINNEY AMULET BOOKS 11/1/2012
4 DIVERGENT (Trade Paperback) VERONICA ROTH KATHERINE TEGEN BOOKS 2/1/2012
5 THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (Hardcover) JOHN GREEN DUTTON BOOKS 1/1/2012
6 ALLEGIANT (Hardcover) VERONICA ROTH KATHERINE TEGEN BOOKS 10/1/2013
7 RUSH REVERE & THE BRAVE PILGRIM (Hardcover) RUSH LIMBAUGH THRESHOLD EDITIONS 10/1/2013
8 OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! (Hardcover) DR SEUSS RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S BOOKS 1/1/1990
9 GREEN EGGS AND HAM (Hardcover) DR SEUSS RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S BOOKS 8/1/1960
10 THE WIMPY KID DO-IT-YOURSELF BOOK (Hardcover) JEFF KINNEY AMULET BOOKS 5/1/2011
Source: Nielsen.
Data from Dec. 31, 2012-Dec. 8, 2013. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 85% of the print book market and continues to grow. As of January 2013, BookScan includes sales from Wal-Mart.

Top 10 Most Wanted Titles of 2013 for Xbox 360

Title Release Date Game Rank
Call of Duty: Ghosts 11/5/13 99%
Grand Theft Auto V 9/17/13 98%
Battlefield 4 10/29/13 97%
Madden NFL 25 8/27/13 97%
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag 10/29/13 96%
Tomb Raider 3/5/13 95%
Gears of War: Judgment* 3/19/13 94%
Bioshock: Infinite 3/26/13 93%
Dead Space 3 2/5/13 92%
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct 3/19/13 91%
Source: Nielsen.
Read as: At one week pre-release, Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox 360 performed better in overall aggregated U.S. consumer anticipation than 99 percent of all previous Xbox 360 titles at the same point in their release cycles.
Data from Jan. 1, 2013-Dec. 1, 2013. The overall anticipation level among gaming consumers was derived from leveraging several key consumer metrics (including Awareness, Purchase Interest and others) into one overall score. That score was then compared to scores from all previous games released on the same platform at the same point in their release cycles, to determine the percentile ranking of the upcoming title (aka the Nielsen Game Rank™).
*Title is a platform exclusive.

Top 10 Most Wanted Titles of 2013 for PS3

Title Release Date Game Rank
Grand Theft Auto V 9/17/13 100%
Call of Duty: Ghosts 11/5/13 99%
Battlefield 4 10/29/13 98%
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag 10/29/13 98%
Madden NFL 25 8/27/13 97%
Tomb Raider 3/5/13 97%
Dead Space 3 2/5/13 96%
God of War: Ascension* 3/12/13 96%
The Last of Us* 6/14/13 96%
Gran Turismo 6* 12/6/13 95%
Source: Nielsen.
Read as: At one week pre-release, Grand Theft Auto V on PS3 performed better in overall aggregated U.S. consumer anticipation than all previous PS3 titles at the same point in their release cycles.
Data from Jan. 1, 2013-Dec. 1, 2013. The overall anticipation level among gaming consumers was derived from leveraging several key consumer metrics (including Awareness, Purchase Interest and others) into one overall score. That score was then compared to scores from all previous games released on the same platform at the same point in their release cycles, to determine the percentile ranking of the upcoming title (aka the Nielsen Game Rank™).
*Title is a platform exclusive.

Top 10 Most Wanted Titles of 2013 for Personal Computer (PC)

Title Release Date Game Rank
Grand Theft Auto V 9/17/13 99%
Call of Duty: Ghosts 11/5/13 99%
Battlefield 4 10/29/13 98%
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag 10/29/13 97%
Dead Space 3 2/5/13 95%
Tomb Raider 3/5/13 94%
Bioshock: Infinite 3/26/13 93%
SimCity* 3/5/13 92%
The Sims 3: University Life* 3/5/13 92%
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct 3/19/13 91%
Source: Nielsen.
Read as: At one week pre-release, Grand Theft Auto V on PC performed better in overall aggregated U.S. consumer anticipation than 99 percent of all previous PC titles at the same point in their release cycles.
Data from Jan. 1, 2013-Dec. 1, 2013. The overall anticipation level among gaming consumers was derived from leveraging several key consumer metrics (including Awareness, Purchase Interest and others) into one overall score. That score was then compared to scores from all previous games released on the same platform at the same point in their release cycles, to determine the percentile ranking of the upcoming title (aka the Nielsen Game Rank™).
*Title is a platform exclusive.

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