Trilogies, cartoons and book adaptations dominated the DVD charts of 2012, with The Avengers, Hunger Games and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part One in the top three slots. Hunger Games also ranked as the top books among young adults, making the Suzanne Collins books—along with E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy (top Adult Fiction Titles)—one of the wildest successes of the year. Major game franchises continued to reign king for the current generation of video game consoles, with Halo, Call of Duty, Madden NFL and Mario Party among those with the most anticipated new titles of the year.
Top 10 DVD Titles of 2012
| Rank |
Title |
Distributor |
Release Date |
| 1 |
Avengers |
Disney/Buena Vista Home Video |
9/25/2012 |
| 2 |
Hunger Games |
Lionsgate |
8/18/2012 |
| 3 |
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 |
Lionsgate |
2/11/2012 |
| 4 |
Brave |
Disney/Buena Vista Home Video |
11/13/2012 |
| 5 |
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax |
Universal Home Entertainment |
8/7/2012 |
| 6 |
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows |
Warner Home Video |
6/12/2012 |
| 7 |
Puss in Boots |
Paramount Home Entertainment |
2/24/2012 |
| 8 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked |
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment |
3/27/2012 |
| 9 |
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted |
Paramount Home Entertainment |
10/16/2012 |
| 10 |
Hop |
Universal Home Entertainment |
3/23/2012 |
| Source: Nielsen
Data from January 2, 2012 – November 25, 2012. Based on Aggregate disc unit sales (DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray/DVD Combo packs, etc.). Does not include data from Wal-Mart. Most other sell-through retailers are included.
Top 10 Print Book Sales of 2012 – Adult Non-Fiction
| Rank |
Title (Format) |
Author |
Imprint |
Date of Publication |
| 1 |
No Easy Day (Hardcover) |
Mark Owen |
Dutton Books |
9/1/2012 |
| 2 |
Jesus Calling (Hardcover) |
Sarah Young |
Integrity Publishers |
10/1/2004 |
| 3 |
Killing Lincoln (Hardcover) |
Bill O’Reilly |
Henry Holt & Company |
9/1/2011 |
| 4 |
Killing Kennedy (Hardcover) |
Bill O’Reilly |
Henry Holt & Company |
10/1/2012 |
| 5 |
Strengths Finder 2.0 (Hardcover) |
Tom Rath |
Gallup Press |
2/1/2007 |
| 6 |
Heaven Is For Real (Trade Paperback) |
Todd Burpo |
Thomas Nelson Publishers |
11/1/2010 |
| 7 |
Unbroken (Hardcover) |
Laura Hillenbrand |
Random House |
11/1/2010 |
| 8 |
American Sniper (Hardcover) |
Chris Kyle |
William Morrow & Company |
1/1/2012 |
| 9 |
Bossypants (Trade Paperback) |
Tina Fey |
Reagan Arthur Books |
1/1/2012 |
| 10 |
Steve Jobs (Hardcover) |
Walter Isaacson |
Simon & Schuster |
10/1/2011 |
| Source: Nielsen BookScan
Data from January 2, 2012 – December 2, 2012. Nielsen BookScan’s US Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 75% of the print book market and continues to grow. BookScan does not track sales from Wal-Mart.
Top 10 Print Book Sales of 2012 – Adult Fiction
| Rank |
Title (Format) |
Author |
Imprint |
Date of Publication |
| 1 |
Fifty Shades Of Grey (Trade Paperback) |
E. L. James |
Vintage Books |
4/1/2012 |
| 2 |
Fifty Shades Darker (Trade Paperback) |
E. L. James |
Vintage Books |
4/1/2012 |
| 3 |
Fifty Shades Freed (Trade Paperback) |
E. L. James |
Vintage Books |
4/1/2012 |
| 4 |
Fifty Shades Trilogy (Boxed Set) |
E. L. James |
Vintage Books |
6/1/2012 |
| 5 |
Gone Girl (Hardcover) |
Gillian Flynn |
Crown Publishing Group (Ny) |
6/1/2012 |
| 6 |
The Casual Vacancy (Hardcover) |
J. K. Rowling |
Little Brown And Company |
9/1/2012 |
| 7 |
Bared To You (Trade Paperback) |
Sylvia Day |
Berkley Publishing Group |
6/1/2012 |
| 8 |
The Racketeer (Hardcover) |
John Grisham |
Doubleday Books |
10/1/2012 |
| 9 |
The Lucky One (Mass Market Paperback) |
Nicholas Sparks |
Grand Central Publishing |
3/1/2012 |
| 10 |
The Last Boyfriend (Trade Paperback) |
Nora Roberts |
Berkley Publishing Group |
5/1/2012 |
| Source: Nielsen BookScan
Data from January 2, 2012 – December 2, 2012. Nielsen BookScan’s US Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 75% of the print book market and continues to grow. BookScan does not track sales from Wal-Mart.
Top 10 Print Book Sales of 2012 – Children and Young Adults
| Rank |
Title (Format) |
Author |
Imprint |
Date of Publication |
| 1 |
The Hunger Games (Trade Paperback) |
Suzanne Collins |
Scholastic Press |
7/1/2010 |
| 2 |
Catching Fire (Hardcover) |
Suzanne Collins |
Scholastic Press |
9/1/2009 |
| 3 |
Mockingjay (Hardcover) |
Suzanne Collins |
Scholastic Press |
8/1/2010 |
| 4 |
The Third Wheel (Hardcover) |
Jeff Kinney |
Amulet Books |
11/1/2012 |
| 5 |
The Hunger Games (Hardcover) |
Suzanne Collins |
Scholastic Press |
10/1/2008 |
| 6 |
The Hunger Games (Trade Paperback) |
Suzanne Collins |
Scholastic Inc. |
2/1/2012 |
| 7 |
The Mark Of Athena (Hardcover) |
Rick Riordan |
Hyperion Books |
10/1/2012 |
| 8 |
The Hunger Games Trilogy (Boxed Set) |
Suzanne Collins |
Scholastic Press |
8/1/2010 |
| 9 |
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 6 (Hardcover) |
Jeff Kinney |
Abrams |
11/1/2011 |
| 10 |
The Serpent’s Shadow (Hardcover) |
Rick Riordan |
Hyperion Books |
5/1/2012 |
| Source: Nielsen BookScan
Data from January 2, 2012 – December 2, 2012. Nielsen BookScan’s US Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 75% of the print book market and continues to grow. BookScan does not track sales from Wal-Mart.
Top 10 Most Anticipated Game Titles of 2012 – Xbox 360
| Rank |
Title |
Release Date |
Game Rank |
| 1 |
Halo 4 |
11/6/2012 |
100% |
| 2 |
Call of Duty: Black Ops II |
11/13/2012 |
99% |
| 3 |
Assassin’s Creed III |
10/30/2012 |
97% |
| 3 |
Madden NFL 13 |
8/28/2012 |
97% |
| 5 |
Resident Evil 6 |
10/2/2012 |
96% |
| 6 |
Mass Effect 3 |
3/6/2012 |
95% |
| 7 |
Borderlands 2 |
9/18/2012 |
93% |
| 8 |
Max Payne 3 |
5/15/2012 |
91% |
| 9 |
Far Cry 3 |
12/4/2012 |
90% |
| 10 |
Final Fantasy XIII-2 |
1/31/2012 |
86% |
| 10 |
Prototype 2 |
4/24/2012 |
86% |
| 10 |
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City |
3/20/2012 |
86% |
| Source: Nielsen
Read as: At one week pre-release, Halo 4 on Xbox 360 performed better in overall aggregated U.S. consumer anticipation than 100 percent of all previous Xbox 360 titles at the same point in their release cycles.
Data from January 1, 2012 – December 4, 2012. 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™).
Top 10 Most Anticipated Game Titles of 2012 – PS3
| Rank |
Title |
Release Date |
Game Rank |
| 1 |
Call of Duty: Black Ops II |
11/13/2012 |
99% |
| 2 |
Assassin’s Creed III |
10/30/2012 |
98% |
| 3 |
Resident Evil 6 |
10/2/2012 |
98% |
| 4 |
Madden NFL 13 |
8/28/2012 |
97% |
| 5 |
Max Payne 3 |
5/15/2012 |
97% |
| 6 |
Borderlands 2 |
9/18/2012 |
95% |
| 7 |
Mass Effect 3 |
3/6/2012 |
94% |
| 8 |
Twisted Metal |
2/14/2012 |
94% |
| 9 |
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City |
3/20/2012 |
93% |
| 10 |
Final Fantasy XIII-2 |
1/31/2012 |
91% |
| 10 |
Prototype 2 |
4/24/2012 |
91% |
| Source: Nielsen
Read as: At one week pre-release, Call of Duty: Black Ops II on PS3 performed better in overall aggregated U.S. consumer anticipation than 99 percent of all previous PS3 titles at the same point in their release cycles.
Data from January 1, 2012 – December 4, 2012. 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™).
Top 10 Most Anticipated Game Titles of 2012 – Wii
| Rank |
Title |
Release Date |
Game Rank |
| 1 |
Mario Party 9 |
3/11/2012 |
99% |
| 2 |
Just Dance 4 |
10/9/2012 |
98% |
| 3 |
Madden NFL 13 |
8/28/2012 |
95% |
| 4 |
Zumba Fitness Core |
10/16/2012 |
91% |
| 5 |
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes |
6/19/2012 |
89% |
| 6 |
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two |
11/18/2012 |
89% |
| 7 |
Just Dance: Disney Party |
10/23/2012 |
87% |
| 8 |
NBA 2K13 |
10/2/2012 |
85% |
| 9 |
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond |
2/27/2012 |
85% |
| 10 |
LEGO The Lord of the Rings |
10/30/2012 |
84% |
| Source: Nielsen
Read as: At one week pre-release, Mario Party 9 on Wii performed better in overall aggregated U.S. consumer anticipation than 99 percent of all previous Wii titles at the same point in their release cycles.
Data from January 1, 2012 – December 4, 2012. 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™).
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