PS5 the fastest-selling console in US history

The PlayStation 5 is the fastest-selling console in US history.

According to market research group NPD, Sony's console is the fastest-selling ever in the US in both unit and dollar sales. That's lifetime sales with five months on the market.

The PS5 sold 4.5m units globally in 2020. In February, Sony said it was on track to sell over 7.6m PS5 units by 31st March 2021.

It's a remarkable success for the supply-constrained PS5, which Sony launched amid the pandemic. Demand for the PS5 has heavily outstripped supply, and it remains out of stock at a raft of retailers who have faced trouble with scalpers and bots.

The Nintendo Switch continues to sell remarkably well, too. NPD's executive director Mat Piscatella tweeted to say the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars during the month of March.

In the first quarter of the year, Nintendo Switch was the unit sales leader while PS5 ranked first in hardware dollar sales in the US.

US NPD HW - PlayStation 5 is the fastest selling console in U.S. history in both unit and dollar sales (lifetime sales with five months on the market).

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) April 16, 2021

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What's next for Sony? It aims to sell more than 14.8m PS5s in its current fiscal year ending 31st March 2022, which would be more than the number of PS4s shipped during its second year. But the company is facing a chip shortage that could hamper manufacturing.

"We expect PS5's high demand to continue into next fiscal year and will do our best to meet that demand," Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said in February.

"We will make efforts to secure enough materials."