With a strong holiday sales period finishing a banner year, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 ended 2011 as the best-selling current-generation console in the U.S., outselling the second-place console by more than 2.7 million units, according to The NPD Group.

The strong December capped an impressive year during which Xbox 360 was the fastest-growing console. It also captured 49 percent of consumer retail spending, with an industry-leading $6.7 billion in sales in the U.S. for the calendar year—more than $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games and accessories, NPD data shows.

Xbox 360 was the must-have gift this holiday season with about half of December’s retail spend on games, consoles and accessories going toward Xbox 360 products, totaling more than $1.5 billion, NPD data shows. According to internal Microsoft figures, the company has now sold more than 66 million Xbox 360 consoles and more than 18 million Kinect sensors worldwide, and has nearly 40 million Xbox LIVE members. Below is a screenshot of a bundle inspired by one of this year's most popular games, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3:

Other NPD highlights from December 2011 include:

• Holding a 46 percent share of the overall current-generation console market, Xbox 360 sold more than 1.7 million units in December, solidifying the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This marks the tenth consecutive month Xbox 360 has held more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share, and twelfth straight month Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the U.S.
• Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform (hardware, software and accessories) reached $1.5 billion, the most for any console in the U.S.
• Xbox 360 had seven of the top 10 console game titles including: “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3,” Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Battlefield 3,” “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations,” “Just Dance 3,” “Kinect Sports Season Two” and “Dance Central 2”.
• For 2011, Xbox 360 had six of the top 10 console game titles including “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3,” “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Gears of War 3,” “Battlefield 3,” “Madden NFL 12,” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops”.

This week at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft showed many of the ways Xbox 360 and Kinect will continue their strong momentum in 2012, including new Xbox LIVE content partners such as News Corp. In addition, Microsoft’s internal data shows:

• The hours of video consumed globally on Xbox LIVE increased 140 percent from 2010 to 2011.
• In December, more than 60 percent of U.S. Xbox LIVE Gold members used entertainment apps on Xbox LIVE – for an average of an hour a day each.
• The number of people using entertainment apps on Xbox LIVE increased by nearly 50 percent globally from November to December.

Beyond gaming, Microsoft will soon sell a Kinect for Windows sensor designed for commercial applications, bringing Kinect to whole new audiences including the classroom, operating room and the board room. Looking forward to 2012, Microsoft expects new experiences for Xbox LIVE and new installments in the “Halo” and “Fable” franchises.

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog