Wii Sports sold 82.90 million copies, more than any game on any Nintendo console and one of the best-selling video games ever made. Almost none of that came from people choosing to buy it.
The game was packed in free with the Wii in most of the world, which is the single most important fact about this list. Below are the 10 best-selling Wii games of all time, along with why the raw numbers flatter some titles far more than others.
Best-Selling Wii Games at a Glance
| Rank | Game | Copies Sold | Released | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wii Sports | 82.90 million | 2006 | Sports |
| 2 | Mario Kart Wii | 37.38 million | 2008 | Kart racing |
| 3 | Wii Sports Resort | 33.14 million | 2009 | Sports |
| 4 | New Super Mario Bros. Wii | 30.32 million | 2009 | Platformer |
| 5 | Wii Play | 28.02 million | 2006 | Party |
| 6 | Wii Fit | 22.67 million | 2007 | Fitness |
| 7 | Wii Fit Plus | 21.13 million | 2009 | Fitness |
| 8 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | 13.32 million | 2008 | Fighting |
| 9 | Super Mario Galaxy | 12.80 million | 2007 | Platformer |
| 10 | Just Dance 3 | 9.92 million | 2011 | Rhythm |
The 10 Best-Selling Wii Games
1. Wii Sports: 82.90 Million
Wii Sports shipped free with the console in North America, Europe, and most other territories, which is why its total dwarfs everything else. Tennis, bowling, and boxing became the demonstration of what motion control could do.
Its real achievement was reaching people who had never touched a game before, from grandparents to office parties. No title has better matched a console’s purpose, and none is more misleading as a measure of demand.
2. Mario Kart Wii: 37.38 Million
Mario Kart Wii is the best-selling entry that people largely bought on its own merits, though it too shipped in a bundle with the plastic Wii Wheel. It introduced motorbikes and motion steering to the series.
At 37.38 million it outsold every other Mario Kart until the Switch version passed it years later. It remains the second best-selling racing game of all time.
3. Wii Sports Resort: 33.14 Million
The sequel to Wii Sports added twelve activities and required the MotionPlus accessory for finer tracking, which was bundled with the game. Sword fighting and archery showed off the improved precision.
It sold 33.14 million despite not being a free pack-in, which makes it a far stronger commercial performance than the original in relative terms.
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 30.32 Million
This was the first Mario platformer built for four-player simultaneous cooperative play, a format that turned a traditionally solo series into a living-room event. It sold 30.32 million.
Its success confirmed that the Wii audience wanted shared, in-person experiences, the same instinct that drove the console’s motion-based hits.
5. Wii Play: 28.02 Million
Wii Play is the clearest example of hardware inflating a game’s figures. It was sold bundled with a Wii Remote at a price barely above the controller alone, so many buyers were really purchasing the accessory.
Its nine minigames were slight, but 28.02 million people ended up owning it. Few games on any platform owe more of their sales to what came in the box alongside them.
6. Wii Fit: 22.67 Million
Wii Fit came packaged with the Balance Board, a pressure-sensitive platform that turned yoga, aerobics, and balance games into a fitness product. It sold 22.67 million and created a category that barely existed before.
It reached buyers who did not consider themselves gamers at all, pulling the Wii into living rooms as an exercise device rather than a console.
7. Wii Fit Plus: 21.13 Million
The follow-up refined the formula with more activities and better progress tracking, sold both on its own and bundled with the Balance Board. It reached 21.13 million.
The two Wii Fit titles together sold nearly 44 million copies, a remarkable total for software built around a single peripheral.
8. Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 13.32 Million
Brawl is the highest-ranked game here made outside Nintendo’s core studio, developed by Sora Ltd. under Masahiro Sakurai. It sold 13.32 million and was the first Smash title to include third-party characters.
It is also the first game on this list aimed squarely at established players rather than the casual audience the Wii is remembered for.
9. Super Mario Galaxy: 12.80 Million
Super Mario Galaxy is widely regarded as the finest game on the console and one of the best platformers ever made, built around gravity-bending spherical levels. It sold 12.80 million.
That it ranks only ninth, well behind minigame collections and fitness software, says everything about who was actually buying Wii games and why.
10. Just Dance 3: 9.92 Million
Just Dance 3 is the only third-party game in the top ten and the only one not published by Nintendo, developed by Ubisoft. It sold 9.92 million in 2011, late in the console’s life.
The series thrived on the Wii precisely because motion control suited dancing, and it kept selling after most publishers had moved on to newer hardware.
Why Wii Sports’ Total Is Not What It Seems
Wii Sports was bundled free with almost every Wii sold outside Japan and South Korea, so its 82.90 million figure tracks console sales rather than genuine demand for the game. Nearly everyone who owned a Wii owned Wii Sports without choosing to.
That single caveat reshapes the whole list. Mario Kart Wii at 37.38 million is arguably the more meaningful number, since most of those copies were bought as a deliberate purchase. Reading this ranking without accounting for what shipped in the box gives a distorted picture of what Wii owners actually wanted.
Almost Everything Here Came Bundled With Hardware
The bundling goes far beyond Wii Sports. Wii Play was sold with a Wii Remote, Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus came with the Balance Board, Wii Sports Resort included the MotionPlus adapter, and Mario Kart Wii shipped with the plastic wheel.
Only three games in the top ten, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy, sold primarily as standalone software with no accessory attached. The Wii’s best-seller list is really a record of how effectively Nintendo used hardware to move games, a strategy visible again in our ranking of the best-selling game consoles.
Casual Titles Buried the Prestige Games
The four sports and fitness titles, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit, and Wii Fit Plus, sold 159.84 million copies between them. That is more than the other six games on the list combined.
Super Mario Galaxy, the most critically acclaimed game on the console, sold fewer copies than Wii Play, a collection of nine minigames sold to shift controllers. The Wii captured an audience that wanted approachable, physical, social play, and traditional prestige titles were not what brought them in. It is a pattern that later shaped how Nintendo built the Switch library, covered in our ranking of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games.
Only Two Games Came From Outside Nintendo
Eight of the ten games were developed within Nintendo‘s own studios. Only Super Smash Bros. Brawl, made by Sora Ltd. under Nintendo’s direction, and Just Dance 3 from Ubisoft came from outside.
Just Dance 3 is the sole entry Nintendo neither made nor published. That near-total dominance of a company’s own best-seller list is rare even for Nintendo, and it reflects how few third parties cracked the casual audience the Wii had created.
2009 Was the Console’s Commercial Peak
Three of the ten games launched in 2009: Wii Sports Resort, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Wii Fit Plus. No other year produced more than two.
That clustering marks the height of the Wii phenomenon, when the console was still the must-have device in tens of millions of homes. Sales faded quickly afterward as the novelty of motion control wore off and rivals answered with their own systems, which is why only one top-ten game, Just Dance 3, arrived later.
These Numbers Are Final
The Wii was discontinued in 2013, and Nintendo has not shipped new copies of these games in years, so the figures here are effectively permanent rather than provisional. They reflect the company’s official lifetime sales reporting.
Across its life the Wii sold more than 921 million copies of software, and these 10 titles account for 291.60 million of them, or 31.6% of everything sold. Because the platform is retired, that share will not shift again, unlike the live rankings for current hardware.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best-selling Wii game?
Wii Sports, with 82.90 million copies. It was bundled free with the console in most regions, so its total reflects console sales more than demand for the game itself.
What is the best-selling Wii game people actually chose to buy?
Mario Kart Wii, at 37.38 million. Although it shipped with a plastic wheel accessory, most copies were bought as a deliberate purchase rather than as a free pack-in.
Why did Super Mario Galaxy sell so few copies?
It sold 12.80 million, a strong figure undercut by the Wii’s audience. Most Wii owners bought the console for casual sports, party, and fitness games rather than traditional platformers, so even an acclaimed title ranked below minigame collections.
How many of these games came bundled with hardware?
Seven of the ten. Only New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy sold primarily as standalone software without an accessory or console bundle.
Are these Wii sales figures still changing?
No. The Wii was discontinued in 2013 and the figures are final. These 10 games account for 31.6% of the 921 million pieces of Wii software ever sold.