UK Chart Analysis: Nintendo’s Mario Kart World Reclaims No.1 in Switch 2’s 5th Week

Welcome to a brief INSiGHT into the UK charts! It is the fifth week since Nintendo Switch 2 started breaking records across the globe and, here in the UK, Mario Kart World has reclaimed the top spot in the Top 40 Entertainment Software, dethroning last week’s victor, Death Stranding 2, in mighty quick time. That makes it four weeks out of five where the Switch 2 racer has claimed the crown. What else is going on around the various listings, though?

Well, it’s a very strong week for the original Nintendo Switch, with 18 out of its entire platform-specific Top 20 featuring in the all-format Top 40. Not bad going for a system now in its ninth year on the market, and in a country that has been very Sony and Microsoft-centric for many years. From Mario Kart 8 Deluxe holding firm at No.5 (No.1 on Switch), all the way down to Pokémon Legends Arceus at No.40 (No.18 on Switch), it is only the duo of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! that miss out.

On the Switch 2 front, six of its current Top 14 list make the chart, with Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Edition being of particular note, since it climbs two places to No.3 on the Switch 2-specific chart, but that launches it up the main Top 40 an impressive seventeen spots to No.23, with Switch 2 doing the heavy lifting, grabbing a 93% share of total sales for that title compared to PS5 (6%) and PS4 (1%). Whilst climbing up two spots to No.7 on the Switch 2 list this week, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster doesn’t quite make it into the main Top 40, meaning that all games below it also failed to make the cut, despite titles like Sonic X Shadow Generations and Split Fiction certainly helping thanks to increased Switch 2 shares of the pie (the former at No.35 with 38% on Switch 2 compared to 32% original Switch and 20% on PS5, and the latter at No.37 with a Switch 2 share of 37% compared to 52% on PS5 and 12% on Xbox Series).

Elsewhere, Civilization VII, sadly, now holds the title of worst performing Switch 2 game at retail for a fifth consecutive week, languishing one spot below the recently release Raidou Remastered, which is at No.13. Above those on the Switch 2 chart are Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma at No.10, Hitman: World of Assassination at No.11 and Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut at No.12.

Here’s the Top 40 of the Entertainment Software chart: