The National Purchase Diary (NPD) Group has announced that PlayStation 4 was the best-selling home console in the United States for December 2016, beating the Xbox One for a second consecutive month.

While Sony is keeping silent on actual sales figures, Microsoft were not afraid to pipe up and take note that PS4 sales declined year-on-year. On the other hand, Xbox One actually outsold its rival during the second half of 2016. It also noted a strong performance for December 2016 for its gaming division.

The NPD Group today released its initial report for December US sales, revealing how hardware sold during the month and more. Sony's PlayStation 4 was the top-selling console in the US during the month, according to Venture Beat, while the Xbox One saw a strong performance as well.

A statement from Microsoft shared with GameSpot has officially confirmed that December 2016 was the "biggest month ever" for Xbox One sales in the US. As a matter of fact, the Xbox One was the only new-generation console that showed year-over-year growth in the US during the month. Microsoft also said that the Xbox One was the best-selling console for the second half of 2016.

Additionally, Xbox marketing VP Mike Nichols shared some further statistics about Xbox's performance. Nichols said,

"In November and December, we saw Xbox Live engagement reach an all-time high of 3.9 billion hours, up 23 percent compared to 2015 driven by fan excitement for the greatest games lineup. Looking ahead, we expect 2017 to be a special year for gamers thanks to the upcoming launch of the most powerful console ever in Project Scorpio and a terrific portfolio of new games with Xbox Live support on Xbox One, Windows 10, or both."

Next week, the NPD Group will announce the top-selling games for 2017.