A Look at the Best Selling Christmas Toys Over the Years

Take a few moments away from frantically trying to find this year's hottest Christmas toys to reminisce about the best selling Christmas toys from previous years. Every year there is a hot new must have toy on every child's Christmas list and 2011 is no exception. Just as with this year, if there was a hit movie in a particular year, then the best sellers for the Christmas season probably were more on the side of action figures, VHS or DVDs, and soundtrack albums for that particular movie. For 2011, the big ones are Toy Story 3, Iron Man 2 and Transformers 2 but think back to 2004 when the Incredibles was the top Disney hit and Incredibles themed toys were a top feature in the toy market. Or think back to 1995 when Buzz Lightyear and our favourite cowboy, Woody first made an appearance on the big screen and their action figures subsequently made an appearance in our children's toy collections.
No matter what the best selling Christmas toys were in any particular year, it's safe to say that they were enjoyed by children from all over, and are now recorded in history for everyone to reflect on for years to come.
Two decades ago, the hottest Christmas toys were based on a gang of crime fighting turtles, the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. These cartoon favorites were released to stores as four individual figurines, and dubbed the "heroes in a half-shell", each equipped with kung fu skills to help them fight their way through the underground sewers of New York City and right into the homes and hearts of young UK children.
Do you remember POGS? A collection of decorated disks, meant to be collected, traded, and flipped by young children, and is loosely based off of an even older game, tiddlywinks. How about Tamagotchis? Those little electronic pets were all the rage in the late 90s. The POGS and Tamagotchi fad quickly faded though and it seems kids have become more high tech and you're more likely to find something like a Nintendo DSi or a Nintendo Wii on your child's Christmas gift list in 2011.
This year, the best selling Christmas toys aren't electronic pets or turtle action figures. Times have changed and so have the expectations of the toy loving children. For 2011 the hottest Christmas toys are predicted to be video game consoles as well as games and toys based on this year's hit movies such as Toy Story 3 or popular Disney shows like Camp Rock and Hannah Montana.