Quick TakeArticle at a glance
- Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling video game of the century , with more than 230 million copies sold worldwide, but it isn't the top pick on this ranking of the best Grand Theft Auto games by critic score.
- With GTA 6 landing November 19, this is where the series stands right now, and our GTA 6 launch trailer breakdown shows exactly what Rockstar is up against before it adds a seventh contender to this list.
- Sales and critical reception tell two different stories here, so this ranking leans on both: Metacritic score at launch, how well the game holds up today, and the mark it left on open-world design.
Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling video game of the century, with more than 230 million copies sold worldwide, but it isn’t the top pick on this ranking of the best Grand Theft Auto games by critic score. That spot belongs to a game that came out five years earlier and sold a fraction as many copies.
With GTA 6 landing November 19, this is where the series stands right now, and our GTA 6 launch trailer breakdown shows exactly what Rockstar is up against before it adds a seventh contender to this list.
Ranking Grand Theft Auto, Game by Game
Sales and critical reception tell two different stories here, so this ranking leans on both: Metacritic score at launch, how well the game holds up today, and the mark it left on open-world design. The quick version is below; the breakdown with the receipts follows.
| Rank | Game | Year | Metacritic | Copies Sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto V | 2013 | 97 | 230M+ |
| 2 | Grand Theft Auto IV | 2008 | 98 | ~25M |
| 3 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | 2004 | 95 | 27.5M |
| 4 | Grand Theft Auto III | 2001 | 97 | 14.5M |
| 5 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | 2002 | 95 | 17.5M+ |
| 6 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | 2006 | 86 | 4.5M |
1. Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
GTA V tops this list on sheer staying power, not just sales. Thirteen years after release, it is still getting new GTA Online content and still outselling games that came out last month, with more than 230 million lifetime copies sold as of 2026. Three protagonists running one heist structure was a genuine structural risk in 2013, and it paid off so completely that nobody has matched it since. Its 97 Metacritic score is nearly a decade old and it still hasn’t aged out of “best open-world game ever made” conversations.
2. Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)
Here’s the thing critics still bring up: GTA IV has the highest Metacritic score in the entire franchise, a 98, and it sold roughly a tenth of what GTA V did. Niko Bellic’s story is also the most grounded thing Rockstar has written for the series — a war veteran chasing a debt instead of a cartoon crime empire. It never got the cultural afterlife GTA V did, but on pure craft, reviewers rated it higher.
3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
San Andreas is the game that convinced a generation an open world could be a whole state, not a city. Three full cities, a desert, RPG stats for your character’s strength and lung capacity, and a soundtrack people still argue about on social media two decades later. It sold 27.5 million copies, more than GTA IV managed, which says a lot about how far ambition alone can carry a release.
4. Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
This is the one that actually invented the modern open-world genre, not just the GTA franchise. Dropping the series into full 3D with Liberty City in 2001 is the reason “GTA clone” became a genre descriptor for the next decade. A 97 Metacritic score for a launch title that was building the rules as it went is remarkable, and nearly every open-world game made since owes it something.
5. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
Vice City is the most purely fun entry on this list. Tommy Vercetti’s ’80s Miami pastiche traded III’s gray realism for neon, and it’s still the one longtime fans replay first when they want comfort food instead of a challenge. A 95 Metacritic score and 17.5 million copies sold a year after III proves Rockstar could iterate fast without losing quality — something plenty of annual franchises still can’t manage.
6. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006)
Built for the PSP and later ported to PS2, Vice City Stories is the last entry here, and the drop to an 86 Metacritic score shows what happens when a mainline-feeling GTA has to work around handheld hardware. Victor Vance’s story deserved more attention than a spin-off release usually gets, but it sold 4.5 million copies against San Andreas’s 27.5 million, and it’s the clearest evidence that platform matters as much as writing in how a GTA game gets remembered.
Where Does GTA 6 Fit In?
It can’t be ranked yet — GTA 6 isn’t out until November 19, 2026 — but it’s already up against a strange standard. GTA V is the best seller the series has ever had and GTA IV is the best-reviewed, and Rockstar’s next game somehow has to answer to both numbers at once. Whether it lands closer to IV’s grounded crime drama or V’s three-protagonist spectacle is the actual question hanging over launch week, and our GTA 6 release date and pre-order guide has everything confirmed about that launch so far.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the highest-rated Grand Theft Auto game on Metacritic?
Grand Theft Auto IV holds the series record with a 98 Metacritic score, one point ahead of GTA V and GTA III, which are tied at 97.
What is the best-selling Grand Theft Auto game?
Grand Theft Auto V, by a huge margin. It has sold more than 230 million copies worldwide as of June 2026, far ahead of San Andreas’s 27.5 million, the next-highest total in the franchise.
Is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas better than Vice City?
Both share a 95 Metacritic score, but San Andreas outsold Vice City by 10 million copies and is generally considered the more ambitious game thanks to its three-city map and RPG-style stats.
When does GTA 6 come out?
Rockstar has confirmed a November 19, 2026 release date for Grand Theft Auto 6.
