Xbox One was the best-selling console in the United States during the month of July, Microsoft announced today.

This news come as part of the NPD Group's monthly report for July. We won't be getting our hands on the report until next week; this is due to a change since the addition of digital data to NPD's sales data.

Regardless, this is an unusual milestone, as the PS4 has routinely outsold Xbox One since their respective launches. There have been months where Xbox One topped PS4 in the US, but it hasn't happened since last October. PS4 has led every month since then, though that isn't necessarily a reflection on Xbox One sales--December was its best month ever up to that point.

It also comes a surprise given the news that two new Xbox systems are on the way, one of which, the Xbox One S, debuted at the beginning of August. This could have depressed sales of the standard Xbox One, but it appears that may not have been the case--perhaps due to some nice sales that took place. (It's also possible sales of PS4 and Xbox One both declined, with the latter coming out ahead.)

Microsoft's statement on the NPD report noted that "total gaming hours on Xbox consoles globally were up 18 percent over last year, reaching 1.55 billion hours."

Additionally, it pointed out that the launch edition of the Xbox One S has already sold out in the UK and is "nearly sold out in the US." As we recently learned, more stock of that specific model is not on the way, meaning prospective buyers will need to turn to one of the upcoming bundles to get their hands on an S.

We'll have more on the the July NPD report next week.