The Xbox 360 turned five in 2010, and much like any five-year old, celebrated with a jumping castle, ice-cream cake with Master Chief on it, and its biggest year since launch.

“The debut of Kinect and smash-hit games like Fable III and Halo: Reach drove Xbox to the biggest year in its history in 2010,” Microsoft told Eurogamer, adding that, “more money was spent on Xbox 360 than any current generation console in 2010” and that the Xbox 360 was “the fastest-growing console in 2010”, showing a 42 percent increase in sales. The console passed the 50 million sold mark during the year, as well as 30 million Xbox LIVE subscribers.

The latest US December NPD sales data, released sometime last night, had the Xbox in first place with 1.9 million consoles sold during the month, which probably had nothing whatsoever at all ever ever to do with Kinect-for-Christmas.

The top ten sales for the year also had Xbox exclusive Halo: Reach in third place: