New music-based games like "The Beatles: Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero 5" have given the genre a much-needed boost in sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Beatles game, released on Sept. 9 by MTV, had total unit sales of 595,000, according to data compiled by the NPD Group. Activision's "Guitar Hero 5," released Sept. 1, raked in 499,000 in sales.

Combined, "The Beatles: Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero 5" drove a 72 percent increase in revenues for the music-game genre over September 2008. Until both games' release, year-over-year revenues for the genre had fallen 46 percent.