Here are the games that acquired the most new players between Thanksgiving 2010 and Thanksgiving 2011, ranked by the number of players (*minus 500 if the game is showing up for the first time as having more than 500 players ever).

7 Wonders is pretty clearly the de facto game of the year. The others are a nice mix of new games and evergreen titles, all worth considering as Christmas gifts.

6605 7 Wonders
2652 Dominion
2421 Forbidden Island
2162* Resistance
2131 Carcassonne
2127 Agricola
2093 Dixit
2084 Alien Frontiers
2057 Small World
2019* Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game
1960 Dominant Species
1945* Troyes
1921 Pandemic
1890* Quarriors!
1874 Settlers of Catan
1734 Puerto Rico
1700 Stone Age
1676 London
1655 Glen More
1641 Power Grid
1631 Race for the Galaxy
1609 Survive: Escape from Atlantis!
1596 Innovation
1583 Ticket to Ride
1525* Mansions of Madness
1521 Citadels

This is a little late. It shows what board games acquired the most new players at BGG from Jul. 7 to Oct. 3. The number given is the number of new players (*minus 500 if I’ve never collected data on the game before, because no game shows up until it hits the 500 mark).

1258* Quarriors!
1082 7 Wonders
 588 Resistance
 573 Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
 573 Dominion
 519* 7 Wonders: Leaders
 506 Glory to Rome
 489* King of Tokyo
 456 Carcassonne
 442 Mansions of Madness
 441 Troyes
 437 Agricola
 417 Forbidden Island
 410 Merchants & Marauders
 408 Citadels
 400 Settlers of Catan
 385 Small World
 379 Puerto Rico
 378 Race for the Galaxy
 377 Innovation
 376 Pandemic
 373 Stone Age
 370 Dixit
 363 Dominant Species
 356 Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
 344 Airlines Europe