Released in 1982, the Commodore 64 was a substantial upgrade to its predecessor, the VIC-20. With 64 kilobytes of RAM and custom video and audio hardware, the C64 had superior capabilities compared to its rivals, which included the Apple II and the Atari 800.

With distribution in several department stores, toy stores, and campus bookstores, the C64 soon came to dominate the low-cost home computer market.

The C64 remained on the market for over 11 years and sold at leas 12.5 million units. This remained the world record for sales of a single model of computer until 2017, when it was outsold but the Raspberry Pi.