Angry Birds started the app domination of the industry, and while the gameplay tackles already established concepts, it put pick up and play gaming out there to the mainstream and it deserves a mention in this thread.
Regarding AAA releases I suppose that Naughty Dog's releases have all been fairly great, particularly the Uncharted series. The Assassin's Creed series has been getting incredible acclaim since the second release, and it consistently sells. The series flawlessly combines history with gameplay, it's fantastic. Demon's Souls is also the forerunner of this generation when discussing map and game design that encourages the user to react in frenetic situations, and games that are brutishly difficult use this game as a blueprint during the pre-planning stages. And of course, Super Mario Galaxy re-established Mario as the premiere gaming mascot and it continued to innovate the industry with its ethereal score and level design.
Commercially, it's the Call of Duty series.
