The 10 Best Selling Candy Bars of All-Time
When it comes to candy bars, there's just something about that chocolatey goodness that keeps folks with a sweet tooth coming back for more. Ever since Hershey sold the company's first candy bar in 1900, the confectionary world was forever changed. However, Hershey was not officially the first to discover the art of making a solid bar from chocolate.
That honor goes to Joseph Fry when he pressed a paste of cocoa powder with sugar in 1847. This started the first candy bar craze as the folks back in the day loved the convenience and portability of a chocolatey favorite that was strictly served in beverages beforehand. Since Fry and Hershey, a surge of chocolatiers has competed to see who can win over the most amount of sweet tooth fans possible.
Some of the best-selling candy bars of all time definitely found the secret formula to turn junk food junkies into addicts that can't seem to get enough. There are ten that stand out more than ever as bestsellers. Perhaps in the list, you will find your personal favorite. The majority of these candy bars are featured on the list of the Best 25 Candy Bars of All Time, according to HuffPost.
10. Dove/Galaxy (over 145 million bars sold annually)
In North America, it's sold as Dove while in the rest of the world it's sold as Galaxy. It first started off as an ice cream bar in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois, before the candy bar version made its entry into the confectionary world in 1986. Globally, it's become one of the most popular chocolate bars sold worldwide. According to Bloomberg, once upon a time, it placed third in the ranks as the best-selling chocolate bar.
9. Twix (over 215 million bars sold annually)
As a snack, cookies have held the test of time as an all-time favorite worldwide. What happens when it becomes part of a candy bar recipe? The best of two worlds come together in what became the incredibly popular Twix. This confectionary favorite was a Forrest Mars Sr. invention, who carried on his family's tradition as world-famous chocolatiers.
Manufactured in 1967 in Britain, this all-time favorite didn't make its debut in the United States until 1979. Clearly, designing a cookie into a tasty chocolate bar was a winner. In Britain, 54 million Twix bars are sold annually while in the US it's about 161 million.
8. Hershey's Bar (over 250 million sold annually)
From The Hershey Company, Hershey's infamous chocolate bar was first sold in 1900. Also referred to as Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar and The Great American Chocolate Bar, this has been the company's flagship product ever since it was founded in 1894.
Since then, Hershey's has introduced a flurry of confectionary products that have joined the ranks as some of the top-selling brands of all time. However, the mantle still belongs to Hershey's Bar and the spinoffs associated with the candy bar that has made the most amount of sales overall. According to Eat This, Not That!, about 250 million chocolate bars labeled Hershey have been sold annually.
7. Milky Way (over 301 million bars sold annually)
Milky Way was the first filled-in chocolate bar, which was introduced by Mars, Incorporated, in 1924. It made its mark in the US first before reaching the UK market in 1935. It came in a number of varieties with different names that catered specifically to the American market, the Canadian market, and the rest of the world market.
The 3 Musketeers are clustered into the Milky Way family, as well as the infamous Mars bar. The recipes are also slightly different, each one catering to consumers based on their geographical locations. The formula that made Milky Way so popular came from the chocolate provided by Hershey's. In the UK, Milky Way has been chosen the most often, followed by Snickers, then Kit Kat.
6. Kit Kat (over 348 million bars sold annually)
When the commercials suggest "take a Kit Kat break," apparently it's enough to convince the consumers to take this to heart. On average, there are over 156 million of these candy bars sold per year at a worldwide level. As a two-bar snack perfect for a kid's lunchbox or as the full-scale four-bar treat, nothing seems to beat the almighty Kit Kat.
First introduced in 1935 as Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp by its founder, Joseph Rowntree, it wasn't until after World War II did the name switch to the Kit Kat brand so many know and love today. In the UK, an average of 156 million bars are sold annually. It's over 192 million in the US.
5. Cadbury Chocolate Bars (about 650 million bars sold annually)
In 1824, Britain's John Cadbury founded a company that would first dominate the coffee and tea industry before switching its niche to becoming chocolatiers in 1865. The desire to create the modern chocolate bar resulted in what became the ignition switch for pioneers to use chocolate as more than add-ons in beverages and cooking products. Why not make a candy bar out of it and see what happens?
Cadbury's concept became an international bestseller and for good reason. Not only have the Cadbury chocolate bars become an all-time bestseller as an independent treat, but has also been used in cooking recipes that prefer to use the whole bar rather than liquids and powders.
4. Milka (about 733 million bars sold annually)
Milka originally came from Switzerland, featuring the infamous purple cow as its mascot. It is the most popular candy bar in Germany that sees about 730 million of these sold in that nation alone. In 2015, according to Insider Monkey, this was the number one seller on a global scale at one point.
3. Toblerone (over one billion bars sold annually)
Toblerone was first made in 1908 in Bern, Switzerland, by its creator, Theodor Tobler. He, along with his cousin, Emil Baumann, created this prism-style candy bar that became so much more than a visual standout. The name behind the chocolate bar was a merger of Theodor's last name with the Italian nougat, Torrone.
Not only was the unique design of this candy bar a real eyecatcher, but it also became one of the best-selling confectionery products of all time. As a company, Toblerone averages
2. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (about two billion bars sold annually)
According to Wikipedia, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the number one seller as a candy bar in the United States, even though they're typically shaped like a pair of cups inside the packaging. It also is one of the bestselling in the world. This Harry Brunett Reese invention has been around since 1923 and remains one of the all-time favorites.
On average, it makes two billion dollars in sales. It's popular enough that two cups inside a package isn't enough. There are some that have three. Right behind it is M&M's, which may be considered a candy bar among some consumers while others regard it as a non-bar chocolate treat.
1. Snickers (over two billion bars sold annually)
Globally speaking, Snickers is the top-selling chocolate bar so far. When visiting sites like Quora, it is this candy bar that earns more mention as a fan favorite than any other worldwide. The mix of peanut, milk chocolate, and caramel pairs beautifully enough with the nougat. It has won over a fan base that has seen approximately two billion dollars worth of sales annually.
Ever since making its first introduction in 1930 by Mars, Snickers has since come in different varieties. As a Snickers fan, do you have a favorite? Mars, Incorporated was a company founded by Franklin Clarence Mars in 1911. He and his family owned a racehorse named Snickers. This is where this bestselling candy bar got its name from. In the UK, it was actually named Marathon until it was changed in 1990. In the US alone, over four hundred million Snickers bars are sold.
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Written by Dana Hanson
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