The 15 Most Popular Snack Brands in the World

The 15 most popular snack brands in the world are a guilty (or not) pleasure for billions of people around the world, many of whom indulge in them frequently. These snack brands are at the forefront of a $400 billion industry, one that is rapidly growing in developed countries.

According to the Nielsen Global Snacking Survey, snacking tastes vary quite dramatically by region, which affects the popularity of snack brands around the world. In North America, chips dominate the snacking industry, with the most popular chip brands in America being PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP)’s Lays, with more than double the sales of Ruffles, the second-best selling brand of chips (also owned by Frito-Lay/Pepsi) in the U.S during the 52-week period ended June 11, 2017. Doritos dominates the U.S tortilla-style chip market, with an even bigger lead over Tostitos.

Even favorite chip flavors vary greatly within North America. According to Statista, the most popular chip flavors in the U.S are Plain, Barbeque, Sour Cream & Onion, and Salt & Vinegar. All Dressed and Ketchup, which are hugely popular in Canada, are nowhere to be seen, and in fact Ruffles only recently started selling its All Dressed flavor in the U.S.

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If you checked out our recent article on the 11 Most Popular Snacks In The World, you would have seen that chocolate ranked as the most popular snack globally, with 64% of people surveyed having eaten chocolate in the past 30 days. Given that, it’s not surprising that chocolate-related brands are the most well represented on our list of the 15 most popular snack brands in the world, with five chocolate brands and one chocolate cookie brand being among the 15. What’s more surprising is the inclusion of five gum/mint/candy-related brands, which didn’t fare nearly as well on the Snack Attack report, at just 33%.

With many snack categories overflowing with entrenched options, snack food companies have begun trying to steal the thunder of food companies by pushing snack bars, which have become increasingly popular among millenials as a quick meal replacement. Of the top 5 new snack products released in the U.S during the 2011-2016 period, snack bars were the overwhelming leader, with nearly twice as many new products launched in that category than in any other. Nuts, fruit snacks, corn-based snacks, and potato snacks rounded out the top 5.

If you’re ready to discover the 15 most popular snack brands in the world, head to the next page to begin the countdown. We’ve based their popularity on the number of likes that each brand has on Facebook.