World's Best-Selling Candy: The Top 10
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1. U.S. — M&M's
World rank: 1*
Country: U.S.
Best-selling candy: M&M's
Who makes it: Mars Inc.
Annual sales: $1.8 billion**
What is it: Chocolate candy
Invented in 1941 by Forrest Mars and R. Bruce Murrie, the duo who gave the candy its name, M&M's top the list as the No. 1 candy brand sold in the U.S. with $1.8 billion in sales. Virginia-based Mars Inc. is now the world's leading confectioner following its 2008 acquisition of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., according to Candy Industry magazine, and it also produces the Snickers and Dove brands in addition to Pedigree and Whiskas pet food.
*Ranks according to Euromonitor
**2007 sales figures in U.S. dollars
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2. United Kingdom — Cadbury's Dairy Milk
World rank: 2
Country: United Kingdom
Best-selling candy: Cadbury's Dairy Milk
Who makes it: Cadbury
Annual sales: $852 million
What is it: Milk chocolate bar
According to the European candy trade group Caobisco, the British are the second largest consumers of chocolate in the world, annually eating more than 19 lbs. per capita. (The Swiss are No. 1.) Cadbury's Dairy Milk, which the company plans to make certifiably Fairtrade in the U.K. and Ireland by the end of the summer 2009, is the most popular chocolate bar with over $852 million in sales.
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3. Germany — Milka
World rank: 3
Country: Germany
Best-selling candy: Milka
Who makes it: Kraft
Annual sales: $733 million
What is it: Milk chocolate
The Germans are the fourth-largest consumers of chocolate per capita. Milka is the best-selling brand in Germany by a wide margin, grossing more than $730 million (Lindt trails in second place with less than $500 million). Now owned by Kraft, Swiss-created Milka uses the same mauve-colored packaging and cow-in-snow-covered-mountains image as when the name was trademarked in 1901. All but one of Germany's top five best-selling candy brands is a chocolate product, with gummi maker Haribo coming in fifth.
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4. Brazil — Trident
World rank: 4
Country: Brazil
Best-selling candy: Trident
Who makes it: Cadbury
Annual sales: $682 million
What is it: Chewing gum
Trident is not only the No. 1 candy in Brazil, it is also the No. 1 brand of chewing gum in the world, Cadbury says.
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5. Japan — Meiji
World rank: 5
Country: Japan
Best-selling candy: Meiji
Who makes it: Meiji Seika Kaisha
Annual sales: $479 million
What is it: Chocolate bar
Japan's winning brand is Meiji chocolate from privately held Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd. The Tokyo-based company opened "100% Chocolate Café" in its hometown in 2004 featuring 56 different types of chocolate made with cacao beans from 18 countries in flavors such as cheese, black pepper, jasmine, basil, and lemon salt.
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6. Russia — Orbit
World rank: 6
Country: Russia
Best-selling candy: Orbit
Who makes it: Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
Annual sales: $445 million
What is it: Chewing gum
Orbit gum, which is owned by Mars Inc. subsidiary Wrigley, dominates the Russian candy market with $445 million in sales. Alpen Gold chocolate bars, a division of Kraft, is a distant second, grossing less than $198 million.
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7. Mexico — Trident
World rank: 7
Country: Mexico
Best-selling candy: Trident
Who makes it: Cadbury
Annual sales: $354 million
What is it: Chewing gum
Mexico is another country of gum-chewers with three gum brands among the five best-selling candies. Cadbury says it was the first gum to voyage to space, in 1964.
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8. France — Hollywood
World rank: 8
Country: France
Best-selling candy: Hollywood
Who makes it: Cadbury
Annual sales: $318 million
What is it: Chewing gum
California-themed Hollywood gum is the most popular candy item in France. While chewing gum may still be seen as largely an American activity, "le chewing gum," as the French now call it, has all but replaced "pâte à mâcher," which literally meant "paste to chew."
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9. Italy — Vivident
World rank: 9
Country: Italy
Best-selling candy: Vivident
Who makes it: Perfetti Van Melle
Annual sales: $313 million
What is it: Chewing gum
Vivident chewing gum reigns supreme in Italy's candy market. The sugar-free gum is manufactured by the Italian- and Dutch-owned Perfetti Van Melle Group, which also owns other household names such as Mentos, AirHeads, and Chupa Chups, among others. Italians spent over $312 million on Vivident, up from just under $107 million in 2001, when Italian chocolate maker Perugina claimed the No. 1 spot.
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10. China — Hsu Fu Chi
World rank: 10
Country: China
Best-selling candy: Hsu Fu Chi
Who makes it: Hsu Fu Chi International
Annual sales: $256 million
What is it: Assorted candies
Hsu Fu Chi International offers a wide range of sweets that include jelly beans, gummies, lollipops, peanut crisp, chocolates, and coffee-flavored hard candies. In September 2008 the company recalled two of its puffed-rice roll products — the Cheese and Butter Corn flavors — from Singapore following detection of the presence of the chemical melamine.
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