Fifteen Candy Champs

The most popular candies in the U.S. these days? Chocolate and chewing gum

By BW Staff

M&Ms rule. The candy-coated chocolates trace their origin back to the Spanish Civil War, when, according to Mars, Forrest Mars Sr. saw soldiers in Spain eating chocolates covered with a hard sweet coating. He brought the idea back to the U.S. and, teaming up with R. Bruce Murrie, launched M&Ms in 1941, using the initials of their last names for the candy's name.

There has been plenty of reinvention since then. In 1960, the company decided to start using three additional colors—red, yellow, and green—in addition to the original brown. Now the candies are offered in mint chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut butter, almond, toffee, crispy, and even dolce de leche.

With all the effort in new flavors and savvy marketing, M&Ms have kept up with the times. In the past year, $240.6 million worth of the candies were sold in regular size, up 23% over the previous year. That makes a bag of M&Ms the most popular candy in the country by a comfortable margin. Next up is Hershey's Chocolate, at $210.1 million in sales. Orbit Sugarless Gum, Wrigley's Extra Sugarless Gum, and Hershey's Kisses round out the top five.

Here's a look at the 15 most popular candies by sales over the past year. The rankings are based on data from market research firm Information Resources. It tracks sales at supermarkets, drugstores, and other mass-merchandise outlets. It does not include club stores or sales at Wal-Mart (WMT), which does not make such data public.