Because sugar is the most addictive substance in the world, why don’t we rank the most popular candies of all time?
This list will be based on twi things: sales and cultural relevance. While this list may be debatable, there is no doubt that you will be craving for at least one of the candies as soon as you read about them. Let’s start!
York Peppermint Pattie
The York Peppermint Pattie was invented back in 1940 by one Henry Kessler. As the name hints, the candy was first produced in York, Pennsylvania.
Twizzlers
This twisty candy was first produced in 1929 by Young and Smylie. The Pennsylvania-based company changed its name to Y&S Candies in 1968 before being acquired by The Hershey Company in 1977.
Originally, the Twizzlers’ flavor was black licorice.
Bottle Caps
This 1970s classic was created to combine two childhood staples:bonbons and soda. This chalk-like wafer shares a few characteristics with Smarties, and one of them is the hint of tart flavoring.
Marathon Bar
Before producing snack-sized bars, the Marathon Bar was eight inches of caramel covered in milk chocolate. The bar was introduced by Mars in 1973.
Blow Pops
The Blow Pop was invented in 1969 and was made popular by the Charms Company. Thanks to the three sweet minds Ross Cameron, Walter Reid, and Vince Ciccone, the Blow Pop made its debut in 1973!
Pop Rocks
Pop Rocks are made of sugar, lactose, and flavoring. The concept behind the idea is to create a candy that’s different from the typical, hard one! The pressurized carbon dioxide gas bubbles are embedded inside of the candy, creating a small popping reaction when it dissolves in one’s mouth.
Fun Dips
Fun Dip is everything you need for a snack in one handy pouch! Fun Dip was originally called Lik-M-Aid, since it is a licking-based candy, although you can eat the stick itself. The candy sticks themselves have the words Lik.A.Stix molded into them.
Wrapples
These flat sheets of caramel are called “Wrapples.” Just pull the plastic off, wrap the apple with the tasty sheets, pop it in the oven and you have yourself instant caramel apples!
Whatchamacallit
The original candy bars were made of peanut butter crisp coated in a thin layer of chocolate. In 1987 the formula was modified to include caramel peanut flavored crisps and great chocolate taste, the Whatchamacallit bar we love today.
Hubba Bubba Gum
Trying to blow the biggest bubble gum bubble possible has been a tradition passed on for generations. Not only could this gum let you blow a bigger bubble than others, but it was also softer and less sticky, so you could easily peel it off your face once your bubble popped. While other gums take on that hard, flavorless effect after a few too many chews, Hubba Bubba gives you more flavor per chew, so you can really enjoy it!
Ring Pop
Invented in 1977 by an engineer and dad trying to break his daughter’s thumb-sucking habit, Ring Pops have lived on to become a favorite wearable treat for many sweet-toothed fans. These delicious rings were first offered only in grape and cherry options.
Skittles
These chewy marbles the world knows as Skittles was created in 1974. The first fruit flavored candy that often comes to mind is Skittles, and with their slogan, “taste the rainbow,” first appearing in 1994, it’s easy to see why.
Reese’s Pieces
Reese’s is known to be the king of American candy! This candy was founded by former Hershey employee, H.B. Reese, in 1923.
Nerds
Nerds were created by the Willy Wonka Candy Factory in 1983 but are currently produced by Nestlé who bought the company five years later. The Wonka brand was created as a marketing ploy to promote the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, debuting one month before the film, in 1971.
Laffy Taffy
Although originally thick and square in shape, today, Laffy Taffy are thinner and more rectangular. They come in banana, grape, strawberry, sour apple, chocolate mousse, blue raspberry, watermelon, and cherry flavors. So, you’re sure to find a flavor, and a joke, that tickles your fancy and has you giggling all the way back to the store to buy more.
Sour Patch Kids
In the beginning, Sour Patch Kids were shaped as Martians to capitalize on the space enthusiasm of the 70’s. They then transformed into children to resemble the Cabbage Patch Kids craze of the 1980s. Regardless of their shape, these “sour then sweet” candies, as the saying goes, were a huge success.
Originally, Sour Patch Kids came in lemon, lime, orange, and raspberry. However, this year, a new berry flavor was added to the bunch. Guess you could say there’s a new kid on the Sour Patch block.
Hershey’s BarNone
The BarNone, originally made by Hershey’s, was a well-loved candy bar. It was launched nationally in 1987. The bar was also introduced in Canada under the name Temptation.
Airheads
AirHeads are a tangy, taffy-like, chewy candy manufactured by Dutch-Italian company Perfetti Van Melle in Erlanger, Kentucky. They were created on August 7, 1985 by Steve Bruner. AirHeads are available nationwide in the United States. The candy is available in over 16 different flavors.
Bubble Tape
Bubble Tape first burst onto the scene in the early ’90s and instantly became one of the most popular bubble gums of its time. Wrigley, the company that makes Bubble Tape, directed the new product at pre-teens and hoped their unique package style would be much more exciting for children.
Push Pop
As the 1980s and 1990s dawned, a new type of treat hit shelves across the world. Yes, Push Pops were a pop culture phenomenon during these golden years. Created by Topps Candy, these portable snacks proved to be a huge hit with kids and teenagers alike.
So, what was the secret to the brand’s success? It’s quite simple really. The fact that you could put the top back on the treat meant that you could carry it around with you. Young people loved this quirky idea and soon adopted the sweet treat as their go-to favorite.
Dr. Pepper Gum
In 1990, Dr. Pepper Hubba Bubba graced the grocery store shelves, creating a delicious new flavor of bubble gum for people to enjoy.
Peanut Butter M&Ms
M&M’S had become so popular by 1950 that an ingenious solution for consumers to distinguish the real M&M’S from inferior imitators was to stamp each candy with the now famous “m”. The slogan “Look for the m on every piece” was then created.
M&M’S Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced in 1954 and the color used to print the “m” on M&M’S Plain and Peanut Chocolate Candies was changed from black to white.
Warheads
Warheads were invented in Taiwan around 1975. The Foreign Candy Company was the first to import the sour candy into the United States in 1993. In 1999, Warheads was referred to as a “$40 million brand.” Today, they are manufactured by Impact Confections.
Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme
This white chocolate candy bar will remind you of the ice cream flavor, but you won’t have to worry about it melting so fast. With delicious chunks of crunchy chocolate cookies and smooth white chocolate, Hershey’s Cookies and Cream may become your new favorite candy bar!
Starburst
Starbursts are a soft, fruit-flavored taffy. Starburst is advertised as being made with real fruit juice, and they have become popular in several countries.
Nerds Rope
Nerds are a colorful candy that have an irregular, pebble-like shape. Nerds generally come in a box that contains two separated flavors, but this style comes as a rope. Nerds candy has gained popularity for its shape, oddness, loud flavors, color, and variety, and seems to be especially popular with kids.
Baby Bottle Pop
Baby Bottle Pops were first made by a company called Topps in the year 1998, and they became an instant hit. There are many flavors of Baby Bottle Pops, including strawberry, bubblegum, watermelon, grape, green apple, blue raspberry, cherry, and even one named ghost rust.
Crispy M&Ms
In 1999, Crispy M&M’s were released. They were slightly larger than the milk chocolate variety and also featured a crispy wafer center. They were discontinued in the United States in 2005 but remained available in Europe, and Southeast Asia. In January 2015, they returned to production in the United States.
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans are a popular sweet for those who wish to be students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They are a fun take at regular jelly beans and taste just as good as they look!
Twizzlers
Most known for its classic red coloration and twisted long shape, Twizzlers were first made in 1929 and have remained a popular snack for around a century. These strawberry Twizzlers are a fun licorice flavor to try. Twizzlers come in many different flavors, colors, and have several spin-off products as well.
M&Ms
M&M’s are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter “m” printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M’s.
Jolt Energy Gum
It took two years of research and development to develop Jolt Energy Gum. Jolt Gum uses a unique multi-layer construction designed to get the energy into your body as fast as possible, which can be up to 5x faster than an energy drink or coffee! But the great thing is that this gum doesn’t result in crazy jitters, just a solid, long-lasting boost that you control.
Candy Corn
According to oral tradition, George Renninger, a candymaker at the Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia, invented the revolutionary tricolor candy in the 1880s. The Goelitz Confectionery Company brought the candy to the masses at the turn of the 20th century. The company, now called Jelly Belly Candy Co., has the longest history in the industry of making candy corn. Although the method has changed, it still uses the original recipe.
Lollipops
Lollipops were first made in New Haven, Connecticut in 1908 by George Smith. They were named after a racehorse of the time, Lolly Pop. ( The world’s largest lollipop was as tall as a giraffe. That is right. Lollipops have been around for at least a hundred years. The first lollipop machine was really slow.
Milk Duds
Milk Duds were first created in 1926 by Sean le Noble. 1926: Sean le Noble from Le Noble and Company, Chicago, tries to manufacture a perfectly round, chocolate-covered caramel candy, but when its machines produce confections that are less than round, an employee calls them “Duds”.
Gummy Bears
Gummy bears are small, fruit gum candies, similar to a jelly baby in some English-speaking countries. The candy is roughly 2 cm long and shaped in the form of a bear. The gummy bear is one of many gummies, popular gelatin-based candies sold in a variety of shapes and colors.
Milky Way
The Milky Way chocolate bar debuted in 1923. It was inspired by the popular chocolate-malt milkshakes of the time. In fact, the first advertising slogan for the Milky Way was, “A Chocolate Malted Milk in a Candy Bar.” Malted milk was first introduced as infant formula in the late 19th century.
Snickers
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by the American company Mars, Incorporated, consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts that has been enrobed in milk chocolate. The annual global sales of Snickers was $2 billion as of 2004. In Europe, Snickers was sold under the brand name Marathon until 1990.
Dubble Bubble Painterz Mouth Coloring Bubble Gum
If you ever wanted to hear someone scream, then Dubble Bubble Painterz Mouth Coloring Bubble Gum is the gum for you. It’s specially formulated to temporarily dye your mouth a vivid color and comes in five extreme colors: Ragin’ Red, Grippin’ Green, Epic Orange, Midnight Black and Bangin’ Blue.
Kit Kat
Kit Kat is a chocolate bar made from wafers created by Rowntree’s of York, United Kingdom, and is now is made globally by Nestlé. The standard bars consist of two or four pieces composed of three layers of wafer, separated and covered by an outer layer of chocolate. Each finger can be snapped from the bar separately. There are many different flavors of Kit Kat, including milk, white, and dark chocolate. It was launched on 29 August 1935.
Butterfinger
From its creation to today, the Butterfinger remains a popular American candy bar. Chocolate-covered with a crunchy peanut-butter and caramel-flavored center, this mix of crunchy mouth-drooling goodness first came out in 1923.
M&Ms
The M&M’s® chocolate candy is a pellet of chocolate encased in a colorful, hard, sugary shell. Some people say that Forrest Mars Sr. (1904–99) got the idea for such a product while in Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). He observed how soldiers kept chocolate candies from melting in their pockets by covering the candy with a sugary coating.
Hershey’s Candy Corn Bars
The Halloween candy-inspired chocolate bar was first released in 2014. It consists of candy corn creme with candy bits. So when you rip open the wrapper, you’ll see a white chocolate bar with yellow and orange specks throughout it. Even if you hate the super-sweet bite, you have to admit that at least it’s pretty.
Hershey’s Candy Corn bar has been spotted back on shelves ahead of Halloween. It comes in 1.55-ounce bars as well as snack-size bars, so you can be every trick-or-treater’s favorite (or least favorite) house.
Reese’s
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are an American candy consisting of a chocolate cup filled with peanut butter, marketed by The Hershey Company. They were created on November 15, 1928, by H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. They are one of the most popular treats in America!
