What is the most popular soft drink?

January 16, 2008 10:38 AM

What is the most popular carbonated soft drink in the US or UK?

Google-fu has failed me. I think it's Diet Coke, but I can't seem to find a credible citation.

posted by roofus to food & drink (16 comments total)

Most popular, meaning more individuals buy units of it more than any other?

Or most popular, meaning units of it sell more than any other, regardless of how many individuals are doing the buying?

Or most popular, meaning it's thought of as the best, regardless of how many times its purchased?

What's your date range? Most popular last year? Or in the last ten years, etc.?
posted by bryanjbusch at 10:46 AM on January 16, 2008

Lifetime sales, definitely regular Coke. Most people drinking today, probably Diet Coke.
posted by Hargrimm at 10:48 AM on January 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm thinking of greatest volume sold in 2005/06 or 07.
posted by roofus at 10:50 AM on January 16, 2008

According to 2006 U.S. sales (according to >this site, which is referencing the Atlanta Journal Constitution), the rankings are:

1. Coca-Cola
2. Pepsi
3. Diet Coke
4. Mountain Dew
5. Diet Pepsi
6. Dr. Pepper
7. Sprite
8. Fanta
9. Diet Mountain Dew
10. Diet Dr. Pepper
posted by rooftop secrets at 10:54 AM on January 16, 2008

umm link diappeared for some reason: THIS SITE
posted by rooftop secrets at 10:55 AM on January 16, 2008

I dug around a little too, and wonder if you need to also account for fountain sales in the total. I dug around at a forum for the beverage industry, but only came up with industry-wide trends instead of particular brand sales.
posted by jquinby at 11:27 AM on January 16, 2008

Weird. I just felt some sort of twinge of pride and relief when I saw Coke was more popular (by a good deal!) than Diet Coke. What is THAT all about?
posted by dirtdirt at 11:27 AM on January 16, 2008

1. Coca-Cola
2. Pepsi
3. Diet Coke
4. Mountain Dew
5. Diet Pepsi
6. Dr. Pepper
7. Sprite
8. Fanta
9. Diet Mountain Dew
10. Diet Dr. Pepper

Would have probably been my first guess too. If you ever ask for a list of soft-drink choices in a restaurant this is typically the answer you'll get except it's usually skewed to reflect the restaurant's alliance with either Coke or Pepsi.
Right now if you look at Coke's stock prices compared to Pepsi's you'll see that Pepsi is doing a little bit better, which may be some indication.
posted by Demogorgon at 11:50 AM on January 16, 2008

Fountain sales would skew it quite a bit, as people will often drink their non-preferred brand due to exclusive agreements at theme parks, sporting events, etc.
posted by desuetude at 11:55 AM on January 16, 2008

Right now if you look at Coke's stock prices compared to Pepsi's you'll see that Pepsi is doing a little bit better, which may be some indication.

Coke is 62.85 compared to Pepsi at 74.04, but there are 2.31 billion Coke stocks to Pepsi's 1.61 billion.

As of this posting, Coke's market capitalization is ahead of Pepsi's, 145.2B to 119.26B. Stock price alone means little, it's stock price times the number of stocks that makes up the market value.

Yield and other such things are important, but a company's profitability is not necessarily tied to it's stock price, anyway.

Let's also not forget that Coke tastes marginally better than Pepsi, and Diet Coke tastes drastically better than Diet Pepsi.
posted by explosion at 12:11 PM on January 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Coke seems to be hands-down the champ in the US and the UK, with the exception of Scotland, where Coke and Irn-Bru run pretty much neck-and-neck.
posted by DawgterFeelgood at 12:14 PM on January 16, 2008

I seem to remember Coke did better in restaurants and Pepsi did better at the supermarket where people picked rather than corporate...but that was before Pepsi owned like 72 fast food chains too :) (YUM Brands)
posted by legotech at 12:28 PM on January 16, 2008

derail: the cokes in my vending machine at work cost $1.25, while diet cokes in the same machine cost only $1.00. is this some sort of ploy to raise the total volume of diet coke sold? or a ploy to make more money of off regualr coke, which is more popular? or is the machine hinting that we are fat americans and it's a ploy to get us to drink the "healthier" choice?
posted by kidsleepy at 2:56 PM on January 16, 2008

I'm told that it's Coke almost everywhere on earth, with Scotland being one of only an incredibly tiny number of exceptions. I think Portugal (Sumol) is another.
posted by genghis at 4:20 PM on January 16, 2008

Depends what part of town you live in.
posted by clh at 5:58 PM on January 16, 2008

I believe despite Pepsi's ownership of Yum! restaurants, Coke still has the upper hand through its long-term deal with McDonald's.
posted by evilcolonel at 6:41 PM on January 16, 2008