“Some products sell well when first introduced. Many more fail miserably. Very few of them sell so well that they fundamentally impact American culture,” 24/7 Wall St. writes. “This is 24/7 Wall St.’s list of 10 products that did just that.”
“Besides selling in droves, many of the products on this list changed American culture,” 24/7 Wall St. writes. “While each product is in a different industry — from smartphones, to video game consoles and music albums — there are clear similarities among the leaders. All the products that made the list were innovative in their respective categories when released.”
24/7 Wall St. writes, “24/7 Wall St. reviewed product categories that generate attention from many groups and command significant and frequently long-lasting loyalty. We then identified individual products that had the highest sales in their category. Toys, consumer electronics, books and movies can be passing interests. However, the most successful of these are the best-selling products of all time.”
The Best-Selling Products of All Time:
1. Rubik’s Cube, Category: Toy, Units sold/sales: 350 million units, Parent Company: Seven Towns Ltd.
2. iPhone, Category: Smartphone, Units sold/sales: 250 million units, Parent Company: Apple Inc.
3. Harry Potter, Category: Book series, Units sold/sales: 450 million units, Parent Company: Scholastic (U.S. publisher)
4. Michael Jackson Thriller, Category: Album, Units sold/sales: 110 million units, Parent Company: Epic Records
5. Mario Franchise, Category: Video game franchise, Units sold/sales: 262 million units, Parent Company: Nintendo
6. iPad, Category: Tablet, Units sold/sales: 67 million units, Parent Company: Apple Inc.
7. Star Wars, Category: Movies, Units sold/sales: $4.54 billion in ticket sales, Parent company: 20th Century Fox
8. Toyota Corolla, Category: Vehicle, Units sold/sales: 39 million cars, Parent Company: Toyota
9. Lipitor, Category: Pharmaceutical, Units sold/sales: $125 billion revenue, Parent Company: Pfizer
10. PlayStation, Category: Video game console, Units sold/sales: 300+ million units, Parent Company: Sony
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, the following products also belong on the list, the first for dominating its category and the second for defining and redefining the modern personal computer for nearly 3 decades now, whether it be the real thing or the upside-down and backwards morass of frustration peddled by Microsoft via the luckiest break/biggest mistake in tech history.
• iPod, Category: Portable Media Player, 315+ million units, Parent Company: Apple Inc.
• Macintosh, Category: Personal Computer, 130+ million units, Parent Company: Apple Inc.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “IDArgyll” for the heads up.]
What, no Fourth Generation Dodge Dart?
I used to see those on every corner, between the Chinese restaurant and a 7-11…
And what about the Pontiac Aztek?
Beautiful car!
Really? I didn’t know it was either…
😉
No Windows either.
What about Apple TV?
X-Box! Oh I forget almost all of them was a POS RRD! lol
55% fail rate. those things *ran* like hotcakes and burned their own hardware like firewood…
No Newton?
No iPod?
What happened to the Raleigh bicycle?
Schwinn
I just finished a 10 mile ride on my 20 year old Raleigh. It’s the Timex of bicycles.
Coca Cola. Is that not a product?
What about toilet paper?
It used to be great, then it went to sh!t….
You’re on a roll!
And of course, it’s empty….
If they were including it, they should quote both dollar amount and unit count. If you drink Coke and use an iPad chances are that you purchase cokes more often than an iPad, or a rubix cube or Harry Potter book for that matter.
Let’s see how this list could inform the prevailing World View vis-a-vis Apple.
The list is dominated by toys, games, and the like, strengthening the position of The Dismissive crowd that Apple products are toys. Even the best-selling car is a Toy[ota].
Then again, iPhone and iPad could be seen as having more in common with Lipitor, in that they are life-altering (even life-saving) products; when did Mario or Harry Potter change anyone’s life?
A third interpretation is that it’s just another tiresome top ten list, devoid of any real meaning; as such, it denigrates Apple sales merely as examples of fickle, fleeting materialism, not among the highest values of the human race.
The list doesn’t mak sense because it isn’t listed in order wof units sales, gross sales, or net profits. In terms of books the Bible crushes Harry Potter in units, gross, and profits (including movies).
That’s what I said! What about toilet paper?
Not sold by one company. I didn’t see any products in the list sold by more than one company. None were very cheap either.
Album, book, and rubix cube being cheapest. Maybe the cube is under $10 but the book and album were sold well over $10 on average.
Seriously, I have some toilet paper with Sarah Palin’s face on it. I was having so much fun I bought some laxatives.
I wasn’t aware that lower life forms had an anus.
That website’s founder hates Apple. Why is MDN giving them hits?
#9 is Lipitor?
This just shows where our health is headed. Sad.
How about the lightbulb, phonograph, television, automobiles, etc. They obviously only want to include recent products.
To be far, it’s the “The Best-Selling Products of All Time” that also had the most influence. So it has to be a specific product, not a category (“lightbulb”), AND that specific product must be the best selling in its category AND one of the most influential to “American culture.” So maybe the Ford Model T was the most influential car ever, but it was certainly not the best selling car ever (in units sold).
So Macintosh should probably not be on the list. It was the most influential “PC” ever, but not the best selling. (Well, not yet…)
But iPod should certainly be on the list. What were they thinking…?
The first car wasn’t a Ford anyway.
Lipitor – Wikipedia: “The best selling drug in pharmaceutical history…”. This article has little merit, re-gurg crap that a middle school kid could have done for homework.
iPod should definitely be on that list. It fundamentally changed the way people “American consume” music. I think it had greater impact on “culture” (up to this point) than iPhone or iPad.
What’s amazing to me is how many items on that list had VERY little impact on me, personally.
Rubik’s Cube – Never bought one.
Harry Potter – Never read any of the books (watched some of the movies).
Michael Jackson Thriller – Not a big MJ fan, although I like a few of his songs.
Mario Franchise/PlayStation – Never very interested in games of this type.
Lipitor – Seriously…?
At best, the list is suspect. Move on …
Not only do I find the presumption of best selling an inadequate or invalid measure of the worthiness or necessity of a product, but I am also skeptical of the methods of quantifying these data and ranking these products.
singer sewing machines
The kitchenaid mixer?
The design is virtually unchanged since the 1930s. I’m sure they have sold a few in that time.
As of 2Q2012, Apple sold 344 million iPods. Over 350 million if you include the third quarter which just ended last week.
Take that, Rubick!
let’s not get into food etc. but what about the all-mighty Condom?! isn’t that the #1 of all time product sold?!
talk of changing culture!!
affordably! user-friendly! colorful variations! life-enhancing! glows + blows! even edible or biodegradable!
Well, I personally purchased 7 of the 10 (Rubik,iPhone,Thriller, Mario games,iPad, Star Wars, and PS. I must be highly influenced. Or maybe I just like amazing stuff. I can’t believe that they chose iPad over the iPod! That’s a major oversight. Did the writer previously own stock in Sam Goody?