“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.]