M&M's, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles and Reese's Cups lead CandyStore.com's 2026 ranking of America's top Halloween candies, a projection from 18 seasons of the retailer's own sales data, not audited industry figures.
Illustration: the 10 candies in CandyStore.com’s 2026 national Halloween top ten, from M&M’s at #1 to Butterfinger at #10.
| Rank | Candy | Maker | Type | Year introduced | 2024 rank | Change since 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M&M's | Mars | Chocolate | 1941 | 1 | Same |
| 2 | Sour Patch Kids | Mondelez | Sour & gummy | 1985 (US) | 3 | Up 1 |
| 3 | Skittles | Mars | Fruity & chewy | 1971 | 4 | Up 1 |
| 4 | Reese's Cups | Hershey | Chocolate | 1928 | 2 | Down 2 |
| 5 | NERDS Gummy Clusters | Ferrara | Sour & gummy | 2020 | — | New |
| 6 | Hot Tamales | Just Born | Cinnamon | 1950 | 6 | Same |
| 7 | Starburst | Mars | Fruity & chewy | 1959 | 5 | Down 2 |
| 8 | Candy Corn | Brach's (Ferrara) and others | Sugar candy | 1880s | 7 | Down 1 |
| 9 | Hershey's Mini Bars | Hershey | Chocolate | 1900 (Hershey bar) | 9 | Same |
| 10 | Butterfinger | Ferrara | Chocolate | 1923 | 10 | Same |
No matching rows.
Ranking rule: the order is exactly as CandyStore.com published it for 2026. This is one retailer’s projection, not audited industry sales. CandyStore.com ranks candies by pounds sold, using Halloween-season sales in every US state from 2008 through 2025 (its own bulk orders plus sales data shared by candy makers and distributors), weights recent seasons more heavily, and projects the 2026 season; it is not a count of 2026 sales. Each state’s top three candies are found, and the national ranking adds up each candy’s projected pounds across the states where it finished top three, so a candy that is merely second or third in many states can outrank one that wins a few. The retailer does not publish the pound totals, so none are shown here. The “2024 rank” and change columns come from the same publisher’s previous ranking, so they are not an independent check. No audited national ranking by candy exists in public: the National Retail Federation, which projects record Halloween spending of $13.5 billion for 2026, and the National Confectioners Association publish spending totals, not candy-by-candy sales, and other lists (for example Quartz’s, which puts Reese’s first) rely on different methods, so the order can differ. “Year introduced” is the brand’s first sale as given on Wikipedia (Starburst’s is its UK launch as Opal Fruits, and Skittles’ is the British launch). Candy corn’s sort year is 1888, when Wunderle began making it.[1]
M&M's holds the top spot it had in CandyStore.com's 2024 ranking. The candy-coated chocolates came to market in 1941 and are made by Mars. CandyStore.com says M&M's won ten states in 2026, tied with Sour Patch Kids for the most, and was one of only two candies to win in all four US Census regions.[1]
The soft sour-then-sweet gummies climbed from #3 to #2 by picking up Arizona, Massachusetts and South Carolina, which put them level with M&M's at ten states each. The US brand dates to 1985, after an earlier Canadian version called Mars Men, and Mondelez International makes them today.[1][2]
Skittles won only two states (Alabama and Florida) but finished second or third in ten states, more than any other candy, which is how it reached #3. The candy was introduced in 1971 by a British distributor for Mars, got its US trademark in 1974 and was widely sold in the US by 1979.[1][3]
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups slid two places after losing Florida and Wyoming, leaving only Kentucky and New Hampshire as wins. H. B. Reese created them on November 15, 1928, and Hershey owns the brand. CandyStore.com's separate best-candy survey also put Snickers, not Reese's, first this year.[1][4]
Ferrara's crunchy-coated gummy clusters launched in 2020 and had never placed in a single state on CandyStore.com's map before 2026. This year they finished top three in seven states, winning Indiana, and debuted at #5 nationally, ahead of Hot Tamales and Starburst.[1][5]
The cinnamon candies from Just Born, the Peeps maker, were introduced in 1950. They won Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin in 2026, mostly across the upper Midwest and desert Southwest.[1][6]
Starburst began as Opal Fruits in the United Kingdom in 1959 and reached the US in 1967 as M&M's Fruit Chewies, renamed Starburst by 1968. It fell from #5 to #7 and held just one state, Michigan.[1][7]
Candy corn is credited to George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company in Philadelphia in the 1880s, and Brach's, part of Ferrara, is its largest maker. It won Maryland, North Dakota and Utah in 2026, in the same year CandyStore.com's separate survey named it the worst Halloween candy.[1][8]
The mini versions of the Hershey's chocolate bar, which Milton Hershey began selling in November 1900. CandyStore.com lists the item as “Hershey's Mini Bars”. Hershey Kisses dropped out of the top ten altogether, from #8 in 2024 to #18.[1][9]
The peanut-butter-crisp bar invented by Otto Schnering of the Curtiss Candy Company in 1923, now made by Ferrara. It lost four states in 2026 (Massachusetts, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin) and won only Hawaii, but held the last top-ten place.[1][10]