Misc
Ranked: The 50 Most Popular Fast Food Chains in America
The 50 Most Popular Fast Food Chains in America
Millions of Americans eat at fast food restaurants every day—and they now have more options at their disposal than ever before.
From burgers to pad thai, there’s a quick service restaurant that’ll satisfy almost any appetite. With all this choice, which fast food chains are the most popular among consumers?
Using data from QSR Magazine, today’s infographic ranks the top 50 largest fast food chains in the U.S. by sales in 2019, providing insight into the types of foods Americans have been craving.
Fast Food Chains Ranked, by Revenue
In 2019, the 50 largest fast food chains in the U.S. generated over $200 billion in revenue. How do these quick service giants stack up against each other?
| Rank | Company | Category | U.S. Sales, Billions (2019) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McDonald's | Burger | $40.41 |
| 2 | Starbucks | Snack | $21.55 |
| 3 | Chick-fil-A | Chicken | $11.00 |
| 4 | Taco Bell | Global | $11.00 |
| 5 | Burger King | Burger | $10.30 |
| 6 | Subway | Sandwich | $10.00 |
| 7 | Wendy's | Burger | $9.87 |
| 8 | Dunkin' | Snack | $9.22 |
| 9 | Domino's | Pizza | $7.10 |
| 10 | Panera Bread | Sandwich | $5.93 |
| 11 | Chipotle | Global | $5.52 |
| 12 | Pizza Hut | Pizza | $5.38 |
| 13 | KFC | Chicken | $4.82 |
| 14 | Sonic Drive-In | Burger | $4.69 |
| 15 | Arby's | Sandwich | $3.89 |
| 16 | Little Caesars | Pizza | $3.85 |
| 17 | Panda Express | Global | $3.80 |
| 18 | Dairy Queen | Snack | $3.76 |
| 19 | Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen | Chicken | $3.75 |
| 20 | Jack in the Box | Burger | $3.51 |
| 21 | Papa John's | Pizza | $2.66 |
| 22 | Whataburger | Burger | $2.56 |
| 23 | Jimmy John's | Sandwich | $2.11 |
| 24 | Hardee's | Burger | $2.07 |
| 25 | Zaxby's | Chicken | $1.84 |
| 26 | Culver's | Burger | $1.73 |
| 27 | Five Guys | Burger | $1.66 |
| 28 | Raising Cane's | Chicken | $1.47 |
| 29 | Wingstop | Chicken | $1.40 |
| 30 | Carl's Jr. | Burger | $1.39 |
| 31 | Jersey Mike's | Sandwich | $1.34 |
| 32 | Bojangles' | Chicken | $1.29 |
| 33 | In-N-Out Burger | Burger | $1.00 |
| 34 | Steak 'n Shake | Burger | $0.93 |
| 35 | El Pollo Loco | Chicken | $0.89 |
| 36 | QDOBA | Global | $0.85 |
| 37 | Checkers/Rally's | Burger | $0.86 |
| 38 | Firehouse Subs | Sandwich | $0.86 |
| 39 | Del Taco | Global | $0.85 |
| 40 | Tim Hortons | Sandwich | $0.84 |
| 41 | Moe's | Global | $0.79 |
| 42 | Papa Murphy's | Pizza | $0.75 |
| 43 | McAlister's Deli | Sandwich | $0.72 |
| 44 | Jason's Deli | Sandwich | $0.71 |
| 45 | Church's Chicken | Chicken | $0.70 |
| 46 | Shake Shack | Burger | $0.63 |
| 47 | Marco's Pizza | Pizza | $0.63 |
| 48 | Baskin-Robbins | Snack | $0.63 |
| 49 | Tropical Smoothie Café | Snack | $0.58 |
| 50 | Auntie Anne's | Snack | $0.56 |
Unsurprisingly, McDonald’s comes in at number one with over $40 billion in sales. Despite a scandal involving its former CEO, McDonald’s still managed to significantly outsell its peers—the company made almost double that of the second-largest fast food chain, Starbucks.
But don’t worry, Starbucks did just fine for itself. With $21 billion in sales, the Seattle-based coffee chain saw a 5% increase compared to its numbers in 2018.
Top Selling Fast Food Categories
Based on the ranking, it’s clear that Americans still love their McDonald’s. But are burgers, in general, the most popular fast food item?
In short—yes. Burgers are king. Here’s a look at how burgers, pizza, chicken, and other food categories measure up:
Burger joints remain the most popular fast food option among consumers—14 of the 50 chains on the list are classified as burger restaurants, with $80 billion in collective sales.
Snacks come in at second place, with a total of $36 billion in revenue. Boasting a broad variety of foods from iced coffee to donuts and ice cream, six of the restaurants on the list are included in this category. Starbucks is the most popular, followed by Dunkin’ and Dairy Queen respectively.
While the chicken and sandwich categories both have nine restaurants included in the ranking, chicken restaurants outsold sandwiches by almost $1 billion. This is largely due to Chick-fil-A, which makes up more than a third of all chicken restaurant sales included in the ranking.
COVID Closures
It’s important to note that these numbers reflect the fast food industry before the devastating impacts of COVID-19. The global pandemic has forced many fast food restaurants to adapt, and it’s also triggered a number of restaurant shutdowns.
For instance, McDonald’s is set to permanently close 200 of its 14,000 U.S. locations, and Dunkin’ will be closing 450 restaurants by the end of 2020. Starbucks has also announced it’s planning to permanently shut down up to 400 locations by mid-2021.
With online sales more important than ever, the chains with a strong digital presence may be in a better position to weather the storm. Chains with physical distancing options, such as drive-throughs, could also recover quicker.
Technology
Ranked: The Best Selling Video Games in History
This chart shows the top ten best selling video games, ranked by software units sold. Six of them have been released in the last 12 years.
Creator Program
Ranked: The Best Selling Video Games in History
It’s a good time to be a video game fan. Not only is the gaming industry booming and projected to grow to $320 billion by 2026, but every year is bringing new evolutions in the medium.
2022 saw massive launches in both games (Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök) and media based on games (the films Uncharted and Sonic the Hedgehog 2). 2023 has already seen the release of major flagship TV series based on a game, HBO’s The Last of Us, and the much-anticipated The Super Mario Bros. Movie is slated to release in April.
But which game is the best, or most successful? That debate may never end, but from company reports and sales data aggregated by Wikipedia, Samuel Parker’s chart of the most-sold video games as of March 3, 2023 can at least tell us which ones have been the most popular.
Top Ten Video Games Sold in History
The best selling video game didn’t need multimillion dollar budgets, sixty-hour narratives, or celebrity voice actors and ad spots. The independently-developed (indie) Minecraft, with its pixelated blocks, takes the top spot on this list.
| Rank | Game | Sales (units) | Year Released | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minecraft | 238.0M | 2011 | Mojang Studios |
| 2 | GTA 5 | 175.0M | 2013 | Rockstar |
| 3 | Tetris (EA) | 100.0M | 2006 | EA Mobile |
| 4 | Wii Sport | 82.9M | 2006 | Nintendo |
| 5 | PUBG: Battlegrounds | 75.0M | 2017 | PUBG Corp |
| 6 | Mario Kart 8 | 60.5M | 2014 | Nintendo |
| 7 | Super Mario Bros. | 58.0M | 1985 | Nintendo |
| 8 | Read Dead Redemption 2 | 50.0M | 2018 | Rockstar |
| 9 | Pokémon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow | 47.5M | 1996 | GameFreak |
| 10 | Terraria | 44.5M | 2011 | Re-Logic |
Minecraft sold more units than the combined forces of Grand Theft Auto 5 (#2) and Red Dead Redemption 2 (#8), both made by industry giant Rockstar. Its immense popularity has been credited to its simple gameplay (no goals), creative structure (build anything), and engaged community with player-run servers and additional feature creations (known as mods).
Another simple favorite, Tetris, comes in at third place with 100 million units sold of its 2006 re-release. Millennials continue to make up a large chunk of the video game playing demographic which might explain Tetris’ sales.
But newer games are making up the majority of sales records. PUBG: Battlegrounds, a battle-royale shooter game which helped popularize the genre (and eventually its competitor Fortnite) asserts its popularity at #5. That puts it well ahead of the better-known shooter Call of Duty, even despite PUBG being banned in a number of countries for the alleged impact on the mental health of gamers.
The oldest game to make the list is Super Mario Bros. (#7), apt considering it is credited with reviving the video game industry after it crashed in 1983. The original staple side-scroller has sold 58 million copies worldwide.
Developer Dominance
Though the top selling games span various series of games, a few developers managed to repeatedly find success.
| Developer | Top 20 Best-Selling Games |
|---|---|
| Nintendo | 11 |
| Rockstar | 2 |
| Others | 7 |
Japanese video game titan Nintendo developed three games (Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, Wii Sport/Fitness) in the top 10 and another eight in the top 20. That’s not including its co-ownership of Pokémon, the world’s highest-grossing media franchise.
American publisher Rockstar Games also managed to score multiple hits, though its longer development cycle necessary to create cinematic games gives it fewer potential candidates. That might change with the much-anticipated GTA 6 reportedly in production.
Best Selling Genres
The most popular genres in the top 10 give players the freedom to impose their will upon the world and pursue objectives at their leisure:
| Genre | Games |
|---|---|
| Sandbox/Open World | 4 |
| Simulation | 2 |
| Others | 4 |
Two games (Minecraft, Terraria) are classic sandbox games, where worlds are procedurally generated and there are no gameplay goals. Another two (GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2) are in the adjacent open-world genre, with a combination of sandbox elements and a narrative structure.
However, with new games launching and selling millions of units every year, new entrants to the top 10 list of best selling video games of all-time seems likely. How will these developers, genres, and games fare over time?
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