What are the most popular sweets in the UK?

There is no single official chart of Britain's favourite sweets. Polls ask people what they like, sales figures show what they buy, and television countdowns mix the two. The answers differ, but the same names keep coming up.

The 2024 poll: Jelly Babies on top

In a poll by the research company Perspectus Global, reported in February 2024, Jelly Babies came top with 65 per cent, and the report put their appeal down to nostalgia for childhood. The report did not say how many people took part. The top ten were:

1. Jelly Babies, 65 per cent
2. Fruit Pastilles, 62 per cent
3. Wine Gums, 60 per cent
4. Cola Bottles, 59 per cent
5. Werther's Originals, 59 per cent
6. Skittles, 58 per cent
7. Starburst, 57 per cent
8. Liquorice Allsorts, 57 per cent
9. Tangfastics, 57 per cent
10. Rhubarb and custards, 56 per cent

Further down came Jelly Tots, Fruit Gums, Love Hearts, Dolly Mix, lemon sherbets and pear drops, and kola cubes, toffee bonbons and Black Jacks all scored 52 per cent. Flying saucers scored 49 per cent.

The 2019 countdown: Haribo Starmix

In January 2019, Channel 5 broadcast Britain's Favourite Sweets, a countdown that named Haribo Starmix as the winner. The trade magazine The Grocer reported that 87 million bags of Starmix were sold every year in the UK, and that Haribo's sales were £171.1 million in the year to September 2018, according to Nielsen figures. Wine Gums came fifth, and hard boiled rhubarb and custards came 20th.

The Grocer noticed something else: not one of the top 20 was launched after the turn of the millennium.

Chocolate

Chocolate has its own charts. In YouGov's ratings for the second quarter of 2026, based on the share of people with a positive opinion, Maltesers were the most popular confectionery at 84 per cent, followed by Flake, while Galaxy, Cadbury Buttons, Kit Kat and Rolo were all in the top 20. YouGov's list also includes ice creams, such as Magnum. By sales, Cadbury Dairy Milk was ranked the best selling chocolate bar in Britain in 2014, with Galaxy second.

What the winners have in common

The favourites are old. Jelly Babies were invented in 1864, Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles date from 1881, and Maynards introduced Wine Gums in 1909. Liquorice Allsorts, legend says, began in 1899 when a Bassett's salesman dropped a tray of samples. For more on how long these sweets have been around, see what are retro sweets?

Several of the poll's favourites are in our own pick and mix, including Jelly Babies, cola bottles, Liquorice Allsorts, rhubarb and custards, pear drops, sherbet lemons, kola cubes and toffee bonbons.

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