We don’t know whether you’ll correctly guess America’s favorite cereal, but we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll leave feeling like a kid again and hungry for a bowl of YOUR favorite!
Kellogg’s, Post, General Mills, and Quaker are generally close to the vest on the sales of individual cereal brands, but we combined a bunch of sources (e.g. data from market research companies, hints from the companies themselves, web data, on-the-ground channel checks, etc.) to compile our rankings.
Without further ado, here are America’s favorite cereals…
Manufacturer: Post
You may recall its old name, “Honey Graham Oh’s, but after 2018 there’s no longer any graham flour.
Think of this cereal as a much more complex Cheerio…made with three different flours (corn, oat, and rice), a touch of honey, and that little surprise in the middle!
Manufacturer: General Mills
As you’ll see, oats-based cereals are well-represented on this list.
In this case, you’ve got flakes made of oats and whole wheat, oat clusters, and almonds working together. There’s even some brown sugar syrup in the mix to evoke a oatmeal’s favorite sweetener!
Manufacturer: Post
Shredded wheat is one of the oldest cereal types out there, dating back to 1893!
Post makes a “Big Biscuit” size and a “Spoon Size.” Beyond sizing, it even has a “Frosted Chocolate Cake Shredded Wheat Cereal.” That said, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats is still more popular, as we’ll see…
Manufacturer: General Mills
Total’s big claim to fame is fortifying its whole grain flakes with 100% of 11 vitamins and minerals (other cereals don’t typically go that far).
You may be surprised that the #2 and #3 ingredients in Total are sugar and honey, but it’s because Total is basically flakes, some sweetener, a preservative or two, and those extra vitamins and minerals. And it still only has 5 grams of added sugar.
Manufacturer: General Mills
Cheerios is so popular that we’ve broken out three of its varieties on this list, including Chocolate Cheerios.
Spoiler alert: Both plain Original Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios are in the top 10. We won’t spoil it further!
Manufacturer: Post
Honeycomb popularity comes from being all-in on its honey branding, including its distinctive namesake shape and its “big real honey flavor!”
That said, honey is only its fifth ingredient. The other top ingredients are flours (two corn, one oat), but sugar is #2.
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Beyond the obvious oat bran, this cereal has coconut, cinnamon, molasses, and nutmeg!
One way Kellogg’s is trying to up Cracklin’ Oat Bran’s popularity is with encouraging its use as a crunchy ingredient in snack mixes or trail mixes.
Manufacturer: General Mills
As the name would suggest, this one’s got raisins, nuts, and bran. The raisins are covered and the nuts are almonds, both of which separate it from a regular raisin bran.
General Mills does have a regular raisin bran, but unlike Kellogg’s and Post, it doesn’t just call it Raisin Bran. They brand it with their Total cereal as Total Raisin Bran.
Manufacturer: Post
Great Grains comes in many varieties including Banana Nut Crunch, Crunchy Pecan, and Blueberry Morning (aka Blueberry Nut Crunch, we think).
All the Great Grains cereals have a variety of components that can include flakes, clusters, nuts, and dried fruit.
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Crispix was Kellogg’s attempt to unseat Chex in the hearts and minds of cereal consumers.
As you’ll see, that didn’t quite work, but Crispix is still a popular cereal on its own and a reasonable replacement for the corn and rice parts of Chex Mix (gotta have that Wheat Chex, though!).
Manufacturer: Post
Has anything made with Oreos been bad? Maybe that was the pitch made to Post because the original idea for the cereal came from an ad agency.
Still, believe it or not, it only last on the shelves 10 years in the U.S. before being yanked. That was 1997 to 2007, and it was due to a rights stand-off between Post (copyrights to the cereal) and Kraft Foods (Oreo copyrights). It would take another 10 years before Post brought it back.
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Pretty ingenious to put chocolate in the middle of a crunchy shell!
In Europe, it’s called “Tresor” and in India it has the more straight-forward “Kellogg’s Chocos Fills”
One question…when will they start making a jelly doughnut cereal?
Manufacturer: Quaker
Life is known for one of the greatest cereal commercials of all time…the one we all call the “Mikey Likes It” commercial. The actual words were “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!”
It’s called a “multigrain cereal” because it’s got Quaker oats, corn flour, whole grain wheat flour, and rice flour…fair enough!
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Corn Pops has had a long road of slight name changes just to get back to its original Corn Pops name. It’s been Sugar Corn Pops, Sugar Pops, and Pops at various times. “Gotta have my Pops” whatever you call them!
Pro tip: Mixing Corn Pops with Honey Smacks (#28 on the list) in your milk-filled cereal bowl is really delicious!
Manufacturer: General Mills
Cocoa Puffs is the chocolate version of General Mills’ trio of round puffs cereal, Kix and Trix being the other two. You’ll see those two further up this list.
Sonny, a Cuckoo bird, has been Cocoa Puffs’ mascot since it debuted in the ’60s and remains “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” to this day!
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Honey Smacks was originally Sugar Smacks just as its not-quite-as-well-selling competitor Post’s Golden Crisp was once Sugar Crisp.
The rebrand was due to health-conscious consumers increasingly trying to avoid too much sugar, though it should be noted that there’s more sugar than honey in both Honey Smacks and Golden Crisp (and to be even more fair, honey only has a slightly lower glycemic index than sugar).
Manufacturer: Quaker
If you love Quaker oatmeal, this is your cold cereal fix. Because “sometimes you just want an extra crunch.”
Fun fact: the “Quaker man” is most likely fashioned after William Penn (a Quaker and the founder of Pennsylvania).
Manufacturer: General Mills
Count Chocula is the most popular of General Mills’ “monster cereals.” The other big ones are Boo-Berry and Franken Berry, with Carmella Creeper (caramel apple) introduced in recent years.
Originally produced year round, the monster cereals can now be found at your grocery store during the lead-up to Halloween. Like Girl Scout cookies, you gotta get ’em while you can!
Manufacturer: Post
If you’re wondering about its unique shape, Grape-Nuts were originally made by taking a baked sheet of the cereal product, breaking it into pieces, and then taking it through a coffee grinder.
Today, there’s also Grape-Nuts Flakes for people who don’t enjoy the gritty texture of the original.
Manufacturer: General Mills
I mean, come on, chocolate chip cookies in milk? Such an easy sell to children, if not their parents.
Its mascots have included Cookie Jarvis (a wizard), Cookie Crook and Cookie Cop, Chip the Dog, and Chip the Wolf.
Manufacturer: General Mills
We don’t know which Chex cereal is the most popular, but it’s probably one of the first three: first Wheat Chex (called Shredded Ralston back then), followed by Rice Chex, and then Corn Chex.
These are the three that are generally used in party favorite, Chex Mix.
Another popular use for Chex outside of the breakfast bowl is Muddy Buddies, aka Puppy Chow…a snacky dessert featuring melted chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in addition to Chex.
Manufacturer: General Mills
Kix’s corn puffs are made by extruding it through a die, like Play-Doh!
Fun fact: Its slogan was changed from “Kid-Tested. Mother-Approved.” to “Kid-Tested. Parent-Approved.” to be more inclusive of the cereal-loving dads out there.
Manufacturer: Post
A relative youngster in this group, Honey Bunches of Oats was born the same year as Taylor Swift (1989, of course!).
It’s also more complex than its older brethren, with three different kinds of flakes as well as honey-baked oat clusters. Yum!
Manufacturer: General Mills
Wheaties is famous for putting famous athletes on its cereal boxes. It is “The Breakfast of Champions” after all!
Some of the hundreds of athletes that have been on the box include Lou Gehrig, who was the very first one, as well as Jesse Owens, Chris Evert, and Tiger Woods. Entire teams have also been on the boxes, starting with the 1987 World Series champion Minnesota Twins.
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
One of the oldest cold breakfast cereals, Corn Flakes was born in 1894 and remains a “top 20” cereal to this day. Amazing!
Did you know that the original flakes were made from wheat?
Also, you may notice the box says “the original since 1906″…that’s when a little sugar was added and mass marketing started.
Manufacturer: General Mills
The cereal version of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups came about decades after the famous chocolate and peanut butter candy (1994 vs. 1928).
The two different types of corn puffs DO taste differently.
Let’s hear it for the most popular candy-based cereal!
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
When it hit American shelves in 1965, Apple Jacks was originally called Apple O’s and was all orange. It got the Apple Jacks name in 1971 and the green loops to accompany the orange loops in 1998.
I’d assume the green and orange represent apple and cinnamon these days?
Manufacturer: General Mills
Golden Grahams definitely has its bigtime fans with fans of graham crackers. Its grains are whole wheat grain and corn meal while its sweetness comes from sugar, brown sugar syrup, and honey.
Very tempted right now to try it with chocolate milk and marshmallows to make S’mores in a bowl…
Manufacturer: General Mills
Are you wondering why Trix is spelled like it is? It’s because originally Trix was the sugar-coated version of Kix.
Since that beginning, it’s gone through many twists and turns, with its original spheres turned into fruit shapes and its original three colors doubled to six.
But one thing that’s been constant almost the entire time is the famous tagline: “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!”
Manufacturer: Quaker
It’s a legitimate debate between Cap’n Crunch and Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries…both are so darn tasty!
If you’re wondering about its distinct texture, it has an oil coating as its flavor delivery mechanism. It tries to capture the flavor of brown sugar and butter over rice (something the flavorist’s grandmother would make). A little ironic because it contains no rice (corn and oats are its flours).
Manufacturer: Quaker
It may be made by Quaker Oats Company, but Life also has corn flour and whole wheat flour in addition to oat flour…hence the “multigrain cereal.”
Clearly more people than just Mikey like Quaker’s most popular cereal!
Manufacturer: Post
No Post cereal made the top 10, but #11 isn’t too shabby!
We combined Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles here because Post considers them both to be a subset of “Pebbles.”
Re-branding this children’s cereal as Pebbles, the baby girl on “The Flintstones”, saved the low-selling Sugar Rice Krinkles. It’s been popular for decades since!
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
We couldn’t find any data on how much of Rice Krispies’ sales are for Rice Krispies treats vs. eating by the bowl, but that surely helped it crack the top 10!
Fun fact: While we’re used to “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” in the United States, Kellogg’s uses different words based on the language…for instance, in France, it’s “Cric! Crac! Croc!” and in Germany it’s “Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!”
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
This is the only top-selling cereal that’s made by more than one food company. Kellogg’s is the more popular Raisin Bran but Post also makes a version.
A special shout out to the long-discontinued competitor Crispy Wheats ‘n Raisins from General Mills in the ’80s. They even tried a Crispy Wheaties ‘n Raisins in the ’90s to no avail. It was delicious!
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Per Kellogg’s Special K’s flakes are made with rice (47%), whole wheat (37%), and barley (5%) among other ingredients.
It was born in 1955 and over the years has been marketed in various ways for weight loss and healthier lifestyles, including product extensions like protein meal bars, protein shakes, and even a protein water.
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
With 6 grams of dietary fiber but also 12 grams of added sugar, Frosted Mini-Wheats is a hybrid between “healthier” and “sugary” cereals.
Did you realize that Shredded Wheat is not the “big” version of Frosted Mini-Wheats? No, it’s also “spoon-size” and made by competitor Post. Shredded Wheat also has a “Big Biscuit” version with those massive logs to break apart. Kellogg’s wins, though, with a top 10 finish for Frosted Mini-Wheats!
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
Sorry Rice Krispies, Froot Loops is the top-selling cereal with a purposely misspelled name.
Fun fact: Your mind might play tricks, but all the colored loops taste exactly the same. So just like M&M’s not like Skittles!
Manufacturer: General Mills
Lucky Charms is the highest-rated marshmallow cereal on our list (though, to be fair, #2 does have a marshmallow variant).
Those horseshoes, hearts, stars, clovers, moons, unicorns, rainbows, and balloons truly are magically delicious!
Manufacturer: General Mills
If you don’t get why Cinnamon Toast Crunch is so popular, think it over by spooning up possibly the best-tasting leftover milk of any cereal!
Manufacturer: General Mills
When it first appeared in 1941, it was originally named Cheeri-Oats, after its main ingredient. That only lasted four years.
It’s been popular ever since, touting its healthier qualities in recent years deriving from those oats and having just 1 gram of added sugar.
Manufacturer: Kellogg’s
They’re Gr-r-reat! And they’re the second-best-selling cereal in America. Formerly named Sugar Frosted Flakes, it lands 17 places ahead of its plain sibling (Corn Flakes).
Pro tip: the Frosted Flakes with marshmallows is even tastier!
Manufacturer: General Mills
Surprised? Did you guess that the original plain Cheerios that every toddler seems to have a handful of was #1?
Nope, despite some misinformation on other sites, we’re confident that the honey nut version is #1. General Mills itself says that Honey Nut Cheerios surpassed Cheerios in 2009.
So raise a spoon along with Omar from “The Wire” and other aficionados to America’s favorite cereal!
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