7 Best-Selling Candy Bars Around the World

If you have a sweet tooth, you're not alone. So many people around the world love candy. I mean, they really love candy. In fact, the candy industry is booming. According to the National Convenience Stores Association (NCAS), candy sales hit an all-time high in the US in 2023, with nearly $49 billion worth of sales, and it's a nearly $370 billion industry worldwide.

And while people in different countries have differing tastes, we all have candy in common. These are the top candy bars in the world, according to Gitnux Food & Beverage Statistics. 

Snickers tops the list not only in the United States, but around the world. And why not? Nougat. Peanuts. Caramel. Milk chocolate. It's a tasty confection with fun advertising and a well-known name in candy bars. Snickers has held the top spot for years, and they don't show any signs of handing off the title of the world's top-selling candy bar anytime soon. 

Sure, there's no bar to be found, but M&Ms sell right alongside candy bars at every candy shop we know of, so we think they count. And whether you like plain, peanut, or any of the myriad of flavors M&M has come out with, they're a classic candy that has been delighting people since 1941. 

When I was a kid, any Halloween where I walked away from trick-or-treating with a plastic pumpkin full of Reese's peanut butter cups was a good Halloween, indeed. From the minis you get at Halloween to the giant cups, Reese's somehow knows how to get the perfect ratio of creamy PB to milk chocolate, and apparently everyone else in the world is as here for it as I am. 

British confectioner Rowntree knew exactly what they were doing when they created the Chocolate Crisp bar in 1935, with its crunch wafery cookies covered in smooth milk chocolate. If that candy sounds familiar, it's because a year later, they renamed it the Kit Kat bar, and the rest, as they say, is yummy, yummy history. 

Related: 14 Vintage Candy Brands You Can't Get Today

In the United States, we call this bit of chocolate perfection the Dove Bar, but in other parts of the world, it's the Galaxy Bar. But no matter what you call it, consumers around the world agree that the creamy milk chocolate is perfectly balanced and delicious. 

Sure, Hershey's has made all kinds of tasty candy bars, but as delish as they are, none live up to the OG, the classic, the milk chocolate bar. Whether you like snacking on them rectangle by rectangle or you prefer to wedge them between two graham crackers and a toasted marshmallow in a s'more, these classic candy bars have been wowing candy lovers around the world since 1900. 

Depending on where you live, you may know the Mars bar as the Milky Way, as it's marketed in the United States. Essentially, a Mars bar is a Snickers without nuts — it's a tasty combo of nougat and caramel covered with sweet milk chocolate. 

Candy bars come and go (Lindy Bar, anyone?), but the classics have staying power. And they tend to be the most popular and best-selling candy bars on the planet. Even though they may have different names in various parts of the world, these beloved sweets unite us with their sugary perfection.