What Are the Most Popular Jelly Bean Flavors in America? Everything You Need to Know

Americans eat 15 billion jelly beans each year. Laid end to end, those beans would circle the Earth about five times. With that kind of demand, the fight over which flavor sits on top has played out for decades — and the lead has changed hands more than once.

According to the Jelly Belly website, there have been two flavors battling it out for the title of America’s favorite jelly bean flavor for most of the company’s history: Very Cherry and Buttered Popcorn.

How Very Cherry Became a Top Jelly Belly Flavor

Very Cherry was one of the original eight Jelly Belly flavors introduced in 1976. Those first eight also included Lemon, Root Beer, Tangerine and Cream Soda, along with Green Apple, Licorice and Grape.

Very Cherry dominated as the most popular flavor for two straight decades. Then in 1998, Buttered Popcorn knocked it from the top spot. The upset didn’t last — Very Cherry reclaimed the title in 2003 and has held it ever since, according to Jelly Belly.

America’s overall favorites also include Licorice, Juicy Pear and Sizzling Cinnamon in addition to Very Cherry and Buttered Popcorn, per the Jelly Belly website.

Kids see things differently. The most beloved flavors among younger jelly bean eaters are Cotton Candy, Green Apple and Berry Blue, according to the site.

Why Buttered Popcorn Is the Most Controversial Jelly Belly Flavor

Buttered Popcorn may rank high in popularity, but it holds a distinction no other flavor can claim: it’s the most controversial jelly bean, according to Jelly Belly. The runner-up for that title is Licorice.

The Buttered Popcorn jelly bean turned 25 years old in 2014 and is considered the world’s first savory jelly bean flavor.

“When we developed Buttered Popcorn, we didn’t use a lot of sweetness,” Ambrose Lee, director of flavor development, and the food scientist who created the flavor 25 years ago, said, per Jelly Belly. “We had to focus on the buttery flavor and salt. Because it’s a jelly bean, there’s still that touch of sweetness to it. I think many people either like that touch of sweetness to the savory or they reject it”

That sweet-meets-savory tension is what splits jelly bean fans down the middle. The Jelly Belly website frames it plainly: you either love Buttered Popcorn or you hate it.

Which Jelly Bean Flavors Are Most Popular by State

Other sites have gotten in on the action when it comes to researching and ranking jelly bean flavors. In April 2023, Taste of Home worked with CandyStore.com to analyze candy records and identify the most popular jelly bean flavors by state.

Buttered Popcorn came out on top as the bestseller in 10 states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas.

Licorice ranked second nationally and was the top seller in eight states: Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota and Tennessee.

Cinnamon came in third as the favorite in Delaware, Kansas, Nevada, Virginia and Wyoming. Watermelon placed fourth with high sales in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Oregon and Wisconsin.

Cherry rounded out the top five, with the highest sales in Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Carolina, Utah and Washington, D.C.

How Many Jelly Beans Does America Produce

According to the Jelly Belly website, 1,680 jelly beans roll off production lines every single second. The weight of beans made in one day equals that of 24 elephants.

One famous fan took his devotion further than most. Former President Ronald Reagan loved jelly beans so much that the White House maintained a standing order of 720 bags per month during his presidency — roughly 306,070 individual beans.

This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.