Cheerios Tops the List of the Most Popular Breakfast Cereals

The latest statistics on breakfast cereal sales prove what I've thought for years. My all-time favorite, Cheerios, is the most popular.

According to information published in the Washington Post, Cheerios is the overwhelming choice for those who eat cereal for breakfast.

While eating cereal for breakfast isn't as popular as it used to be, the toasted O's have maintained their popularity outselling their closest competitor almost 2:1.

There's no clear explanation of Cheerios popularity, but my theory is our familiarity with the cereal and that 'heart healthy' advertising campaign allows us to have our favorite cereal and not feel like we should be eating something healthier.

On the subject of healthy, the Washington Post article also shows tremendous growth for two healthy cereals, Muesli and Kashi. Special K also ranks high.

For some, Cheerios, even the Honey Nut variety, don't satisfy the need for sweet in the morning. That's why the second most popular cereal, Frosted Flakes, is still 'gr-r-reat!' after all these years.

Justin Massa, CEO of Food Genius told CNN,

There's this odd dichotomy of people being very healthy at times, but then very indulgent at others." He adds, "More and more of us are eating breakfast every day, we're just not eating cereal."

One of the big losers in Massa's dichotomy of healthy or indulgent is Wheaties. Sales of the iconic breakfast cereal have fallen 80% over the last 10 years as people see it as neither.

On the indulgent side, in addition to Frosted Flakes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms and Froot Loops have seen an upswing in sales.

[Washington Post][CNN]