The Top 10 Best-Selling Beers in America, Every Decade Since the ’80s [Infographic]

Before Anheuser-Busch InBev became the king of America’s macrobrewers, it was Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. Before it was Schlitz, it was Best Brewing Company, now known as Pabst Brewing Company. The ranks of Big Beer are always changing, as are the brands they produce.

In the three decades spanning the 1980s to the 2000s, Budweiser reigned as the best-selling beer in the U.S. with its market share peaking at 24.8 percent in the ’90s, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights’ 50 Years in Beer report. Budweiser was dethroned when its lower-calorie counterpart Bud Light topped the list in 2010, where it remains today. (Little did we know how pervasive consumers’ better-for-you desires would become.)

Other than Budweiser, Miller Lite is the only beer to appear in the top 10 best-selling beers each decade since the ’80s. It is also the only one to rank within each decade’s top five.

For its report, Beer Marketer’s Insights tracked each label’s number of shipped barrels across each decade from the 1980s to 2010s, plus in 2020. Over that period, the industry’s market share has widely democratized. In the ’80s, the 10 top-selling beers accounted for 68.8 percent of the market, whereas in 2020, they accounted for 53.5 percent. The waning monopoly points to the industry’s steady expansion.

The beers with the most consistent showings on these lists include Coors Light, which has placed in the top five since the 1990s; Miller High Life, which placed in the top 10 until 2020; and Corona Extra, which has been a top-selling beer since the 2000s. Corona Extra was the first Mexican cerveza to become a top 10-selling beer in the U.S., and until 2020, it was the only one. That year saw a second Mexican beer join the big leagues, with Modelo Especial ranking fifth.

For a better understanding of how the beer industry and its brands have evolved over the past four decades, check out the infographic and table below to see the top 10 best-selling beers of every decade since the 1980s.

The 10 Best-Selling Beers in the U.S. by Decade

Rank	1980s	1990s	2000s	2010s	2020
1	Budweiser	Budweiser	Budweiser	Bud Light	Bud Light
2	Miller High Life	Miller Lite	Bud Light	Budweiser	Coors Light
3	Miller Lite	Coors Light	Miller Lite	Coors Light	Miller Lite
4	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Bud Light	Coors Light	Miller Lite	Michelob Ultra
5	Coors Banquet	Busch	Natural Light	Natural Light	Modelo Especial
6	Michelob	Milwaukee’s Best	Busch	Corona Extra	Budweiser
7	Schlitz	Old Milwaukee	Corona Extra	Busch Light	Corona Extra
8	Stroh	Miller High Life	Busch Light	Busch	Busch Light
9	Old Milwaukee	Miller Gen Draft	Miller High Life	Miller High Life	White Claw
10	Old Style	Coors Banquet	Miller Genuine Draft	Keystone Light	Natural Light

*Image retrieved from Davide Angelini via stock.adobe.com