Oh, ok. We’ll explain a little more. Because working out what the best-selling whisky brand in the world is actually not that easy. You have to define what we mean by whisky, you have to ask whether we’re calculating by value or volume, and you have to consider that we may never really know how many albums Julio Iglesias sold in South America. Can you really account for every CD that has exchanged hands… Wait, I’ve gotten off track.
Anyway, the point is, you have to draw a line in the sand and our line is this: whisky is a spirit made from grain + water + yeast + wood + time, as outlined in our How is whisky made? guide. The grain could be barley, or corn, or rye… But not molasses. We’ll get to why that’s important later on.
We also will be ranking sales by volume, namely of industry-standard 9-litre cases. The reason why is that our data is taken from the absolutely outstanding Brand Champions report The Spirits Business puts together annually. The most recent is the 2023 report and kudos to editor Melita Kiely and her team for another stellar edition.
Without further ado, in reverse order, here are the world’s best-selling whisky brands:
What are the best-selling whisky brands in the world?
The best-selling whisky brand in the world is Johnnie Walker.
Johnnie Walker
22.7m cases sold in 2022
See, we told you it was Johnnie Walker. The Walking Man went from 19.1m cases to 22.7m cases in 2022 to retain his title of Scotch whisky king. An impressive post-pandemic rebound that sees it outpace its nearest competitor, Ballantine’s, by near a 3-to-1 ratio.
If you want some context compared to other spirits, Bacardi Rum sold 24.3m cases in 2022, Smirnoff Vodka sold 28.1m cases, White Claw (!) sold 59m cases (!!) and Jinro Soju was the biggest selling spirits brand in the world (again) with a staggering 100.9m cases sold. All this means one thing. We need to pull our finger out, whisky drinkers.
Jim Beam
16.7m cases sold in 2022
Taking the crown in American whiskey (and ‘world whisky’ if that sort of categorisation floats your boat) is Jim Beam. Sales actually dip by 1.6% from 2021, when it sold 17m cases. But the brand’s owner Beam Suntory saw double-digit growth for more ‘premium’ brands like Maker’s Mark and Basil Hayden. Plenty of bourbon to go around.
Jack Daniel’s
14.6m cases sold in 2022
Tennessee whiskey brand, Jack Daniel’s, meanwhile, rose by 7.9% in 2022 to hit a great big 14.6m cases. All the more impressive considering Lemmy and Frank Sinatra get their JD for free these days. I’m picturing some angelic tap that sings a sweet hymn as brown liquor pours out of it. I got sidetracked again. Back to the list.
Jameson
11.1m cases sold in 2022
Flying a great green flag for Ireland (hurrah!) is Jameson, which to literally nobody’s surprise remains the world’s biggest Irish whiskey brand. Its growth of an impressive 15.1% saw it rise from 9.6m cases in 2021 to 11.1m cases in 2022. Brendan Buckley, international marketing director at Jameson owner Irish Distillers says that 15m is the target by 2030. God speed.
Ballantine’s
9.2m cases sold in 2022
Blended Scotch whisky does big boy numbers every year as Ballantine’s demonstrates, growing 5.5% in 2022 to climb to 9.2m cases sold from 8.7m in 2021. The brand recently moved into the world of gaming by partnering with the video game series Borderlands, although the performance of the recent film adapted from the game’s universe might have had a few studio executives reaching for the whisky.
Crown Royal
8.4m cases sold in 2022
Crown Royal did a big 8.4m in sales in 2022, although that was down from 9m in 2021. Still, 2021 had seen a huge increase for the brand so overall things are not too bad. The whisky maker also reminds us that Canada is more than just a place that produces lovely entrepreneurial blogging whisky folk who eventually join the MoM Parish via Balvenie Distillery like Sam Simmons (Dr Whisky) and Alwynne Gwilt (Miss Whisky).
Suntory Kakubin
6.1m cases sold in 2022
Japanese whisky makes an entry on our list with Suntory Kakubin. Perhaps the ultimate Highball whisky, Kakubin was first created in 1937 by Shinjiro Torii, Suntory’s founder and first master blender. The numbers are impressive when you consider it’s only available in select areas of Asia.
The Glenlivet
1.7m cases sold in 2022
We’ve skipped a few names on the list to round things off with the biggest-selling single malt whiskies on the market because we know people will ask. According to the report, The Glenlivet just pipped Glenfiddich by 100,000 cases. The two really are neck-and-neck though.
Glenfiddich
1.6m cases sold in 2022
In 2018 and 2019 Glenfiddich was leading The Glenlivet (1.4m cases v 1.2m cases and 1.5m cases v 1.3m cases respectively) but in 2020 the two found themselves in a stalemate, ambling through the pandemic with a respectable 1.2m cases a piece. Then in 2021, both reached 1.5m cases. The Glenlivet has now pulled ahead, but we look forward to the 2024 Brand Champion report to see what the 2023 numbers are.
Which rounds off our list. The best-selling whisky brand in the world is Johnnie Walker… ish.
The biggest-selling whisky brands in the world are… Indian.
Ok, so there’s a part two to all this. Seasoned best-selling whisky list lovers will know there are some massive names and numbers omitted here, namely due to that decision to omit the molasses-based whiskies of the world. And when we say the world, we mean India. India is now the biggest consumer of Scotch whisky by volume and value, and we salute you.
But there are also a huge amount of domestic brands that operate within India that record some serious sales. Complex excise law in some states combined with the country’s huge import tax mean that a lot of people can’t afford to drink Scotch whisky. That means they have to drink something else. That could be the Indian whisky we stock. Quality spirits that legally adhere most country’s whisky laws.
Or, that could be ‘whisky’. Spirit made in India that is marketed to look a lot like Scotch whisky, something the Scotch Whisky Association has never been too pleased about. One, because these spirits aren’t made in Scotland. But just as important, molasses is used in the recipe. Most countries wouldn’t class these spirits as whisky. The EU wouldn’t. The US wouldn’t. Scotch whisky certainly doesn’t. Now, full confession, I haven’t tried any of these kinds of whisky before so I couldn’t tell you how different they are first hand. But there is plenty of testimony out there and our own understanding of how whisky is made leads us to the conclusion that they are not like-for-like replacements for your favourite blended Scotch whisky.
These drinks are hugely popular, regardless, and deserve some spotlight. So, if you weren’t very fussy about how whisky is classified and merely counted anything labelled as whisky, the following brands would all rank ahead of Johnnie Walker as the best-selling whisky brands in the world:
What is the best-selling whisky brand in the world?*
McDowell’s Whisky
31.4m cases sold in 2022
McDowell’s Whisky conquers them all. A massive 31.4m cases of it were sold in 2022, almost 10 million more than Johnnie Walker.
Behind it are the following:
Royal Stag
27.9m cases sold in 2023
Officer’s Choice
23.4m cases sold in 2023
Imperial Blue
22.8m cases sold in 2023
*accounting for drinks labelled as whisky.