The world’s best-selling rum brands

Despite being the third biggest spirits category in the world, rum was overrun with declines last year – but a few standout brands illuminated the category with their spirited gains.

These are the world’s top 10 best-selling rum brands

While the category has enjoyed steady growth in the past decade, rum as a whole remains largely under-premiumised.

This factor is considered by many to be a major speed bump in its journey, demonstrated in declines posted by some of the world’s rum giants – which have been slow to truly capture the trend.

Within the premium rum category, it is also worth highlighting Edrington’s decline to publish sales figures for its Brugal rum brand.

However it’s not all doom and gloom; this year the leader board welcomed two newcomers, and one international player was awarded the title of Rum Brand Champion 2016 after undertaking a bold strategy to secure “excellent results”.

Following our recently published Brand Champions 2016 – our pick of those brands selling more than one million cases annually that are performing exceptionally within their category – we run through the world’s best-selling rum brands on the market today.

Click through the following pages to discover the top 10 best-selling rum brands, listed in order of their nine-litre case sales.

10. Božkov Rum

2015: 1.01m

2014: 10.89m

% change: +13.715

Place last year: –

Sailing into the Brand Champions for the first time is leaderboard newcomer Božkov Rum, which hails from the Czech Republic. This Stock Spirits Group-owned rum is a Czech ‘Tuzemský’, which translates as ‘domestic’. The brand has been gaining traction for the last few years, and despite fluctuations in volume, has now surpassed the million case mark. The rum is said to be suitable for “use in baking, direct consumption, in cocktails, or as a grog”.

9. Cacique

2015: 1.10m

2014: 1.20m

% change: -8.33%

Place last year: –

Translating as “chief of the tribe”in Spanish, Venezuelan rum brand Cacique earned a spot on the leaderboard this year, taking the place of Pernod Ricard-owned Montilla rum. The Diageo-owned expression this year recorded its lowest sales figures in recent history, suffering a single-digit decline of 8.33%. However, it should be noted that the decline is much more controlled than the 45.45% it saw the previous year. Is a rebound on the cards, or will the chief be demoted next year? It’s too tough to call.

8. Appleton Estate

2015: 1.25m

2014: 1.20m

% change: +4.17%

Place last year: 10

Gruppo Campari’s Appleton Estate was the only international rum to witness any growth last year, and as such was declared the Rum Brand Champion 2016. The Jamaican rum benefited from a new naming classification and packaging redesign for its core range, and instigated a number of initiatives and campaigns across its markets, which boosted the brands volume uplift after four years of flat-lining volumes. The brand reported “excellent results” in Canada, as well as the US, New Zealand, the Caribbean, key European markets and in global travel retail.

7. Old Port Rum

2015: 1.92m

2014: 1.76m

% change: +9.09%

Place last year: 8

As one of the few million case-selling rums to report positive growth, Amrut Distillers’ Old Port Rum has deservedly been bumped up one place on the leaderboard – edging it ever-closer towards the 2m mark, seen in its glory days of 2011. Old Port Rum is distilled, aged and bottled at Amrut Distillers’ distillery based in Bangalore, India.

6. Barceló

2015: 2.04m

2014: 2.17m

% change: -6.08%

Place last year: 7

Though Barceló’s volume slipped by 6.08%, this year Radico Khaitan’s Contessa rum knocked itself off the million case mark, paving the way for the brand to step up a notch to 6th place. Produced in the Dominican Republic by Ron Barceló since 1950, the brand is now sold in more than 50 countries. Will it stay above the 2m case mark for a fourth year? We’ll see.

5. Havana Club

2015: 4.00m

2014: 4.10m

% change: -0.25%

Place last year: 5

Suffering the most minimal decline of all million case-selling brands within the rum category with just a 100,000 case dip,  Havana Club’s buoyancy was likely bolstered by the rollout of a global campaign last year, titled “You just know when it’s from the heart”, which was designed to evoke the “passion and unique spirit” of the brand and Cuban people. At the beginning of the 2016, Pernod Ricard received approval to renew its Havana Club trademark in the US following a decades-long legal battle with Bacardi. If the embargo is successfully lifted, the group will see a significant increase in volume sales – watch this space.

4. Captain Morgan

2015: 10.30m

2014: 10.40m

% change: -0.96%

Place last year: 4

A modest decrease for Captain Morgan that sees it hold onto 4th place, impressive when considering the brand has endured an eventful year. Diageo has both instigated and fought off lawsuits and complaints centred around Captain Morgan’s iconic logo in the last year, and was forced to defend the legality of a trial distilling process in the Virgin Islands. Troubles aside, the brand targeted the shot market with the release of new Captain Morgan Cannon Blast, and challenged Bacardi in a UK ad campaign for its white rum, which ran with the tagline “White Rum Has A New Captain” in a bid to drive mass brand awareness. However, it seems Captain Morgan still has some way to go before it overthrows the rum goliath.

3. Tanduay

2015: 16.50m

2014: 17.00m

% change: -2.94%

Place last year: 3

Last year’s Rum Brand Champion, Philippines-based Tanduay, has clung on to its 3rd place spot on the leader board in spite of a 2.94% drop in volume. The brand saw an impressive increase of 19% in the Brand Champions 2015, the most of any rum brand among the million-case sellers, but failed to maintain this momentum in what has been a challenging year across the category. The brand recently launched Millennial-focussed premium expression Tanduay Select, employing Filipino actress Jessy Mendiola as the face of the accompanying “I Deserve This” campaign.

2. Bacardi

2015: 17.42m

2014: 18.20m

% change: –4.29%

Place last year: 2

Securing 2nd place on the leaderboard for the second consecutive year is Bacardi, which once again witnessed a drop in volume; this year losing 780,000 cases. However, as the full effects of the group’s streamlined global advertising business, restructured marketing division, CEO Mike Dolan’s ‘Mike Tyson approach’ to business, and multi-channel ‘Millennial-focused’ campaigns begin to take shape, 2017’s results could well be very, very different.

1. McDowell’s No. 1 Celebration

2015: 17.80m

2014: 18.29m

% change: -2.68%

Place last year: 1

Outperforming Bacardi once again, Indian brand McDowell’s No.1 Celebration has clung on to the title of world’s best-selling rum despite losing volume for the second consecutive year. The United Spirits-owned rum was first launched in 1991 with just 100,000 cases, and now reaches across 13 countries, though it has achieved the most success in its domestic market. The 2.68% dip in this year’s volume is a marked improvement on the 4% drop recorded last year – so the rate of decline is edging towards a plateau. Will 2017 be the first year of positive growth since 2013? We’ll have to wait and see.