The world’s best-selling Scotch whisky brands

Figures confirm that Scotch whisky exports are on the road to recovery, but which leading brands outperformed the category last year?

We’ve compiled a list of the world’s best-selling Scotch whisky brands

Over the past three years, Scotch whisky has struggled to regain growth, hit by softness in key markets, notably China, Russia and Latin America.

However, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) recently confirmed that the sector’s export declined slowed to -2.4% in 2015, compared to -7% in 2014, indicating positive growth prospects for the year ahead.

Growth is skewed towards single malts as the blended category declined in terms of both value and volume.

This dynamic is reflected our list of the top 10 best-selling Scotch whisky brands – all unsurprisingly blends and many still struggling to claw back growth.

The world’s two best-selling single malt Scotch whisky brands – The Glenlivet and Glenfiddich – recorded impressive gains last year, but are still some way off breaking the top 10 barrier.

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 Scotch brands on the market today.

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

10. Bell’s

2015: 2.2m

2014: 2.5m

% change: -12%

Place last year: 10

Despite witnessing a hefty 12% decline in 2015, Diageo-owned Bell’s has clung on to its 10^th place in the list of the world’s best-selling Scotch brands. Situated under Diageo’s ‘Local Brands’ portfolio due to its prevalence in the emerging markets, particularly Africa, Bell’s performance reflects broader regional challenges, in addition to continuing softness in the blended Scotch category. However, Diageo’s new strategic shift from premium spirits to mainstream brands may boost Bell’s fortunes in the year ahead.

9. Label 5

2015: 2.58m

2014: 2.58m

% change: 0%

Place last year: 9

Label 5, owned by French drinks group La Martiniquaise, is unmoved in its position as the 9^th largest Scotch whisky brand in the world. The brand has managed to wade off some of the steep declines seen by some of its brethren with an abundance of relevant and interesting market activities, utilising digital and social media. Released at the end of 2014, the brand’s more premium variant – Label 5 Gold Heritage – has been positively received, even receiving a coveted Gold medal in The Scotch Whisky Masters 2016.

8. Dewar’s

2015: 2.68m

2014: 2.70m

% change: -0.74%

Place last year: 8

Despite an increased focus on travel retail, new releases and bottle revamps, Bacardi-owned Dewar’s experienced a marginal decline in 2015, hitting its lowest volumes in five years. Released in the middle of last year, Dewar’s Scratched Cask targets Bourbon drinkers with its “accessible” notes of vanilla, toasted oak and a hint of spice – perhaps a sign that the brand is aiming to generate a greater millennial following in the years ahead.

7. William Peel

2015: 2.90m

2014: 2.75m

% change: +5.45%

Place last year: 7

Owned by Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits (MBWS), formerly Belvédère, William Peel was one of the few international blended Scotch brands to witness solid growth last year, posting gains of more than 5%. In 2015, William Peel boosted the financial results of its parent company after “reaffirming” its leadership position in its domestic French market.

6. William Lawson’s

2015: 3.11m

2014: 3.10m

% change: +0.32%

Place last year: 6

Bacardi’s leading Scotch whisky brand, William Lawson’s, avoided hefty declines of some of its category cousins, but also failed to see any meaningful growth. Nevertheless, William Lawson’s is one of the only blended Scotch whiskies to post consistent gains over the last five years. It is also the best-selling Scotch whisky in Russia, where it has 16.8% market share, and recently moved some bottling operations to the country.

5. J&B

2015: 3.50m

2014: 3.70m

% change: -5.41%

Place last year: 5

Diageo’s J&B Scotch whisky slowed its decline to -5.41% last year, compared to -7% in 2014. The brand, which claims to the most popular in Europe, has clearly not yet seen the anticipated sales uplift following the release of flavoured brand extension J&B Urban Honey in 2014.

4. Grant’s

2015: 4.35m

2014: 4.37m

% change: -0.46%

Place last year: 4

William Grant & Sons-owned blend Grant’s has really ramped up its millennial focus in recent months. The brand has continued to increase marketing activity for its entry level Grant’s Signature expression, at the same time as releasing Grant’s Ale Cask Finish in the US – said to be the only Scotch whisky of its type in the market. Sales remained flat at -0.46%, but Grant’s is quickly closing in on our number three occupant…

3. Chivas Regal

2015: 4.40m

2014: 4.59m

% change: -4.14%

Place last year: 3

In at number three is Chivas Regal, owned by Pernod Ricard’s whisky arm Chivas Brothers, which has continued its consistent decline. Despite a number of new product launches and a contemporary new bottle design for Chivas 12, the brand was hit continued softness in China. Earlier this year, Pernod CEO Alexandre Ricard identified a need to build “more resilience” in China’s Scotch whisky market.

2. Ballantine’s

2015: 6.20m

2014: 6.13m

% change: 1.14%

Place last year: 2

To some, Ballantine’s 1.14% volume increase to 6.20m cases may seem subdued, but it is indicative of the recovery of the broader Scotch category, prompting SB to name the label Scotch Brand Champion 2016. The only brand in the top five best-selling Scotch whiskies to grow last year, Ballantine’s made sure it remained firmly in the spotlight with new limited edition bottlings, packaging makeovers and marketing campaigns. The brand even visualised the future of space travel with the creation of a glass for whisky drinking in outer space.

1. Johnnie Walker

2015: 17.60m

2014: 17.90m

% change: -1.68%

Place last year: 1

No surprise here – the world’s undefeated best-selling Scotch whisky brand is, of course, Johnnie Walker. Still some way off achieving its 20m case volume highs of 2013, the Diageo-owned brand’s sales slipped by 1.68% to 17.60m cases in 2015. Indian whisky brand Officer’s Choice swiped the world’s best-selling whisky brand from Johnnie Walker in 2013, and more than 15m cases now separate the two titans in the space of just three years. In a bid to reignite sales, the brand launched its largest marketing effort to-date, called Joy Will Take You Further, featuring an array of famous faces such as Jude Law and Jensen Button.