The top 10 biggest-selling RTD Brand Champions 2026
A relative newcomer to the ready-to-drink (RTD) category took the Brand Champion spot this year, as the segment continues to defy the downward trend in spirits sales.
RTDs continued to grow in 2025, rising by 2% in volume, and 4% in value, against an overall drop in beverage alcohol volumes of 2% internationally.
Sales of RTDs did fall by 1% in the crucial US market, but spirits-based products grew 14%, signalling a category-wide shift away from malt-based and brewed drinks.
Big players continued to dominate the top 10 best-sellers, with little movement in the rankings since last year. But one brand’s unprecedented triple-digit growth may signal that a shakeup in the RTD category is coming.
Keep reading for a full breakdown of the highest flyers from the Brand Champions 2026 report.
The data is listed to one decimal place for ease of reading, but the percentage changes were calculated on the full data supplied. All data is recorded in millions of nine-litre cases.
10. Jim Beam RTD
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
2021: 6.0m | 2022: 6.3m | 2023: 6.6m | 2024: 6.8m | 2025: 6.4m
Growth: ‐6.0%
Place last year: 8
A sharp drop for Jim Beam’s RTDs after several years of steady growth. Jim Beam retained the top spot in our world whisky Brand Champions list this year, despite sluggish sales. But the announcement that the brand’s main distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, would pause production in 2026 suggested difficult times ahead for this one unassailable producer.
9. Breezers
Owner: Bacardi
2021: 5.0m | 2022: 6.4m | 2023: 6.2m | 2024: 6.2m | 2025: 6.5m
Growth: 4.5%
Place last year: 9
Bacardi’s flagship RTD brand defended the number-nine spot this year. Building on a 2023 visual update, Breezers re-entered the UK market last summer, playing on nostalgia among older drinkers and attempting to capture Gen Z’s demand for fruit-forward RTDs. A solid 4.5% increase in sales seems to indicate the gambit is paying off.
8. Horoyoi
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
2021: 13.4m | 2022: 12.0m | 2023: 11.2m | 2024: 9.7m | 2025: 8.7m
Growth: ‐10.1%
Place last year: 7
Suntory Global Spirits seems to have diverted some of its attention away from this line of low-ABV canned highballs. Though sales fell at a slightly lower rate than the previous two years, 2025 saw another double-digit decline for Horoyoi.
7. Jack Daniel’s RTDs (excl JD Country Cocktails)
Owner: Brown-Forman
2021: 10.8m | 2022: 11.3m | 2023: 11.2m | 2024: 10.5m | 2025: 9.9m
Growth: ‐5.4%
Place last year: 6
Sales of Jack Daniel’s core range RTDs fell for a second year running in 2025. If we were to count the Tennessee whiskey producer’s complete range of RTD products – which includes Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola – together, they would comfortably take the number-four position on this list. However, the downward trend experienced by the core range was also reflected across the portfolio.
6. Surfside
Owner: Stateside Urban Craft Vodka
2021: N/A | 2022: 0.2m | 2023: 1.3m | 2024: 4.7m | 2025: 10.6m
Growth: 126.9%
Place last year: 10
One of the great success stories of the RTD category, this year’s Brand Champion more than doubled its sales in 2025. Surfside’s co-founder, Clement Pappas, attributed the brand’s continued growth to “increased product distribution and brand‐building throughout the year, which fuelled strong brand momentum.”
The Pennsylvania-based brand has continued to invest in marketing at music festivals alongside high-profile collaborations with the NBA and NFL. It has also managed to significantly increase its presence in California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Texas, which Pappas characterises as “a heavy push into national accounts, combined with outstanding distributor partnerships and disciplined execution in market.”
According to NIQ data, Surfside was the leading spirits-based hard tea and lemonade brand in 2025, with sales led by variety eight-packs. Surfside’s founders have indicated that they will continue to focus on sports partnerships, particularly in golf, as well as introducing new flavours and formats.
Surfside is already the fastest-growing alcohol brand in US retail. At this rate, it won’t be long before it begins to threaten the biggest players in the increasingly lucrative RTD category.
5. New Mix
Owner: Brown-Forman
2021: 7.4m | 2022: 9.1m | 2023: 10.0m | 2024: 10.9m | 2025: 12.9m
Growth: 18.6%
Place last year: 5
A great year for New Mix, which managed to navigate the shifting RTD marketplace to achieve double-digit growth. Though the line of Tequila-based drinks hasn’t managed to rise in the rankings this time, next year may well be another story.
Brown-Forman rolled out New Mix in the US last November, followed this summer by the introduction of three lower-ABV canned Spritzes under the El Jimador brand. This is one to watch very closely.
4. Kakubin RTDs
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
2021: 9.1m | 2022: 10.3m | 2023: 11.6m | 2024: 12.6m | 2025: 13.2m
Growth: 4.8%
Place last year: 4
The ever-reliable whisky Highballs from Suntory held fast in the number-four spot this year. Though the brand didn’t quite achieve the same rate of growth as 2024, which saw an 8.8% rise, it remains one of the world’s favourite RTDs. Impressive, especially when we consider that it is currently available only in Asia.
3. Suntory Lemon Sour
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
2021: 19.0m | 2022: 18.0m | 2023: 20.4m | 2024: 21.9m | 2025: 19.9m
Growth: ‐9.2%
Place last year: 3
The drop in sales of Suntory Lemon Sour signals a reversal of fortunes for the brand after last year’s healthy 7.4% uptick. This may just be attributable to Suntory Global Spirits focusing its attentions elsewhere in the portfolio, as Lemon Sour’s sister brands continue to grow.
2. High Noon
Owner: Gallo
2021: 8.8m | 2022: 16.4m | 2023: 21.0m | 2024: 24.7m | 2025: 24.0m
Growth: ‐2.9%
Place last year: 2
Gallo-owned High Noon dropped slightly in 2025 after several years of steady gains. The range of vodka seltzers has previously scooped two Brand Champion titles and even overtook Tito’s Handmade Vodka to become the biggest-selling spirits brand by volume in the US in 2022. Whether or not limited-edition offerings and continued partnerships in the world of professional golf will put High Noon back into growth remains to be seen.
1. -196
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
2021: 27.8m | 2022: 27.3m | 2023: 27.8m | 2024: 30.5m | 2025: 34.6m
Growth: 13.6%
Place last year: 1
Suntory has defended first place in the RTD Brand Champions this year, as the shochu- and vodka-based -196 Highballs neared the 35m-case mark.
It remains some way off White Claw’s 60m-case peak – the hard seltzer brand is excluded from this list as its range is largely malt-based, not spirits-based – but as Suntory continues to push -196 in Europe and the US, 2026 could be an even bigger year for the brand.
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