The numbers from last year are in, and members of the toy industry are celebrating their big wins.
Following the news that the U.S. toy industry grew 13% in 2021 — according to The NPD Group — individual category and property data has emerged. In NPD’s annual Toy Industry Performance Awards, the leading data tracking service says that Mattel scored 18 top rankings, including big wins globally and in the U.S. and Canada.
For the second year in a row, NPD named Mattel’s Barbie brand as the top global toy property of the year while the company’s Hot Wheels brand raced into the No. 1 spot with its 1:64-scale mainline vehicle assortment securing its position as the top-selling toy around the world. Additionally, Fisher-Price was ranked as the No. 5 global toy property for the year. As usual, UNO remains the No. 1 card came property in the U.S.
“Last year we introduced our Mattel Playbook powered by brand purpose, design-led innovation, cultural relevance, and executional excellence. Our performance under this unique brand-building approach is clear across these extraordinary rankings,” says Mattel President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Dickson. “Barbie’s brand purpose to inspire the limitless potential in every girl is resonating more than ever, as evidenced by this top global ranking for the second year in a row. At the same time, Hot Wheels’ performance shows it continues to ignite the challenger spirit on which the brand was founded more than 50 years ago.”
According to NPD, Barbie ranked as the No. 1 dolls property in the dolls supercategory every week in 2021 in terms of total dollar sales. While the Hot Wheels mainline held onto the top spot in total sales, the Barbie Dreamhouse was cruising in right behind it to score the No. 2 spot.
“Just as we innovated across our products and brands in 2021, we have innovated through our omnichannel demand creation efforts at Mattel,” says Mattel Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Steve Totzke. “These NPD results speak for themselves and demonstrate the performance at all levels of our global team … We couldn’t be prouder!”
Mattel will report its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 earnings on Feb. 9 after the bell.
