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News.
Top 100 Most Powerful Brands For 2025 Announced By Kantar BrandZ.
LONDON, May 15, 2025 -- Kantar, the world's leading marketing data and analytics company, launches its 20th edition of BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands, the world's most authoritative brand ranking, based on consumer perceptions and financial performance.
US brands now comprise 82% of the total value of the Global Top 100, up from 63% in 2006, but a rise among Chinese brands and volatility caused by escalating tariffs could threaten this order. Chinese brands have doubled their value over the past 20 years, now accounting for 6% of the overall value of the Global Top 100. These shifts have come at the expense of European brands, which for now account for only 7% of the Global Top 100 (down from 26% in 2006).
Martin Guerrieria, Head of Kantar BrandZ, said: "Even through economic crises, the world's most valuable brands have consistently outperformed the S&P 500 and MSCI World Index over 20 years. This is irrefutable proof of marketing's value. A brand is a company's most valuable asset, and the last thing businesses should be doing in response to market shocks is cutting marketing investment.
"Brands are built on ongoing exposure and experiences. The most successful are consistent in their messaging and recognize the intangible value of brands in the minds of consumers. The smartest businesses differentiate their brands to the extent that consumers are happy to pay a premium, because they can maintain or survive price rises without eroding demand. This is crucial for protecting margins when facing external pressures."
Outside the US, significant gains have been seen for Sweden's Spotify, re-entering the Global Top 100 at 76; India's Airtel, the fastest growing telecom brand in the world; Argentinian retailer Mercado Libre, the only Latin American brand in the Global Top 100; Spanish retailer Zara, which rose five places to 65th, and Canada's RBC, which saw the biggest YOY brand value growth (43%) of any financial services brand outside the US.
Disruptive brands fuel long-term brand value
Brands that disrupted their category or reinvented themselves have accounted for almost three-quarters (71%) of the incremental $9.3 trillion of value created in the Global Top 100 since 2006. In 2025, this includes Stripe and Chipotle, which have entered the ranking for the first time (in 85th and 86th place) and Aldi, which has been in the Global Top 100 for 15 of the past 20 years, and is currently ranked 94th.
Martin Guerrieria comments: "Innovators keeping up with consumer needs or redefining them entirely are the brands fundamentally reshaping the Global Top 100 over the past two decades – think Uber, Booking.com and now ChatGPT. The most successful – like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft – have long moved away from their original product base."
Overall, the Global Top 100 has reached a record total brand value of $10.7 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 29%. This has been driven by tech-enabled disruptor brands, which have delivered most of the increase in value over the past 20 years across all sectors.
Apple retains its top position for the fourth year with a brand value of $1.3 trillion, up 28% on the previous year. The only trillion-dollar brand in the ranking, Apple represents more than 12% of the total value of the Global Top 100.
ChatGPT premiers in 60th place, the highest newcomer since NVIDIA in 2021, but may face strong competition as brands like Google and Microsoft respond to its first-mover advantage.
Amazon's brand value has soared by 50% to $866 billion, thanks to its strong positioning around convenience and affordability allowing it to thrive in a challenging economy.
Instagram and TikTok have posted impressive growth of 101% and 25% respectively. They reflect the continued influence of social media in shaping consumer habits and delivering direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales for brands and influencers globally.
Martin Guerrieria, Head of Kantar BrandZ, said: "In a world of digital saturation and tough consumer expectations, brands need to meet people's needs, connect with them emotionally and offer something others don't to succeed. They need to be not just different, but meaningfully so. The dominance of brands like Apple, Instagram and McDonald's underlines the power of a consistent brand experience that people can relate to and remember. ChatGPT's dramatic rise shows how a brand can find fame and influence society to the extent that it changes our daily lives. But with generative AI competition accelerating, OpenAI will need to invest in its brand to preserve it first-mover momentum."The top 25 brands appear below with their valuation and the percentage change from 2024. The full report can be obtained at the Kantar web site.
|
Rank
|
Brand
|
Estimated Value
|
Change from 2024
|
|
1
|
Apple
|
$1,299,655,000,000
|
28%
|
|
2
|
Google
|
$944,137,000,000
|
25%
|
|
3
|
Microsoft
|
$884,816,000,000
|
24%
|
|
4
|
Amazon
|
$866,118,000,000
|
50%
|
|
5
|
Nvidia
|
$509,442,000,000
|
152%
|
|
6
|
Facebook
|
$300,662,000,000
|
80%
|
|
7
|
Instagram
|
$228,947,000,000
|
101%
|
|
8
|
McDonald's
|
$221,079,000,000
|
0%
|
|
9
|
Oracle
|
$215,354,000,000
|
48%
|
|
10
|
Visa
|
$213,348,000,000
|
13%
|
|
11
|
Tencent
|
$174,005,000,000
|
29%
|
|
12
|
Mastercard
|
$167,882,000,000
|
25%
|
|
13
|
IBM
|
$125,973,000,000
|
28%
|
|
14
|
Coca-Cola
|
$119,979,000,000
|
13%
|
|
15
|
Walmart
|
$119,580,000,000
|
72%
|
|
16
|
Netflix
|
$115,271,000,000
|
54%
|
|
17
|
Louis Vitton
|
$111,938,000,000
|
-14%
|
|
18
|
Hermes
|
$109,421,000,000
|
17%
|
|
19
|
Telekom/T-Mobile
|
$105,717,000,000
|
44%
|
|
20
|
Accenture
|
$103,810,000,000
|
27%
|
|
21
|
Costo
|
$100,809,000,000
|
-67%
|
|
22
|
Aramco
|
$93,554,000,000
|
-13%
|
|
23
|
SAP
|
$92,347,000,000
|
66%
|
|
24
|
Verizon
|
$90,490,000,000
|
11%
|
|
25
|
Home Depot
|
$89,230,000,000
|
19%
|