Businesses use branding to craft a unique identity to stand out from competitors and connect with consumers. The best brands are omnipresent in culture and pervasive across time. To gauge how current brands are perceived by consumers, TIME and Statista partnered to analyze the prevalence and popularity of brands across the world, by country. For the 2025 U.S. list, TIME and Statista surveyed U.S. consumers about brands they knew, recognized across media, liked, used, and would use again across 71 categories across a diverse range of consumer-facing industries. The five brands in each category that scored high across the board were named the Best Brands.
In most categories, especially for everyday items, American consumers preferred American brands. Many are legacy brands that have been around for over a century like Heinz (no.1 in Sauces and Condiments), the flagship product of food and beverage conglomerate Kraft Heinz, which makes several other top brands. American brands frequently break through top spots across several categories in other countries as well. According to a 2025 report from brand value consultancy firm Brand Finance, the U.S. has some of the most recognizable company names in the world—followed by China, then the U.K.—which speaks to their marketing prowess when consumer culture was starting to be established alongside the country’s capacity for mass production.
American brand The North Face, the top ranked in the Outdoor Fashion as well as Backpacks categories, has been well-regarded for its technical outdoor gear design. It sponsors outdoor athletes and explorers, events, and nonprofit community outdoors organizations, for example, by funding youth outdoors experiences and education through the National Park Foundation this year. It has also partnered with fashion brands like Gucci, Aimé Leon Dore and Skims. In July, its parent company VF Corporation reported better than expected revenues in the first quarter, with The North Face growing 5%.
Levi’s is the top brand in the Everyday Fashion category, boosted by both its classic and new styles of denim, and by high-end collaborations with stars like Beyoncé. “Levi’s is a brand that has a rich 172-year heritage and remains a global icon,” CEO Michelle Gass said in a company update July 2025. “The continued inflection of our financial performance is a direct result of our laser focus on the core Levi’s brand.”
American brands like Levi’s and McDonald’s (no. 1 in Restaurant Chains) have long been some of the country’s most powerful economic and cultural exports, their popularity abroad an indicator of the soft power of America’s brand throughout the rest of the world. This year, rising anti-Americanism due to Trump tariffs and policies amid a wider shift towards deglobalization has threatened some of these quintessentially American brands in international markets, but they still continue to show strong consumer engagement for now. McDonald’s ranks on this year’s lists of the most popular brands in Germany, Mexico, and the U.K. as well, and Levi’s ranks on Mexico and the U.K.’s lists.
|
Industry |
Category |
Category Rank |
Brand |
Score |
|
Cosmetics and Personal Care |
Hair Care |
1 |
100 |
|
|
Cosmetics and Personal Care |
Hair Care |
2 |
90 |
|
|
Cosmetics and Personal Care |
Hair Care |
3 |
82 |
|
| Cosmetics and Personal Care | Hair Care |
4 |
82 | |
|
Cosmetics and Personal Care |
Hair Care |
5 |
79 |
View the full article at Time.com