The six most popular cocktails in the world.
Ever wondered which cocktails are the most popular in the world? We harvested search engine data, using a scientific approach, to come up with the definitive answer. Think you know the #1 cocktail? Take a guess and go look. The answer may surprise you.
What is this list of drinks?
The Top 50 Cocktails List is based on search data from the major search engines. It’s not anyone’s opinion. It comes from actual, factual, data, including search volume and intent to make the drinks.
Why we did the research?
We were curious. We wanted a definitive answer to that burning question, “What are the most popular cocktails in the world?” The result is this list.
What this list is not.
It’s not a list of the best cocktails, because that is a subjective term. It’s not the result of surveys, because those are easily swayed. It’s not the opinion of bartenders, because every city has regional favorites. It’s not based on commercial sales figures, because that excludes the home.
What is included in the list?
Common misspellings and synonymous drink names were included. Cocktail versions of shooters were included. Cocktail variations on a theme, like martini, dry martini, perfect martini, sweet martini, vodka martini, were calculated separately, because they are all distinctly different.
What’s not included in the list?
The list does not include highballs or shooters, because they are not technically cocktails.
How did we do it?
As pay per click advertisers, we get access to the other side of the search engines. They tell us how many times a word, or phrase gets searched for. This is the basis of our research.
It’s not just the root word like sidecar or screwdriver. It also includes a qualifier word like cocktail, or drink, because people searching for screwdrivers and sidecars, may be looking for motorcycle parts, tools, or something other than cocktails.
It’s also based on intent. So it’s not just a qualifier along with a root word, as in Sidecar Cocktail, or Screwdriver Drink, because those searches might be due to curiosity. So to qualify searches even further, there also had to be intent to make the cocktail, as in “how to make” a Screwdriver, or Sidecar “Recipe” or Hurricane “Ingredients.”
The search volume for the qualifier phrases, and the intent phrases, were added together to come up with the numbers. So in the table below, Mojito in the #1 spot was searched on average, 654,000 times per month, whereas the French Martini in the #50 spot was searched for 24,000 times per month.
The Top 50 most popular cocktails in the world
- 654.0 Mojito
- 421.0 Margarita
- 262.0 Caipirinha
- 248.0 Martini
- 246.0 Pina Colada
- 217.0 Old Fashioned
- 213.0 White Russian
- 205.0 Long Island Iced Tea
- 176.0 Moscow Mule
- 165.0 Bellini
- 141.0 Mai Tai
- 135.0 Sex On The Beach
- 134.0 Manhattan
- 126.0 Hot Toddy
- 115.0 Cuba Libre
- 108.0 Mint Julep
- 105.0 Daiquiri
- 101.0 Bloody Mary
- 092.0 Irish Coffee
- 084.0 Tom Collins
- 082.0 Negroni
- 076.0 Whiskey Sour
- 070.0 Sidecar
- 069.0 Rob Roy
- 068.0 Black Russian
- 067.0 Pisco Sour
- 063.0 Dirty Martini
- 062.0 Cosmopolitan
- 061.0 Pink Martini
- 057.0 Sazerac ®
- 052.0 Dark ‘N Stormy ®
- 051.0 Singapore Sling
- 045.5 Gimlet
- 044.1 Mudslide
- 040.0 Rusty Nail
- 037.0 B52 Cocktail
- 036.1 Caipiroska
- 035.0 Tequila Sunrise
- 034.0 Dry Martini
- 032.5 Lemon Drop Martini
- 031.3 Pink Lady
- 031.0 Espresso Martini
- 029.2 Hot Buttered Rum
- 028.2 Harvey Wallbanger
- 028.0 Gin Fizz
- 027.0 Brandy Alexander
- 026.6 Hurricane
- 026.4 Pimm’s Cup
- 025.5 French 75
- 024.8 Fuzzy Navel
What follows is a list of 100 or so well known drinks that didn’t make it into the Top 50 Cocktails List. They are provided here for reference, so that you can see where they finished, relative to the winners.
024.5 Woo Woo
024.0 French Martini
022.8 Bay Breeze
022.5 Zombie
020.3 Lynchburg Lemonade
020.0 Screwdriver
019.5 Mimosa
019.2 Strawberry Daiquiri
019.0 Bramble
018.7 Strawberry Margarita
017.5 Sea Breeze
017.0 Vesper
016.9 Midori Sour
016.6 Kamikaze
015.5 Bloody Caesar
015.3 Ramos Fizz
014.8 Apple Martini
014.0 Blue Lagoon
013.2 Champagne Cocktail
013.0 Aviation
012.3 Lychee Martini
012.0 Vodka Gimlet
011.7 Lime Rickey
011.6 Bahama Mama
011.0 Spanish Coffee
009.9 Pomegranate Martini
009.2 Incredible Hulk
009.0 Planters Punch
008.5 Rum Runner
008.4 Vodka Martini
008.3 Ti Punch
008.1 Sloe Gin Fizz
008.0 White Lady
007.3 Paloma
006.9 Blue Hawaiian
006.8 Stinger
006.7 Banana Daiquiri
006.6 Chocolate Martini
006.3 Cucumber Martini
006.2 Texas Iced Tea
006.1 Tokyo Iced Tea
005.7 Pink Squirrel
004.8 Hemingway Daiquiri
004.7 Last Word
004.7 Black Velvet
004.6 Pink Gin
004.5 Salty Dog
004.5 Perfect Manhattan
004.5 Flirtini
004.4 Golden Cadillac
004.4 Martinez
004.3 Blue Margarita
004.2 Creamsicle
004.0 Purple Rain
003.9 Corpse Reviver
003.8 Godfather
003.7 Velvet Hammer
003.4 Chi Chi
003.1 Paloma
003.1 Americano
002.9 Tequila Slammer
002.8 Disaronno Sour
002.8 Caramel Apple Martini
002.8 Scotch Mist
002.7 Rum Swizzle
002.6 Bacardi Cocktail
002.5 Cucumber Margarita
002.5 Kir
002.1 Golden Dream
002.1 Perfect Martini
002.0 Grasshopper
001.9 John Collins
001.8 Sour Apple Martini
001.8 Vodka Espresso
001.8 Tequila Sunset
001.8 Strawberry Martini
001.8 Boulevardier
001.7 Jack Rose
001.8 Gin & Tonic
001.6 Vampiro
001.5 Greyhound
001.2 Yellow Bird
001.2 Between The Sheets
001.1 Gibson
001.1 Clover Club
001.0 Fog Cutter
001.0 Tommy’s Margarita
000.9 Horse’s Neck
000.8 Slow Comfortable Screw
000.8 Vodkatini
000.7 Monkey Gland
000.6 Dubonnet Cocktail
000.5 Godmother
000.3 Tuxedo
000.8 Dry Manhattan
000.6 Rose
000.6 Porto Flip
000.5 Coffee Cocktail
000.4 Ward Eight
000.3 Perfect Rob Roy
000.3 Hemingway Special
000.3 Casino
000.3 Barracuda
000.2 Spritz Veneziano
000.2 Russian Spring Punch
000.2 Paradise
000.2 Golden Fizz
000.2 Brown Cow
000.2 Angel Face
000.1 French Connection
000.1 Derby
000.1 Mary Pickford
