Best Selling Chip Brands: History, Brands & Flavors

Snack History Nostalgia Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Do you enjoy eating chips? Or do you think having chips as a snack is fascinating and enjoyable? Have you ever wondered which are the best selling chip brands? If so, you have the option of choosing from a wide range of varieties that come in different shapes, flavors, and tastes. It seems like the best way to experiment with new tastes is with potato chips.

The typical American consumes almost four pounds of potato chips per year. It’s a lot of fried potatoes. We’ve compiled a list of the best selling chip brands you must try at least once, along with a couple of flavor options you may not have tried before.

Names of Best Selling Chips

1. Lay’s Potato Chips
2. Pringles
3. Doritos
4. Ruffles Chips
5. Fritos
6. Cheetos

Brief History of Chips

Before moving on to the discussion about the best selling chip brands, let’s first briefly explore the history of chips. A thin slice of potato that has been deep-fried, baked, or air-fried till crispy is known as a potato chip (American English) or crisp (British and Irish English). They are often offered as an appetizer, side dishes, or snacks. 

The basic chips are salted and fried. The extra kinds are made with a variety of flavorings and substances, such as cheeses, herbs, spices, and other natural or artificial tastes. In Western nations, a sizable portion of the market for convenience and snack foods is made up of potato chips.

The Cook’s Oracle by William Kitchiner, which was a best-seller in both the UK and the US when it was released in 1817, has the oldest recorded recipe for something resembling modern-day potato chips. The “Pommes de Terre Frites” (second recipe) are described in an 1825 British cookbook on French cuisine.

The most popular snack in the world is potato chips, followed by crackers and tortilla chips. Since 1853, the snack has been a thing. When The Potato Chip Firm, known as “the oldest potato chip company in the world,” started production in 1910, it was mass-produced for domestic consumption.

Since that time, a lot of manufacturers and business owners have realized how lucrative the potato chip market can be. So, let’s explore the best selling chip brands.

Top 6 Best Selling Chip Brands

Even the most ardent chip lovers may find it challenging to decide on their preferred chip brands, due to the variety of chips available on the market. That is why we decided to present some of the best selling chip brands below. 

1. Lay’s Potato Chips

When you think of traditional chips, Lay’s potato chips are probably the first thing that comes to mind. They are also considered the best selling chip brands of all time. The very thin, somewhat oily, yet so munchable chips are typically served with some sort of dip at gatherings or with hot dogs at a family barbecue. There are several varieties available for these chips, including the well-known yellow-bagged traditional kind, flamin’ hot dill pickle, and original honey barbeque.

Salesman Herman Lay established a snack food business in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1932. In 1938, he acquired the “Barrett Food Company” in Atlanta.  In 1944, the company changed its name to “the Lay’s Lay Lingo Company” and made television advertising history as the first producer of snack foods, utilizing Bert Lahr as its famous spokesman.

The corporation that established Lay’s potato chip brand in the United States is also known by that name. Since Lay’s and Fritos are both distributed by the Frito-Lay Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PepsiCo since 1965, the brand has also occasionally been referred to as Frito-Lay. 

Frito-Lay, the largest brand of snack food, is owned by PepsiCo, Inc. 60% of the sales of Frito-Lay snack food items are generated outside of North America. The United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, China, and India are among its top 10 markets.

2. Pringles

Who hasn’t heard of Julius Pringles or his thick mustache? Procter & Gamble created the potato and wheat-based snack known as Pringles. Pringles managed to become one of the best selling chip brands worldwide. In an effort to create the ideal potato chip, chemist Fredric Baur and P&G researcher Alexander Liepa collaborated. The American multinational food manufacturing company Kellogg Company purchased Pringles from Procter & Gamble on March 31, 2012. 

It’s well known that Pringles creates intriguing varieties, often in limited quantities. Popular Pringle flavors include, among others, chili cheese dogs, seaweed, cinnamon sugar, sour cream, and ketchup.

Pringles have grown to be a worldwide phenomenon, with manufacturers in four different nations. Their chips’ design and packaging transformed the market. It is undoubtedly true that “after you pop, the enjoyment doesn’t end.” Nothing compares to the satisfaction of removing a Pringle chip from its lengthy, thick tube. And nothing compares to the joy you get when consuming this addictive food. 

3. Doritos

The next snack on our list of best selling chip brands is Doritos. The Doritos Dust that sticks to your fingertips after inhaling a bag is the only thing we have to complain about. But even licking fingers covered in Dorito dust is kind of an experience. Apart from that, we adore the fact that every bag of Doritos is certain to be crispy, salty, and seasoned just right. 

Frito-Lay’s Doritos parent company. In 1960, the company operated a restaurant known as Casa de Fritos in Disneyland Park. The salesperson saw that Casa de Fritos was discarding old tortillas, and that is when he proposed that they cook them instead for chips. When marketing executive Arch West came across this, he fell in love with the concept and persuaded Frito-Lay to launch the nationwide sale of the chips in 1966. 

Romano cheese, garlic powder, and salt are the three primary tastes of Nacho Cheese Doritos, which were first introduced in 1974. So, Nacho Cheese Doritos are over 50 years old now. Consumers soon adopted the colorful, cheesy chip, which today makes up over half of Doritos’ sales.

4. Ruffles Chips

Ruffles chips seem to go hand in hand with maturing. The phrase “Ruffles have ridges” from the early 1990s comes to mind whenever the term “Ruffles” is mentioned. The fact that the chips are noted for having ridges makes them better than traditional potato chips for dipping. Ruffles are available in a variety of flavors, from the more conventional sour cream and onion to jalapeno lime.

One of the most popular American best selling chip brands, Ruffles, is also known as Lays Maxx or Lays Max in various regions and Walkers Max, Walkers Max Double Crunch, or Walkers Max Strong in the UK and Ireland. Bernhardt Stahmer founded the Ruffles brand of potato chips. He registered the trademark in 1948. The Ruffles Company was sold to the Frito Company in 1958. Later, in 1961, it amalgamated with H.W. Lay & Co.  

The product was originally released in India in 1995. The product’s name is a play on the word “ruffle,” which refers to a strip of cloth that is occasionally collected to form folds. 

5. Fritos

Fritos are one of the best selling chip brands that are entirely made out of corn. The traditional chips go well with dips, by themselves, or as a Frito pie topped with cheese, chili, and sour cream. These are a little salty, but they go great with a bottle of icy water. 

Charles Elmer Doolin invented the Fritos brand of corn chips and dipping sauces in the United States in 1932, and the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo has been manufacturing them since 1961. Unlike the related tortilla chips, which are created from cornmeal and employ the nixtamalization method, Fritos are made by deep-frying extruded whole cornmeal. Along with Lay’s, it is one of the two brands that symbolize Frito-Lay.

6. Cheetos

Cheetos never truly fall short of anyone’s expectations in terms of flavor and texture. Even spicy foods, such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeno, taste great. However, we must admit that crunchy cheddar cheese, which was their first taste, is unquestionably the one that people love the most.

They are solely in the “chips” category since people frequently classify them as such. So, we can say that they are among the best selling chip brands. After taking a mouthful, this food has a recognizable snap and crunch. Cheetos will quickly melt in your mouth, followed by a rush of cheese powder. 

Given that it now sells more than $4 billion in cheese puffs annually globally, Cheetos is unquestionably the most popular among the best selling chip brands. Nearly 70 years after their creation in 1948, the original crispy Cheetos are still available for purchase. In addition to the traditional crispy Cheetos, there are currently 21 varieties available in North America, and there are even more variants available globally. 

Bottom Line – Best Selling Chip Brands

Even if a bag of chips isn’t exactly the healthiest option, there are moments when you simply really want to munch on something crunchy and salty. What do you do then? Most people claim that these snacks include excessive amounts of salt, saturated fats, and calories. 

There is no harm in sometimes giving in to your urges as long as they are consumed in moderation. So there’s no reason for you to overlook the greatest chips available. Above, we explored some of the best selling chip brands you definitely need to try. After all, they’re among the greatest movie night foods to share with your family, along with popcorn and onion rings.