The Japanese brand "Sanrio" is known for its cute characters and here's the results of their annual ranking.
“Hello Kitty” is one of the most famous fictional characters in the world. She appears so often on T-shirts, bags, and other merchandise that everyone recognizes the little white kitten with the pink bow. But she is by no means the most popular character from the Japanese company “Sanrio.”
The Winners Of The 41st Sanrio Character Ranking
Sanrio, the brand behind Hello Kitty, has many other fictional characters that are part of its cute universe. Each of them has a unique design and its own backstory. While “My Melody” and “Kuromi” are known worldwide, there are also some that hardly anyone has heard of. Take “Kirimichan", for example – a piece of salmon that ranked 23rd on this year’s popularity list.
For 41 years, fans have been able to vote for their favorite character, though the top spots usually remain the same, showing that some characters simply have a more stable and larger fan base than others.
Hello Kitty is certainly among the frontrunners, but she’s far from number one: this year, she only managed to reach fifth place. Ahead of her are Kuromi the bunny in fourth place, "Pochacco" the little dog in third, and "Cinnamoroll" the puppy in second.
The remaining spots in the top 10 are filled by “Pekkle", a little duck, the pink rabbit “My Melody”, “Tuxedosam", a penguin with a bow tie, “Hangyodon", a blue fish and the “Little Twin Stars".
Pompompurin, The Yellow Dog With The … ?
Ranking in first place is Pompompurin, a “pudding-shaped” Golden Retriever. He’s known for his beret, his love of pudding, and his … backside?
Pompompurin’s backside is, in a quirky way, somehow iconic. The cute dog made his debut in 1996 and is the result of a design contest. Back then, his backside wasn’t featured on all merchandise, but as it began to appear more and more often, his popularity and merchandise sales skyrocketed.
Pompompurin had also won the character ranking the year before. He was locked in a fierce close competition with Cinnamoroll, the puppy with the big ears. Cinnamoroll had consistently taken first place for years and many fans speculated that the winner would likely never change.
But the chubby Golden Retriever with the charming backside proved them wrong.
