Toy Sales grew at 7.5% In the 1st 6 months of 2016

According to the NPD Group, a market research company specializing in consumer behavior, the toy industry grew 7.5% in the first half of this year and they estimated that the industry will grow about 7%, or $1.4 billion, for the entire year of 2016.

The movie tie-in Star Wars was the biggest contributor to the industry’s mid-year growth, with dollar sales for Star Wars toys increasing nearly 200% through June.

In term of category the "Outdoor & Sports Toys" was not only the largest category with $1.7 billion in sales, but also the most popular. It impacted the overall industry growth. Last year, at this time, Outdoor & Sports grew the most of any supercategory and nearly doubled to represent 32% of total toy industry growth so far for this year.

The top 10 selling toy brands for the first half of 2016 are: 

1) Star Wars; 



2) NERF; 


3) Shopkins; 


4) Pokémon; 


5) Barbie; 


6) LEGO Star Wars; 


7) Little Tikes; 


8) Disney Frozen; 


9) Hot Wheels;


10) Minecraft.