What Sanrio's character ranking tells you about what to buy

You find a character you love, and for a few months they are everywhere. Then you go looking for one more thing, a pouch or a charm, and there is nothing. Meanwhile a character you barely noticed last year is suddenly on every shelf.

That is not random, and it is not bad luck. Once a year Sanrio runs a vote, and the result quietly shapes what gets made for the next twelve months. If you collect, or you are trying to buy a gift for someone who does, this is one of the more useful things to understand.

What is the Sanrio character ranking?

It is an annual public vote where fans pick their favorite Sanrio characters, and the results are announced at Sanrio Fes. Anyone can vote, and it is not a small event. The latest round drew a record 70,647,379 votes, about twelve percent more than the year before.

It has been running for decades, which is what gives it weight. A character climbing or slipping is measured against its own long history, not one lucky year.

Who won this year?

Pompompurin took first place, for the second year running and the fifth time overall, pulling in more than seven million votes during his thirtieth anniversary year.

The rest of the top seven:

• 1. Pompompurin
• 2. Cinnamoroll
• 3. Pochacco
• 4. Kuromi
• 5. Hello Kitty
• 6. Pekkle, up from tenth
• 7. My Melody, down from sixth

The quiet story is at the top: all three leading characters are dogs. Hello Kitty, the character most people outside Japan think of as Sanrio, came fifth. She is still beloved, and she is still the face of the company, but the vote has not put her first in years.

Why does a popularity vote change what you can actually buy?

Because the ranking is read as a demand forecast. Retailers and the companies licensed to make Sanrio goods use it to decide which characters to build product lines around for the coming year. Characters that finish high tend to get more shelf space, more collaborations, and more standalone releases. Characters that drift down get quietly thinner coverage.

So the vote is not just a fan popularity contest. It is closer to a public signal that the whole supply chain acts on. That is why availability swings the way it does.

What happens in an anniversary year?

An anniversary reliably produces a merchandise wave. Pompompurin hit his thirtieth this year, and that combination, an anniversary plus a first place finish, is the strongest possible signal that a character will be well stocked for a while.

This cuts both ways when you are shopping. Anniversary goods are easy to find while the wave is running, and much harder afterward, because the special runs are made once and not repeated.

Which characters are worth watching?

The climbers are more interesting than the winners. Pekkle jumped from tenth to sixth, after returning to the top ten last year for the first time in over three decades. My Sweet Piano moved from eighteenth to thirteenth, the biggest climb inside the top twenty.

A character on the way up is the one where supply has not caught up to interest yet. That is usually the better moment to buy, simply because you are ahead of the wave rather than behind it.

Does a high ranking make a collectible more valuable?

No, and it is worth being clear about that. A strong ranking increases attention and demand, but what an item is worth later depends on how rare it actually is and how much of it was made. A popular character with a huge production run is not scarce.

Buy things you genuinely want to own and keep. Treating cute goods as an investment is a good way to end up with a shelf of things you do not like.

How do you use this when you shop?

Three practical habits.

First, if you love a character who is sliding down the ranking, buy the piece you want when you see it. Thinner coverage next year is the likeliest outcome, and waiting rarely improves your options.

Second, if a character is climbing, you have a little more time, and more choice is probably coming.

Third, treat anniversary goods as a now-or-never purchase. Those runs are made once.

The one we would point you to right now

My Melody slipped from sixth to seventh this year. She is not going anywhere, she has been a core character for decades, but a slip is the moment coverage starts to narrow rather than widen.

How to get it

We buy new in Japan and bring it back ourselves, so you are not paying a middleman markup on top of a proxy fee. If you want this one, or you are hunting a specific character and want us to look, message us at TG: @bazumart and we will tell you honestly whether we can find it and what it will cost.

Customs and any local charges are paid by the buyer, and we will always say so up front rather than surprising you at the door.

Common questions

When is the ranking announced? Once a year, at Sanrio Fes, with the latest results announced at the end of June.

Can anyone vote? Yes. It is open to the public, including voters outside Japan, and separate regional results are published alongside the overall ranking.

Does the winner change often? Not very. Pompompurin has now won five times, and the top few places tend to move slowly, which is exactly what makes a sudden climb worth paying attention to.

Is Hello Kitty less popular now? She placed fifth, which is still extremely high out of dozens of characters. The vote rewards active fan enthusiasm, and newer characters tend to mobilize that more easily.

Should I buy a character because they ranked well? Only if you like them. The ranking is useful for timing a purchase, not for choosing what to care about.

Ranking figures are from Sanrio's published results. Availability and pricing change often, and nothing here is a promise about future resale value.