It might have a Scottish-sounding name, but Indian brand McDowell’s is the bestselling whisky in the … More world, if you’re flexible on your definition of ‘whisky’.
In 2018, I was trying to find a list of the bestselling whiskies in the world by volume and was struggling. While that information was easy to find for separate categories, such as Scotch or Bourbon, I quickly wrote up what (I think) was one of the first lists that actually collated the bestselling global brands.
It’s been a while since I wrote the last one though, so I thought it’s high time to update the list given that The Spirits Business recently released its 2025 Brand Champions report covering sales of all kinds of drinks from around the world. I’ve simply pulled the figures from the report covering whisky and collated it here into an easy-reading list.
Some notes. The figures below incorporate sales from 2024, covering millions of 9-liter cases sold. So for example, ‘1m’ cases as written below means a total of one million cases, or 9 million liters, sold.
If you don’t follow whisky and drinks trends, you’ll be surprised to see just how much Indian whisky is sold (almost all of it consumed domestically). For those who do follow these kinds of figures, you’ll be surprised to see that Johnnie Walker has finally managed to break into the top 4 which for the last few years was dominated by Indian brands McDowell’s, Royal Stag, Imperial Blue, and Officer’s Choice. As you’ll see from the figures below, the latter has taken a hit in sales compared to Johnnie Walker’s smaller dip.
And finally, I’m not picky at all about what gets counted as ‘whisky’ here. If it’s labelled as ‘whisky’ in the report, then it makes this list. This is an important distinction especially when it comes to many Indian whisky brands, which often incorporate molasses in their production (these are classified within the country as ‘Indian-made foreign liquor, or IMFL).
With that, the world’s bestselling whiskies are:
1. McDowell’s Whisky
Owner: United Spirits
Country: India
Sales: 2020: 25.7m | 2021: 30.1m | 2022: 30.8m | 2023: 31.4m | 2024: 32.2m
Growth since 2023: +2.6%
2. Royal Stag
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Country: India
Sales: 2020: 18.5m | 2021: 22.4m | 2022: 27.1m | 2023: 27.9m | 2024: 31.0m
Growth since 2023: +11.1%
3. Imperial Blue
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Country: India
Sales: 2020: 21.3m | 2021: 24.1m | 2022: 24.0m | 2023: 22.8m | 2024: 22.9m
Growth since 2023: +0.5%
4. Johnnie Walker
Owner: Diageo
Country: Scotland
Sales: 2020: 14.1m | 2021: 19.1m | 2022: 22.7m | 2023: 22.1m | 2024: 21.6m
Growth since 2023: –2.0%
MORE FOR YOU
5. Officer’s Choice
Owner: Allied Blenders & Distillers
Country: India
Sales: 2020: 20.8m | 2021: 23.2m | 2022: 24.9m | 2023: 23.4m | 2024: 21.3m
Growth since 2023: –9.0%
6. Jim Beam
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
Country: USA
Sales: 2020: 16.4m | 2021: 17.0m | 2022: 16.6m | 2023: 17.0m | 2024: 17.5m
Growth since 2023: +2.9%
7. Jack Daniel’s
Owner: Brown-Forman
Country: USA
Sales: 2020: 12.3m | 2021: 13.5m | 2022: 14.6m | 2023: 14.3m | 2024: 14.1m
Growth since 2023: –1.5%
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Country: Ireland
Sales: 2020: 7.7m | 2021: 9.6m | 2022: 11.1m | 2023: 10.2m | 2024: 10.8m
Growth since 2023: +6.3%
9. Blenders Pride
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: 6.6m | 2021: 8.0m | 2022: 9.5m | 2023: 9.6m | 2024: 10.1m
Growth since 2023: +5.0%
Owner: Radico Khaitan
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: 9.4m | 2021: 11.4m | 2022: 11.9m | 2023: 12.2m | 2024: 9.6m
Growth since 2023: –20.8%
11. Ballantine’s
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Country: Whisky – Scotch
Sales: 2020: 7.0m | 2021: 8.7m | 2022: 9.2m | 2023: 8.2m | 2024: 9.3m
Growth since 2023: +13.9%
12. Royal Challenge
Owner: United Spirits
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: 4.3m | 2021: 4.7m | 2022: 7.2m | 2023: 8.6m | 2024: 9.1m
Growth since 2023: +6.7%
13. Crown Royal
Owner: Diageo
Country: Whisky – Canadian
Sales: 2020: 8.1m | 2021: 9.0m | 2022: 8.4m | 2023: 7.7m | 2024: 8.0m
Growth since 2023: +4.0%
14. Canadian Club
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
Country: Whisky – Canadian
Sales: 2020: 5.9m | 2021: 6.2m | 2022: 6.5m | 2023: 6.2m | 2024: 5.3m
Growth since 2023: –15.2%
15. Chivas Regal
Owner: Pernod Ricard
Country: Whisky – Scotch
Sales: 2020: 3.2m | 2021: 4.1m | 2022: 5.2m | 2023: 4.6m | 2024: 4.8m
Growth since 2023: +4.8%
16. Iconiq White Whisky
Owner: Allied Blenders & Distillers
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: N/A | 2021: N/A | 2022: N/A | 2023: 1.6m | 2024: 4.5m
Growth since 2023: +181.3%
17. Kakubin
Owner: Suntory Global Spirits
Country: Whisky – Japanese
Sales: 2020: 3.7m | 2021: 3.6m | 2022: 4.3m | 2023: 4.2m | 2024: 4.0m
Growth since 2023: –4.5%
18. Black Nikka
Owner: Asahi Breweries
Country: Whisky – Japanese
Sales: 2020: 3.3m | 2021: 3.3m | 2022: 3.5m | 2023: 4.0m | 2024: 4.0m
Growth since 2023: 0.0%
19. Sterling Reserve
Owner: Allied Blenders & Distillers
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: 2.8m | 2021: 3.6m | 2022: 5.0m | 2023: 5.1m | 2024: 3.9m
Growth since 2023: –23.5%
20. Director’s Special
Owner: United Spirits
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: 3.1m | 2021: 2.9m | 2022: 3.0m | 2023: 3.3m | 2024: 3.6m
Growth since 2023: +9.4%
21. Dewar’s
Owner: Bacardi
Country: Whisky – Scotch
Sales: 2020: 2.5m | 2021: 2.8m | 2022: 3.5m | 2023: 3.3m | 2024: 3.3m
Growth since 2023: +1.8%
22. Signature
Owner: United Spirits
Country: Whisky – Indian
Sales: 2020: 1.9m | 2021: 2.0m | 2022: 2.5m | 2023: 2.9m | 2024: 3.3m
Growth since 2023: +13.4%
23. Evan Williams
Owner: Heaven Hill Brands
Country: Whiskey – American
Sales: 2020: 3.0m | 2021: 3.1m | 2022: 3.1m | 2023: 3.1m | 2024: 3.1m
Growth since 2023: –1.3%
24. William Lawson’s
Owner: Bacardi
Country: Whisky – Scotch
Sales: 2020: 3.3m | 2021: 3.4m | 2022: 3.5m | 2023: 3.4m | 2024: 3.2m
Growth since 2023: –4.4%
25. Black & White
Owner: Diageo
Country: Whisky – Scotch
Sales: 2020: 2.9m | 2021: 3.1m | 2022: 3.6m | 2023: 3.2m | 2024: 3.0m
Growth since 2023: –5.4%
Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions