Bud Light Sales Crumble, Yuengling Makes Huge Jump & We Now Have A Race For America's Top Beer
Bud Light sales continued to plunge the week ending July 15, dropping over 26% year-over-year one week after some believed the grip was loosening.
Sales of the once-popular brew were down 23% the week prior, a minor improvement after weeks of near-30% declines. Unfortunately, that appears to be more of an anomaly with the latest data dump, and there's even more problems on the horizon.
According to Bump Williams Consulting, Yuengling -- America's Oldest Brew -- is coming for Bud Light at an alarming rate.
“If things continue at the current rate, we’ll continue to see Modelo climb the ladder and Miller Lite, Coors Light and Yuengling gain market share,” said Dave Williams, vice president of the consultancy.
Yuengling, Modelo and Coors gaining on Bud Light
Buckle up. It looks like we've got an all-out arms race to be the top-selling beer in the United States.
While Modelo -- which overtook Bud Light as the top-selling beer in May and June -- was up over 13% last week, the real story, according to Williams, is the broader picture.
Modelo's market share has grown to 8.1% year-to-date compared with Bud Light (8.5%).
Meanwhile, Yuengling, Coors Light and Miller Lite are all surging at an even faster rate -- up 25%, 21.6% and 16.9%, respectively.
For those who've been paying attention, Yuengling's rapid rise shouldn't come as a surprise. The patriotic brew has quickly turned into the anti-Bud Light since the Mulvaney fiasco began in April, subtly attacking the company on social media.
There was the perfectly-timed tweet that shook the internet in April. The release of their summer Red, White & Blue cans in May. Most recently, the Pennsylvania-based brewery released a new ad via Instagram with Zac Brown's Chicken Fried playing in the background.
That song, of course, was used by Bud Light in their disastrous commercial that debuted during the NFL Draft.
If these latest numbers are any indication, all of that hard work appears to be paying off with a staggering 25% jump in market share.
And hey, it's only July!
Still a lot of race left, folks.