What is the best selling toy of all time?

Greetings Jhill,

While no toy has been designated “the best selling toy of all time,” there are 
several toys that have remained popular throughout the years.  Among the most 
successful ‘toys’ are action figures, Barbie dolls, Legos, and Teddy Bears, 
while favorite ‘games’ include Monopoly and Scrabble.  Some of the longest 
enduring toys are the Yo-Yo and the Slinky.

GI Joe was created in 1965 as a doll for boys.  According to the British 
Association of Toy Retailers, GI Joe, “was, and still is, the world's first and 
most successful male doll.”
http://www.batr.co.uk/batr2k/totc/shortlist.htm

“Barbie was first introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York 
in February 1959” as stated on The History Channel.com.
http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-bin/frameit.cgi?p=http%
3A//www.historychannel.com/exhibits/toys/barbie.html
Barbies are sold worldwide in more than 140 countries and in the last 40 years 
nearly all (90%) American girls have owned at least one of the dolls.  Mattel 
currently sells two dolls per second!

The British Association of Toy Retailers determined a “toy of the century” for 
the 20th Century and LEGO was the winner.  Monopoly was elected the “game of 
the century” and Yo-Yo the “craze of the century.”  Visit the link below for 
more information on the three winners.
http://www.batr.co.uk/batr2k/totc/shortlist.htm


Additional Information
The History Channel.com has an Exhibit called “The History of Toys.”  The main 
page for this is exhibit is:
http://www.historychannel.com/cgi-bin/frameit.cgi?p=http%
3A//www.historychannel.com/exhibits/toys/toysandgames.html

The site has a useful timeline of toys and games.  It begins with the probable 
ancestor of chess, a Babylonian board game played in 4000 B.C.  The timeline 
ends in 1993 with Beanie Babies, which apparently only became collector’s items 
after the first six were retired in 1996.  More information on the other 
favorite toys mentioned above and on other toys of note can be found at the 
timeline link.
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/
Note that you need to click on each of the toys depicted in the picture to view 
the text applying to that section of the timeline.

The History Channel’s site also provides information on toy inventors and the 
American International Toy Fair.

The American International Toy Fair is hosted by the Toy Industry Association 
(TIA).
http://www.toy-tia.org/
The Association also gives a Toy of The Year Award as explained at:
http://www.toy-tia.org/toty/index.html
The TIA has an Industry Statistics site with a lot of interesting information. 
http://www.toy-tia.org/industry/statistics/index.html

There is a lot of other information available, courtesy of The British 
Association of Toy Retailers, including “best toy” links and their own 
designated “Toy of the Year” going back to the 1950s.
http://www.batr.co.uk/batr2k/welcome.htm

More information about the GI Joe doll and the Barbie doll can be found under 
the following Google Directory.
Shopping > Toys and Games > Dolls > Barbies 


Search Terms
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Trivia


Best,
Bunny2

The best-selling toy of all time is the rubber ball.

There likely are several ways to measure this, (units, $, adjusted $ to the 
period etc.)

I remember hearing that Trivial Pursuit was the fastest selling game to a 
certain number of units, but I if I had to guess, I would say that Monopoly 
was the best 'game' of all time.  In terms of a toy, you might consider lego. 

Just my thoughts

Hello,
  Searching for an answer to your question, I arrived to a spanish page 
dedicated to the history of the GameBoy.  In that article it is stated that 
the most sold artifact of the 90's was in fact the GameBoy which sold 32 
million systems since its launch in 1989 until 1992. Doing a further research, 
an article at TechTv written on 1998 said that 55 million units were sold 
until then.  Nevertheless, the gameboy is a product which has always been kept 
fresh by new versions, such as the GameboyPocket, GameboyColor and the more 
recent Gameboy Advance.  About the mentioned GameboyColor, in a BBC article of 
2001 they claim it sold more than 100million units itself the previous year.
   Though it seems difficult to contabilize exactly how many gameboys have 
been sold, it seems that the gameboy is probably the best selling item 
designed for enterntainment in this past decade.
    A part of this information, which clearly shows that the trend goes into 
technology, I have also found a best selling item which may fit better to your 
question. Since in the Seventeenth century Flemish painters showed children 
blowing bubbles with clay pipes, bubble solution has become the best selling 
toy.  However, it was not until the 1940's when a chemical company decided to 
sell bottled bubble solution.

   I hope this information has helped you :)

--Toksuri



Links:

Gameboy: La historia
<http://z64e.tripod.com/articulos/dgart/gbhist/1.htm> 

"Nintendo Game Boy Camera/Printer" By Patrick Norton (June 29, 1998).
TechTv
<http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/firstlook/story/0,23008,2115567,00.html>
 
"Nintendo launches new GameBoy" (Wednesday, 21 March, 2001).
BBC
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1233000/1233379.stm>

Toy History - Bubbles
<http://bubbles.org/html/history/toyhistory.htm>

Search Terms used:
- juguete mas vendido
- gameboy sales figures
- million gameboys sold
- best selling toy