Survey Of Over 40,000 People Reveals The Ultimate Ranking Of Worst, And Best, Halloween Candy


Back in September we were happy to once again share an interactive map created by our friends over at CandyStore.com which revealed the most popular Halloween candy by state.

What it showed was that people who live in Nebraska, Washington, Connecticut, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Alabama, Rhode Island, and Michigan have absolutely no taste when it comes to Halloween candy.

And while that was interesting enough, the folks over at CandyStore.com took things a step futher this year by surveying over 40,000 of their customers and combined those results with 12 published lists of best and worst candies to create the definitive ranking of the worst, and best, Halloween candy of all time.

Are you ready to get heated? Because, for some reason, when people debate best and worst candies, things get heated. Okay, here we go.

The 10 Worst Halloween Candies


That’s right. Circus peanuts. I didn’t think there could possibly be a worse Halloween candy than candy corn, but sure enough, this CandyStore.com survey found it.

10. Mary Janes
Peanut butter is great. Chewy candies can be great. But there’s just something unappealing about this chewy mess. Bit-O-Honey was ranked #11, confirming that some flavors just don’t mix well with chewy candies.

9. Good & Plenty
Since Good & Plenty are pretty much licorice, we see the reason why people don’t like them.

8. Licorice
Note that this does not include Twizzlers, and if you read the lists you’ll see they allude to, if not outright say, black licorice. Australian licorice, if you can get your hands on it, is great. The style we see at Halloween? Not so much.

7. Smarties
Your kids will get plenty of these on Halloween. It’s inevitable. At first they’re not so bad. But the human tongue can take only so many vaguely sweet, chalky hard candy.

6. Tootsie Rolls
Your kids will also get a lot of these. They’re the easy way out for people who don’t want to spend money handing out candy to kids. You can throw a handful into each kid’s bag and it won’t set you back much. But kids tend not to like them. Note that this is a combination of regular Tootsie Rolls and flavored Tootsie Rolls (which are flat out disgusting).

5. Peanut Butter Kisses
These are neither Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, nor Hershey’s Kisses. You know these because they have a plain orange or black wrapper. Leave them in that wrapper and move onto the next candy.

4. Necco Wafers
They’re like Smarties, but bigger, not as sweet, and more chalky. So yeah. These took the top spot on one list, and somehow they weren’t on every list.

3. Wax Coke Bottles
The novelty of these is great. The first time you get one. When you’re five years old. Then the realization sets in: you’re biting through wax to get not even a mouthful of sugar water. By age eight you toss them in the trash without even bothering.

2. Candy Corn
Yes, it’s just sugar. Isn’t that the point? Candy corn is nothing special. There are absolutely better candies out there.

1. Circus Peanuts
There is no way to describe the vileness that is Circus Peanuts. These probably weren’t rated as the worst on everyone’s list because they blocked these inedible monstrosities from their memories.

Ranking Worst Halloween Candy circus peanuts

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The 10 Best Halloween Candies

10. Hershey Bar
We’re again combining candies here, because there just isn’t that much difference between the original Hershey Bar and the Cookies ‘n’ Cream version. Or maybe there is for your palate. In any case, Hershey bars barely missed the worst list, yet got a few mentions on the best.

9. Skittles
If you’re not eating the entire fun size bag in one mouthful, you’re doing it wrong. None of us here ever minded getting Skittles in our Halloween bags. They’re tasty enough. But they’re nothing special, and if you eat too many your mouth starts to feel all lumpy.

8. Sour Patch Kids
We’re shocked these didn’t rank higher, given their chewiness and sweetness. It’s probably because they’re not that common treats.

7. Butterfinger
The classic Butterfinger appeared on a number of lists, usually in the second half of the top 10. We’re not going to argue.

6. Nerds
The Nerds boxes you get on Halloween are typically tiny. As with Skittles, they’re pointless unless you down the whole thing in one mouthful. But maybe there’s something to that.

5. M&Ms
One list had pretzel M&Ms, which is oddly specific. In any case, M&Ms are great.

4. Kit Kat
On the surface the Kit Kat is pretty plain. It’s just chocolate and wafer. Yet it works so so well. And it works very well on Halloween, since you’re getting essential half of a full-sized bar. That’s way more than you can say for most of the fun-sized versions of our favorite Halloween candies.

3. Twix
On Halloween you can count on three versions: the full-sized version, the one-stick half-sized version, and the fun-sized version. We hope you and your kids don’t get the fun-sized version, given the alternatives.

2. Snickers
There is no surprise here. Again, it would be so easy for people to go out of their ways and get full-sized versions. They’re not that big. But the fun-sized version is so small, so sad.

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
This was the blowout of the century. Of the seven lists ranked, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups ranked number one on six of them, and ranked third on the other. And that list had six candies that didn’t appear on any of the other six lists, so yeah, this was just a candy massacre.

Ranking Worst Halloween Candy reeses

iStockphoto


So… are you heated? Or do you agree with the rankings? You’re heated, arent’ you?

Douglas Charles headshot avatar BroBible
Before settling down at BroBible, Douglas Charles, a graduate of the University of Iowa (Go Hawks), owned and operated a wide assortment of websites. He is also one of the few White Sox fans out there and thinks Michael Jordan is, hands down, the GOAT.