The Sanrio Character Ranking (サンリオキャラクター大賞) is an annual popularity poll ran by the Japanese company, Sanrio as a way to determine the most popular Sanrio character that year. It began in 1986 with the poll being circulated through the Strawberry News and would remain the main form of voting for the ranking until 2016[1] when the poll began taking place via that year's ranking's own website, though earlier rankings took place on one site that changed each year, this site is no longer used since 2015.
Summary[]
The Sanrio Character Ranking is held from April 11th-May 26th of each year before the voting is closed, with the final results being announced a month later during that year's Sanrio Fes. During the voting period, there is intial and interim results revealed before the final results.
There are 3 different ways to vote for a character during the ranking, votes made online are standard votes, votes made through purchasing the Strawberry News are valued twice as much as standard votes while votes made from purchasing merchandise at Sanrio Stores are valued 3 times more than standard votes.
After the final results are announced, the winner of the ranking will usually receive new merchandise and/or collaborations.
List of Sanrio Character Rankings[]
Since 1986, there have been a total of 40 Sanrio Character Rankings with the most recent taking place in 2025.
| Year | Ranking | No. of Characters | Theme | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986-2010 | TBA | 1st-25th Sanrio Character Ranking | N/A | None |
| 2011 | TBA | 26th Sanrio Character Ranking | 105 | None |
| 2012 | 
|
27th Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2013 | 
|
28th Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2014 | 
|
29th Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2015 | 
|
30th Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2016 | 
|
31st Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2017 | 
|
32nd Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2018 | 
|
33rd Sanrio Character Ranking | 100 | TBA |
| 2019 | 
|
34th Sanrio Character Ranking | 80 | TBA |
| 2020 | 
|
35th Sanrio Character Ranking | 80 | TBA |
| 2021 | 
|
36th Sanrio Character Ranking | 80 | TBA |
| 2022 | 
|
37th Sanrio Character Ranking | 80 | Colorful![2] |
| 2023 | 
|
38th Sanrio Character Ranking | 90 | Fun & Thrills![3] |
| 2024 | 
|
39th Sanrio Character Ranking | 90 | Love & Thanks[4] |
| 2025 | 
|
40th Sanrio Character Ranking | 90 | "Jump! to the future with you!"[5] |
| 2026 | 41st Sanrio Character Ranking | TBA | TBA | |
Sub-Character Contest[]
Along with the Sanrio Character Ranking, there is a Sub-Character Contest held in issues of the Strawberry News. Focusing on the friends and family of characters from the main character ranking. As of 2025, there have been a total of 10 contests held, with the results of the 10th contest being revealed in the October 2025 issue.
Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.sanrio.co.jp/special/characterranking/2016/result/news/chracterRanking_en.html
- ↑ https://www.sanrio.co.jp/special/characterranking/2022/en/
- ↑ https://www.sanrio.co.jp/special/characterranking/2023/en/
- ↑ https://www.sanrio.co.jp/special/characterranking/2024/en/
- ↑ https://www.sanrio.co.jp/special/characterranking/2025/
[]
| Sanrio Character Ranking | |
|---|---|
| 2010s | |
| 2020s | |