Apple Rankings
151 apples, aggregated from 100 ranking, taste-test, and sales sources.
Each of 100 sources contributes a placement score: its #1 apple scores 1.0 and lower placements scale down by list length, so a long list’s runner-up isn’t worth the same as a three-item list’s. Every mention is worth at least 0.35— the credit an apple earns just for being listed (ranked or not) — and placement adds above that floor. Scores sum across sources, rewarding both ranking high and appearing on many lists. Tied apples share their rank’s score.
Preference only drops the 31 commercial-scale lists (production forecasts, retail-scan data, nursery best-sellers) so the ranking reflects taste and popularity rather than how much is grown or sold. Sources catalogued 2026-06-14.
All 100 sources
Academic/sensory study (10)
- Mapping sensory perception of apple (GWAS, 85 cultivars) — PLOS ONE
- Apple flavor and its effects on sensory & consumer preference — Journal of Sensory Studies (Wiley), MacKenzie et al. 2022
- Morphological, Biochemical & Sensory Study of Apple Cultivars — Horticulturae (MDPI) 2025
- Consumer eating quality acceptance of new apple varieties in Europe — Food Quality and Preference (Bonany et al. 2013)
- Preference mapping of apple varieties in Europe — Food Quality and Preference (Bonany et al. 2014)
- Eating quality standards for apples based on consumer preferences — Postharvest Biology and Technology (Harker et al. 2008)
- Sensory properties & preference of 12 Southern Hemisphere apples — Food Quality and Preference (Daillant-Spinnler et al. 1996)
- Consumer acceptance of disease tolerant apple cultivars — Horticultural Science (Prague) (Inderbitzin et al. 2019)
- Study shows Envy delivers flavor, crunch, appearance — The Packer (Forward Insight & Strategy / T&G Global)
- How Do Consumers Perceive Sensory Attributes of Apple? — Foods (MDPI/PMC)
Community vote (18)
- Top 100 Best-Rated Apples in the World — TasteAtlas
- Fall Apple Bracket (reader vote) — The Globe and Mail
- Most Popular U-Pick Apple — Experience Grand Rapids / Tougas Family Farm
- Top 49 Best-Rated American Apples — TasteAtlas
- Top 10 Varieties (visitor votes & page hits) — Orange Pippin
- National Apple Day Reader Poll — Axios Columbus
- Most pleasing apple? (LinkedIn poll) — Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group (LinkedIn)
- What's your favourite type of apple? (forum poll) — The Bell Tree Forums
- Radio Noon favourite apple poll — CBC News / Radio Noon (Montreal)
- Most Popular Fruits in America (apple varieties) — YouGov (US)
- All Hail the Honeycrisp! (consumer survey) — University of Minnesota CFANS
- Best of the Best Tasting Apple Varieties (forum) — Houzz / GardenWeb
- Favorite Gourmet Apple Varieties (forum) — Home Orchard Society
- Best apple varieties? (discussion) — Chowhound
- The Most Delicious Fruits (crowd-ranked) — Ranker.com
- Preferred Apple Varieties in the US (2022) — The Packer / Statista
- What is your favourite kind of apple? (forum) — AnandTech Forums
- Most Delicious Fruits (crowd-voted) — TheTopTens.com
Editorial ranking (30)
- I Tried 15 Popular Apple Varieties (Ranked) — Eat This, Not That!
- We Taste Tested 12 Apple Cultivars: 7 Best for Eating — Sporked
- What's THE Perfect Apple? 10 Ranked Worst to Best — Sweety High
- The 16 Best Types of Apples to Eat — The Kitchn
- Best Apples for Baking — America's Test Kitchen / Cook's Illustrated
- Tasting Notes: 18 Apple Varieties — Saveur
- The Most Popular Types Of Apples, Explained — Tasting Table
- 6 Best Apple Varieties For Juicing And 5 To Avoid — Tasting Table
- 15 Apple Varieties Perfect For Snacking — Tasting Table
- The Best Apples to Eat Right Now (apple reviewer) — Food & Wine (profiling AppleRankings.com)
- 23 Best Apple Varieties Ranked By Flavor And Crispness — Cook Clean Repeat
- Sweetest Apples, Ranked Tart to Sweet — The Kitchn
- The Best Types of Apples for Cider in North America — Chelsea Green (Cider Planet, Claude Jolicoeur)
- 5 Mixed Use Apples You Should Know — CIDERCRAFT Magazine
- The Flavor of 22 Heirloom Apples, Reviewed — Heavy Table (James Norton)
- British apple guide: traditional varieties — Countryfile.com / BBC Countryfile Magazine
- Most Popular Apples Ranked A-Peeling To Crapple — Punkee (Australia)
- Ranking 5 Unique Heirloom Apple Varieties — Fresh Harvest
- Which Apples Are the Sweetest? Tried and Ranked — Mashed (Steven Luna)
- The Best and Worst Apples for Apple Pie, Ranked — Mashed (Steven Luna)
- 21 Best Apples Ranked by Flavor and Crunch — Chef Standards (Lila Meadows)
- 25+ Best Tasting Apples — Home for the Harvest (Mary Jane Duford)
- The Best Apples for Baking and Cooking — The Old Farmer's Almanac (Amy Traverso)
- 15+ Best Apples for Cider — Home for the Harvest (Mary Jane Duford)
- 25 Best Apples for Applesauce — Home for the Harvest (Mary Jane Duford)
- The Best Apples for Baking — Food Network Kitchen
- The Apple Sweetness Scale — FruitSmart
- The 25 Best Apple Varieties and How to Use Them — Parade (Beth Lipton)
- We Asked 5 Chefs the Apple They Can't Stop Eating — EatingWell (Adam Dolge)
- 100+ Heirloom Apples to Try (taste test) — Practical Self Reliance
Expert scored ranking (1)
- The Official Apple Rankings (100-point system) — AppleRankings.com (Brian Frange)
Formal taste test (8)
- All of Minnesota's Apples, Ranked — Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
- Penn State Extension apple cultivar tasting — Penn State Extension / LancasterOnline
- The apple taste test — The Seattle Times
- Tasting Apples: Six Tastings Around New England — MOFGA / Fedco (John Bunker)
- SnapDragon and RubyFrost are new apple varieties — Cornell Chronicle
- Michigan apples consumer panels — Michigan State University Extension
- WSU Apple Breeding Program varieties — Washington State University Tree Fruit
- Top 10 Apple Varieties — Utah State University Extension
Grower/sales ranking (31)
- 2025-26 Apple Crop Outlook — U.S. Apple Associationcommercial
- 2024-25 Apple Production Forecast — U.S. Apple Associationcommercial
- Gala top US apple after 50 years (2018) — Fruit Growers News (reporting USApple)commercial
- By The Numbers: 2023-24 US Apple Production Stats — Growing Produce (USApple storage data)commercial
- 2023-24 Apple Production Forecast — U.S. Apple Association / The Packercommercial
- 2025 Washington Apple Harvest Forecast — Washington State Tree Fruit Associationcommercial
- Cosmic Crisp Joins Top 10 Bestselling US Apples — Washington State University (Nielsen via PVM)commercial
- Apple Category Retail Data (Cosmic Crisp influence) — Category Partners / NielsenIQ (Blue Book)commercial
- Top 15 Favorite Apple Varieties / Branded Demand — The Packercommercial
- Most Popular Apples in America — U.S. Apple Association (via Fox News)commercial
- Ten Most Popular American Apples — Chelan Ranchcommercial
- Michigan apple production — Michigan Apple Committee (via Axios Detroit)commercial
- Michigan Apple Varieties — Michigan Apple Committeecommercial
- Growing Apples in Virginia — Virginia Cooperative Extension (Virginia Tech)commercial
- New York Apple Varieties — New York Apple Association (via Produce Business)commercial
- Best-Selling Apple Trees — Stark Bro's Nurseriescommercial
- Best-Selling Commercial Variety — Adams County Nursery (via Good Fruit Grower)commercial
- Heirloom Apple Trees — Trees of Antiquitycommercial
- Popular Apple Varieties / Scions — Cummins Nurserycommercial
- Apple Varieties (catalog) — Orange Pippin Treescommercial
- Best-Selling Commercial Apple Varieties — Raintree Nurserycommercial
- US Apples Expansion: Leading Varieties — USApple via FreshFruitPortalcommercial
- Apple Industry Expects 4.1% Production Jump 2023-24 — Growing Produce (USApple)commercial
- Seven Ways To Move The Needle On Apple Sales — Produce Businesscommercial
- Washington Apple Varieties (open vs club) — Washington State University Tree Fruitcommercial
- Apple Production by State 2026 — World Population Reviewcommercial
- Gala Tops the Charts (sales volume) — U.S. Apple Association (2018)commercial
- Consumers Prefer Branded Apples (study) — FreshFruitPortalcommercial
- The 8 Best Cider Apple Varieties — Celtic Marches (Rob Hancock)commercial
- Plant These Hard Cider Apple Varieties — Growing Produce (Ian Merwin, Cornell; Tim Larsen)commercial
- Cider Apple Classifications (Long Ashton system) — Cummins Nurserycommercial
Heritage/specialty list (2)
- Piedmontese Heirloom Apple Varieties — Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity
- Tastiest Apple competition winners — National Fruit Show (UK)
| # | Apple | Score | Lists | Best | #1s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | aka Honeycrisp (MI-grown) | 26.3 | 39 | 1 | 14 |
| 2 | ▸Fuji aka Fuji (MI-grown) | 14.5 | 30 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | ▸Gala aka Gala Apples | 14.0 | 28 | 2 | — |
| 4 | aka Cripps Pink | 13.9 | 25 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | aka Granny Smith Apples | 13.4 | 28 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | aka Golden Delicious Apples | 13.1 | 30 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 9.5 | 14 | 1 | 3 | |
| 8 | 8.5 | 19 | 2 | — | |
| 9 | aka Cosmic Crisp (WA-38), Cosmic Crisp (WA38) | 8.3 | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 7.8 | 16 | 2 | — | |
| 11 | aka Red Delicious Apples | 7.6 | 21 | 4 | — |
| 12 | ▸Jazz | 6.3 | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | ▸Envy | 6.1 | 11 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | 5.2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | |
| 15 | 5.1 | 12 | 2 | — | |
| 16 | aka Jonagold (MI-grown) | 4.7 | 12 | 11 | — |
| 17 | 4.3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | |
| 18 | 4.1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | |
| 19 | 3.5 | 7 | 2 | — | |
| 20 | 3.4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | |
| 21 | aka Nicoter (Kanzi), Nicoter/Kanzi | 3.3 | 6 | 2 | — |
| 22 | 3.0 | 7 | 5 | — | |
| 23 | 2.9 | 5 | 5 | — | |
| 24 | aka Rave, Rave/First Kiss | 2.9 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | 2.6 | 5 | 3 | — | |
| 26 | 2.5 | 6 | 6 | — | |
| 27 | 2.5 | 5 | 4 | — | |
| 28 | aka Crispin (Mutsu), Crispin/Mutsu, Mutsu (Crispin) | 2.4 | 6 | 5 | — |
| 29 | ▸Opal | 2.0 | 5 | 7 | — |
| 30 | 1.9 | 4 | 3 | — | |
| 31 | 1.9 | 4 | 5 | — | |
| 32 | 1.8 | 5 | 15 | — | |
| 33 | 1.8 | 5 | 22 | — | |
| 34 | 1.6 | 3 | 2 | — | |
| 35 | 1.6 | 3 | 3 | — | |
| 36 | 1.4 | 4 | 5 | — | |
| 37 | 1.4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 38 | 1.4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 39 | 1.3 | 3 | 8 | — | |
| 40 | 1.3 | 3 | 8 | — | |
| 41 | 1.2 | 3 | 9 | — | |
| 42 | 1.2 | 2 | 3 | — | |
| 43 | 1.2 | 2 | 4 | — | |
| 44 | ▸SugarBee | 1.1 | 3 | 10 | — |
| 45 | 1.1 | 3 | 12 | — | |
| 46 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 47 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 48 | ▸Canadian Strawberry | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 49 | ▸Jablka lackie aka Jablka lackie (Poland) | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 50 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 51 | ▸Milo Gibson | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 52 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 53 | 1.0 | 2 | 8 | — | |
| 54 | 0.9 | 2 | 5 | — | |
| 55 | ▸Mila Zagoras Piliou aka Mila Zagoras Piliou (Greece) | 0.9 | 1 | 2 | — |
| 56 | 0.9 | 1 | 2 | — | |
| 57 | ▸Jablka grojeckie aka Jablka grojeckie (Poland) | 0.9 | 1 | 3 | — |
| 58 | 0.9 | 1 | 3 | — | |
| 59 | 0.9 | 1 | 3 | — | |
| 60 | 0.8 | 2 | 7 | — | |
| 61 | ▸Mariella | 0.8 | 1 | 2 | — |
| 62 | 0.8 | 1 | 3 | — | |
| 63 | aka Fireside/Connell Red | 0.8 | 1 | 5 | — |
| 64 | aka Bravo de Esmolfe (Portugal) | 0.8 | 1 | 6 | — |
| 65 | 0.7 | 1 | 6 | — | |
| 66 | 0.7 | 2 | 13 | — | |
| 67 | 0.7 | 2 | — | — | |
| 68 | 0.7 | 2 | 24 | — | |
| 69 | 0.7 | 2 | 8 | — | |
| 70 | 0.7 | 2 | 25 | — | |
| 71 | 0.7 | 1 | 4 | — | |
| 72 | 0.7 | 2 | — | — | |
| 73 | ▸Maca de Alcobaca aka Maca de Alcobaca (Portugal) | 0.7 | 1 | 7 | — |
| 74 | 0.7 | 2 | — | — | |
| 75 | 0.7 | 2 | 9 | — | |
| 76 | aka Ruby Frost | 0.7 | 2 | — | — |
| 77 | 0.7 | 1 | 7 | — | |
| 78 | ▸Lucy Glo | 0.7 | 1 | 6 | — |
| 79 | ▸Rome | 0.7 | 1 | 6 | — |
| 80 | 0.6 | 1 | 7 | — | |
| 81 | ▸Modi | 0.6 | 1 | 4 | — |
| 82 | ▸Milo Kastorias aka Milo Kastorias (Greece) | 0.6 | 1 | 9 | — |
| 83 | ▸Rustica | 0.6 | 1 | 3 | — |
| 84 | ▸Chestnut Crabapple | 0.6 | 1 | 9 | — |
| 85 | ▸Mela Val di Non aka Mela Val di Non (Italy) | 0.6 | 1 | 10 | — |
| 86 | ▸Kiku | 0.5 | 1 | 8 | — |
| 87 | ▸SnowSweet | 0.5 | 1 | 10 | — |
| 88 | 0.5 | 1 | 9 | — | |
| 89 | ▸Firiki Piliou aka Firiki Piliou (Greece) | 0.5 | 1 | 12 | — |
| 90 | 0.4 | 1 | 11 | — | |
| 91 | 0.4 | 1 | 15 | — | |
| 92 | 0.4 | 1 | 10 | — | |
| 93 | 0.4 | 1 | 4 | — | |
| 94 | 0.4 | 1 | 16 | — | |
| 95 | 0.4 | 1 | 7 | — | |
| 96 | 0.4 | 1 | 11 | — | |
| 97 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 98 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 99 | 0.3 | 1 | 18 | — | |
| 100 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 101 | 0.3 | 1 | 22 | — | |
| 102 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 103 | ▸Calvilla | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 104 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 105 | ▸Centennial Crabapple | 0.3 | 1 | 15 | — |
| 106 | aka Crimson Crisp | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 107 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 108 | 0.3 | 1 | 20 | — | |
| 109 | 0.3 | 1 | 12 | — | |
| 110 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 111 | 0.3 | 1 | 14 | — | |
| 112 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 113 | 0.3 | 1 | 13 | — | |
| 114 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 115 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 116 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 117 | ▸Greening Sour | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 118 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 119 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 120 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 121 | ▸Kaltherer Bohmer | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 122 | aka Kidds Orange Red | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 123 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 124 | 0.3 | 1 | 15 | — | |
| 125 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 126 | ▸Ludacrisp | 0.3 | 1 | 14 | — |
| 127 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 128 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 129 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 130 | ▸Orin | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 131 | ▸Pazazz | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 132 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 133 | 0.3 | 1 | 13 | — | |
| 134 | 0.3 | 1 | 17 | — | |
| 135 | ▸Red Cortland | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 136 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 137 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 138 | 0.3 | 1 | 7 | — | |
| 139 | ▸RubyRush | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 140 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 141 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 142 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 143 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 144 | 0.3 | 1 | 16 | — | |
| 145 | 0.3 | 1 | 14 | — | |
| 146 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 147 | ▸Sunrise Magic aka Sunrise Magic (WA2) | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 148 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 149 | ▸WA5 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |
| 150 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — | |
| 151 | 0.3 | 1 | — | — |