Despite being the leading beer brand in dollar sales in the United States in 2023, sales of Bud Light shrank by 4.5 percent compared to the previous year. In contrast, sales of Modelo Especial grew during the same period by 13.9 percent.

Light beers dominate the domestic beer market in the United States. Six of the top seven beers in 2017 were light beers. The top three, Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite, collectively controlled over 36 percent of the domestic market. This market share translates to 2 billion, 1 billion, and 900 million dollars in sales for Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite respectively.

Light beer explained

Light beer was invented in the United States in 1967. Light beer is either lower in alcohol or calories or both, compared to regular beer. Lower calorie content is achieved by reducing both alcohol and carbohydrate levels as both contribute to the overall calorie content of beer.

Who’s drinking it?

The highest share of Bud Light and Coors Light consumers were adults aged between 18 and 29. As light beer is generally cheaper than regular beer, and easier to drink in excess, this may be part of its appeal to the younger generation.

This graph shows the sales of the top selling domestic beer brands of the United States in 2017. Bud Light was the first ranked domestic beer brand of the United States with about 2,031 million U.S. dollars worth of sales for the 52 weeks ended January 22, 2017.

Beer

Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage worldwide, and the third-most popular drink overall after water and tea. Research shows that people have been brewing beer as early as several thousand years before the Common Era. Recent studies claim that the production and consumption of beer was a major factor in the development of civilized society, arguing that the important and often spiritual role beer played in traditional ceremonies and feasts contributed to the development of ritual and tradition and consequently the development of society at large. The American beer palette has undergone changes in recent years. More and more consumers are turning to craft beer over the name brands. Generally speaking, a craft beer comes from a small, independently owned brewery that uses traditional brewing methods and focuses on developing beer with a distinct taste and quality rather than on mass producing. A growing number of these breweries have appeared on the scene in the last few years. Their popularity may be influenced by the increasingly popular local food movement, which emphasizes consuming food and drink produced in or near one’s own community.
Domestic beer brands, like Bud Light or Coors Light, are still leaders of the American beer market. Studies show that most people still prefer a domestic beer at happy hour. While facing unexpected competition for beer aficionados from the independent brewers of America, the big brands stand to capitalize on casual drinkers looking for a tasty, simple, and affordable beer.

In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev had the largest beer market share in the world, controlling over a quarter of beer volume sales. Second and third placers, Heineken and China Resources Snow Breweries accounted for 12.9 and 5.9 percent of the beer market share, respectively. Brewery businessBrewing is one of the oldest human activities whose origins can be traced back to the Neolithic period. To this day, beer remains to be the world’s most popular alcoholic beverage. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the global leader in beer manufacturing, produces prominent beer brands such as Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, Stella Artois and Beck’s.In 2022, AB InBev generated over 57 billion U.S. dollars in revenue worldwide. The Dutch brewing company, Heineken brought in approximately 30 billion U.S. dollars in beer sales. Austria, ranked behind Czechia in terms of beer consumption in 2022. During this period, Austrians consumed an average of 101.2 liters of beer per person. In contrast, beer drinkers in Czechia consumed 188.5 liters per capita.

The market shares of both Molson Coors and AB InBev grew in 2023. AB InBev's market share increased from 38.3 percent to 40.4 percent and the market share of Molson Coors increased from 23 percent to 25.3 percent.

In 2022, the EBITDA of Anheuser-Busch InBev worldwide amounted to about 19.6 billion U.S. dollars. This represented a growth of 1.1 percent compared to the previous year and a third consecutive year of growth.

In 2024, beer accounted for an estimated 42 percent of the U.S. alcohol industry market. Wine's share of the market declined to its lowest level in decades in that year. Alcoholic beverage sales in the U.S. In 2022, total alcoholic beverage sales numbers in the United States reached nearly 260 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. sales numbers had been increasing for years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Supplier gross revenue was highest in the spirits segment at 37.65 billion U.S. dollars. Leading beer brands With sales of nearly seven billion U.S. dollars, Bud was the leading brand of beer in the United States. Introduced in 1982, Bud Light is one of the world’s top-selling light beer lagers. Top competitor Michelob ranked second with roughly 3.5 billion dollars in sales that year.

In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev's EBITDA margin in North America stood at 31.4 percent. Global EBITDA was 33.6 percent.

The consumption of beer amounted to approximately 2.65 million 2.25-gallon cases in 2023. This was a decrease compared to the previous year. Beer in the United States Beer is a widely consumed beverage in the United States and around the world. It is made from water, malt, hops, and yeast as basic ingredients. There are 9,709 breweries located in the United States. The number of beer brewing companies has continuously increased during the last decade. In comparison, there were 2,670 breweries in 2012. The value of the beer market in the United States amounts to around 120 billion U.S. dollars. The market took a considerable hit during the first COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020 but has recovered since. The market for beer in the United States is forecast to further increase in the coming years and to be valued at 145 billion dollars by 2027. The beer excise tax rates in the United States vary substantially by state. Tennessee has the highest beer excise tax rate with 1.29 U.S. dollars per gallon of beer. Wyoming taxes beer the least at just 2 cents per gallon. The global beer market The Belgium company Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest beer company in the world, with sales amounting to almost 58 billion U.S. dollars. The company owns well-known global brands such as Budweiser, Corona Extra, Michelob ULTRA, and Stella Artois. The volume of beer produced worldwide amounts to approximately 1.89 billion hectoliters annually. From 1998 to 2011, global beer production continuously increased and has remained relatively steady since. China is the leading beer-producing country worldwide. More than 360 million hectoliters of beer are brewed in China annually. The United States and Brazil follow in second and third place, with production volumes of about 194 and 147 million hectoliters of beer, respectively.