Around this time of year, various different types of year in reviews pop up all around the Internet including top 10 movies, the weirdest moments of the year, and maps featuring weird things from every state.
Today, we have another one weird map: the most popular item at Walmart in every state.
Walmart reveals top selling items sold online in each state in 2017 https://t.co/oh0ZietBOl pic.twitter.com/nx9Vy7JeYK
— FOX31 Denver KDVR (@KDVR) December 29, 2017
There are a lot of weird ones on here, but here are maybe the five strangest:
Arizona – L.O.L. Surprise! Dolls: I have so many questions, but my first is what the heck is an L.O.L. Surprise! Doll? After some research, I discovered they are tiny dolls that were actually ridiculously popular this year.
Since first going on sale, @MGAEnt has sold 25 million L.O.L. Surprise dolls. It is on track to be the bestselling toy of the year https://t.co/skffGrqU7C pic.twitter.com/mUtBATG6y3
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) December 17, 2017
Iowa – Water Softening Crystals: Water is already really soft in my opinion. But that’s not technically what these crystals do. Instead they help people treat hard water, which is water that is high in mineral content.
Louisiana – Root Beer Extract: Why? What? Shouldn’t it be Mardi Gras beads or King Cake?
New York – Cheerios: I’m a fan of Cheerios, but there are better cereals. Also for a state as big as New York with a population just shy of 20 million, how is Cheerios the most popular item? Why not Aaron Judge posters or winter salt for snow?
Connecticut – Ghost in the Shell DVD: Nothing tops this. The action movie staring Scarlett Johansson made nearly $170 million at the box office, and apparently a lot more later on in DVD sales in Connecticut. What I just don’t understand is of all the movies to come out on DVD this year, why was Ghost in the Shell the best selling in Connecticut?
There were a lot of weird states, but some were also pretty normal. Alaska buying a lot of antifreeze makes a ton of sense and so does Oklahoma buying a lot of BBQ Sauce. The most unsurprising state is probably Wisconsin, which bought more Green Bay Packers bath mats than anything else at Walmart.
Here’s the full easier to read list of the most popular item in every state:
- Alabama: Crayons
- Alaska: RV & marine antifreeze
- Arizona: L.O.L. Surprise! Dolls
- Arkansas: Chocolate
- California: Protein powder
- Colorado: Peanut M&M’s
- Connecticut: ‘Ghost in the Shell’ DVD
- Delaware: Spiced jelly candy
- Florida: Sparkling cider
- Georgia: Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Chairs
- Hawaii: Barbie farmer doll
- Idaho: My Little Pony Mini Collection
- Illinois: Erasers
- Indiana: Instant coffee
- Iowa: Water softening crystals
- Kansas: Ozark Trail tumblers
- Kentucky: 4×6 photo prints
- Louisiana: Root beer extract
- Maine: Brownies
- Maryland: Glue sticks
- Massachusetts: Refrigerators
- Michigan: Lavender-scented cleaning products
- Minnesota: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
- Mississippi: Oil-less fryer
- Missouri: Life Savers
- Montana: Madden NFL video games
- Nebraska: Pressed makeup powder
- Nevada: Dog treats
- New Hampshire: Cinnamon-flavored toothpaste
- New Jersey: Pool salt
- New Mexico: Cat food
- New York: Cheerios
- North Carolina: Mayonnaise
- North Dakota: Watermelon-flavored gum
- Ohio: Grape-flavored drink mix
- Oklahoma: BBQ sauce
- Oregon: Humidifiers
- Pennsylvania: Plastic hangers
- Rhode Island: Christmas lights
- South Carolina: Coin banks
- South Dakota: Orange juice
- Tennessee: Disney Infinity Power Discs
- Texas: TV wall mounts
- Utah: Personal travel care kits
- Vermont: Sweet canned corn
- Virginia: Coolers
- Washington, D.C.: Great Value French Fried Onions
- Washington State: Vanilla frosting
- West Virginia: My Life As Dolls
- Wisconsin: Green Bay Packers bath mat
- Wyoming: Flannel shirts
[KFOR]
Your writer has misinterpreted this data. Do you really think shoppers in Wisconsin “bought more Green Bay Packers bath mats than anything else at Walmart”?
It’s made very clear in the source material that the graphic is displaying one particularly interesting item out of 25 disproportionately high-selling items (note: not top-selling) for each state.
You are right but the point is very easily missed. Even if this is the case every item listed was in fact in the top 25 of all items bought at Walmart.com in that state So we must love vanilla frosting in WA.