Bud Light is no longer the best selling beer in 2023

While Bud Light lost its status as America’s top-selling beer in May, the company clung to the fact that it still led the pack for the entire year.

However, past success doesn’t guarantee future prosperity in business. Anheuser-Busch faced a looming issue, and it was only a matter of time before current trends caught up with it.

Despite the substantial loss of $400 million in sales last quarter due to the collapse of its flagship product, the company continued to emphasize this year’s overall performance of Bud Light.

Now, even that consolation seems to have slipped away.

Fresh data suggests that Modelo Especial, a Mexican beer marketed in the U.S. by Constellation Brands, has not only overtaken Bud Light on a monthly basis but has also outperformed it for the entire year.

Figures from market research firm Nielsen cited by CNN show Modelo through August 12th secured 8.34% of the U.S. beer market in terms of dollars spent, eclipsing the 8.28% that Bud Light achieved. 

“It happened far faster than most people expected,” Benj Steinman, president of Beer Marketer’s Insights, told CNN.

Neither Anheuser-Busch nor its parent company AB InBev could immediately be reached for comment.

While Constellation’s Modelo has been busy poaching Bud Light customers at supermarkets and convenience stores, the missteps of Anheuser-Busch have helped boost business at rival Molson Coors as well.

The latter has seen on-site consumption of its Coors Light and Miller Lite beers soar at restaurants and bars, according to CEO Gavin Hattersley.

The demolition of Bud Light and its once rock-solid grip on the top spot will no doubt serve as a cautionary case study for business schools around the country, experts like Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary have argued.

After all, the idea of partnering with social media star Dylan Mulvaney was fetching on paper at least.

While popular among older Americans, the brand faced a gradual decline thanks in part to Gen Z consumers, who more so than any other key demographic have been turning their collective back on beer. 

Buying the endorsement of a young transgender influencer that has attracted millions of fans on TikTok and Instagram would surgically target that slice of the population without affecting older drinkers—or so the company thought.

How this one individual Instagram post from April overshadowed every other Bud Light promotional campaign in defining the brand now serves as an “important wake-up call” to every marketing executive in the country.