Google is back at the top: For the first time since 2018, the search engine company is once again the most valuable brand in the world, pushing long-time winner Apple into second place. This is shown by the current Kantar ranking 2026, in which four brands crack the trillion dollar mark. The biggest driver is artificial intelligence.
The ranking of the most valuable brands in the world is created by the market research company Kantar, which does not simply state sales or stock market values, but rather determines the entire brand value. So it’s also about what the name contributes to the value of a company. In addition to the financial aspects, the so-called brand contribution is also evaluated. According to Kantar, a brand must be “significant”, “different” and “present” at the same time.
These are the most valuable brands in the world
The total value of the hundred most valuable brands is currently at a record value of around 13.1 trillion US dollars. This corresponds to an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous year. By far the biggest driver of this development is artificial intelligence.
The steepest rise of all brands in 2026 is ChatGPT from OpenAI, whose value (around 167 billion US dollars) has increased by 285 percent compared to the previous year. Only one company has ever recorded a major jump in the history of the ranking. The AI assistant Claude from Anthropic also made it into the top 100 straight away and landed in 27th place with a brand value of almost 100 billion US dollars.
A German company is not represented in the top ten, but at least two brands Made in Germany are in the upper middle of the list. Telekom (including T-Mobile) has a brand value of around $125 billion (18th place), and the software group SAP follows in 26th place with almost $100 billion.
Chinese brands are also moving forward. The Internet giant Alibaba comes in 19th place, the short video platform TikTok in 25th place. However, the ranking is still dominated by tech giants from the USA. We reveal who made it to the top in our top ten (via Statista).
10th place: McDonald’s
It starts with the only gastronomy representative on the list. McDonald’s has a brand value of 235.1 billion US dollars. The rest of the top group is dominated by technology companies, but the fast food chain shows that hardware and software cannot fill the stomach. McDonald’s has already overcome several (image) crises in the past.
