M&M’s are the most popular Halloween candy in America again, according to CandyStore.com’s 2026 ranking.
M&M’s finished No. 1 nationally, ahead of Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, Reese’s Cups and NERDS Gummy Clusters, and took the top spot in 10 states, NBC New York reported.
CandyStore.com’s ranking is a projection of Halloween-season sales based on 18 years of its own sales data, with recent years weighted more heavily. The site also ran a separate survey on the best Halloween candy. Snickers won that one, and candy corn was voted the worst.
M&M’s have been around for 85 years. Forrest Mars patented the process in 1941, a few years after he reportedly saw soldiers in Spain eating a candy that wouldn’t melt.
What Forrest Mars Saw in Spain
Forrest Mars Sr. was the son of Frank Mars, who founded Mars in 1911. After a falling out with his father, he moved to England in 1932 and made Mars bars there, History.com reported.
During the Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939, Mars reportedly saw soldiers eating small pieces of chocolate covered in a hard sugar shell, which kept the chocolate from melting. MoMA, which has M&M’s in its collection, gives the same account.
Not everyone treats it as settled. Lemelson-MIT says Mars may have seen soldiers eating a similar candy, but that “no one seems to know for sure.”
The 1941 Patent and Hershey
Mars received a patent on March 3, 1941, per Lemelson-MIT, and production began in Newark, New Jersey.
His partner was Bruce Murrie, the son of a Hershey executive. Mars held 80% of the business, and Murrie held 20%. The two M’s stand for Mars and Murrie.
Murrie put up money, and Hershey agreed to supply the chocolate and sugar at a time when chocolate was rationed during World War II, per Lemelson-MIT.
Sold Only to the Military
Once the U.S. entered the war, M&M’s were sold only to the military, according to History.com. The candy traveled well and held up in the heat, so soldiers liked it, and the Armed Forces put it in C-rations, Lemelson-MIT said.
What Came Next
The brown bag came out in 1948, and the “M” was first printed on each piece in 1950, per History.com. By 1958, demand topped 1 million pounds a week, according to Lemelson-MIT.
Red M&M’s were taken out of the mix in 1976 and brought back in 1987. In 1981, M&M’s went up on the space shuttle Columbia, which History.com says made them the first candy in space.
