The Top 50

For years, The Top 50 has been like a duck, calm and unruffled on the surface and paddling like hell underneath. Procter & Gamble has been at the top of our list every year since we started ranking the biggest household and personal products companies back in 1978. And, for more than 40 years, right behind P&G came Colgate-Palmolive. By the time you reached No. 40, companies were shifting places and dropping out at a relatively fast clip.

But this year, for the first time ever, we have a new No. 2. Colgate-Palmolive has been replaced in the second slot by Estée Lauder Companies, which is thriving under the direction of Fabrizio Freda, the first non-family member to lead the company since its founding in 1946 by Estée and Joseph Lauder. Lauder continues to grow despite the popularity of indie brands and the rise of celebrity makeup mavens such as Kylie Jenner and her sister, Kim Kardashian, both of whom made our list this year.

Behind P&G, Estée Lauder and Colgate, comes SC Johnson, Coty, Johnson & Johnson, Ecolab, L Brands, Mary Kay and Amway. Other newcomers to our list include Dr. Bronner’s and Glossier. But new or old, big or small, all of the companies that appear on the following pages face many of the same obstacles—new distribution channels, fickle consumers, economic uncertainty and global upheaval. The companies that best navigate these new realities are sure to be ranked within The Top 50 for years and decades to come (or can get acquired by the companies that overcome these obstacles). We hope you enjoy this edition of The Top 50. If you think your company belongs on our list, please don’t hesitate to contact us. And be sure to watch your mailbox and inbox next month for The International Top 30, our article on the biggest household and personal products companies with headquarters outside the US.