According to The MA Drinks List: Top Brands to Stock in 2026, Smirnoff Red remains not only the best-selling vodka in volume and value sales, it is also the number one seller in all spirit brands sold in UK pubs and bars.
Citing data from CGA by NIQ for the 12 months to 4 October 2025, 926,453 9-litre cases (9lcs) of Smirnoff Red was sold by on-trade businesses, which representing a 4.7% fall from 972,261 9lcs the previous year.
However, value increased from £1.162bn to £1.179bn – a 1.4% uptick – a figure that is far and away the highest spirit seller in the UK on-trade, dwarfing its nearest vodka rival Absolut Blue (155,807 9lcs in volume and £248.7m in value) and its nearest spirits rival in Captain Morgan Spiced rum, which sold 311,900 9lcs with its value reaching £395.1m.
Brands that lost ground
Although Captain Morgan Spiced rum sales were behind Smirnoff Red, it did enjoy a huge value sales boost of 17.2% from the previous year.
Back to the vodka category and second placed Absolut Blue saw volume and value sales shrink by 15.4% and 10.7% respectively.
Other brands to lose in volume and value sales were Grey Goose (down 16.2% and 12.7%) in fourth position and Absolut vanilla (down 7.0% and 1.4%).
Ketel One rose to third spot after selling 58,562 9lcs – a boost of 19.5% – while its value sales soared up by 26.7% from £80.1m to £101.5m.
New entries and upticks
Smirnoff’s sister brand Raspberry Crush, Chekov Imperial and Ciroc made smaller losses on volume (down 5.4%, 5.5% and 0.1% respectively) but the brands, which are in sixth, seventh and 10th places, made increases in value sales, with each enjoying 6.0%, 7.7% and 9.2% uplifts.
New entry to the top 10, Chase, saw phenomenal rises from 5,100 9lcs to 20,090 9lcs (up 294%) and value rose from £8.2m to £33.8m (up 311.8%) that pushed it into eighth spot.
Smirnoff Mango & Passionfruit was another new entry (along with Chase and Ciroc) that took ninth position on the vodka leaderboard, having sold 18,054 9lcs – a 15.4% leap – and a 22.2% hike in value sales to reach £26.6m.
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