2025 marks the 40th character poll conducted by Sanrio. Each prior year for this poll, fans from around the world would vote for their favorite character and hope to see them come out victorious. With dozens of past polls, you may be wondering who won each year.
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PostsIf you are, you're in luck! Here, we will go over the winner of the Sanrio character popularity poll each year since it began in 1986. We'll do our best to lay out the winners, as well as some country-specific winners, but it's important to note that older polls happened before social media (and the internet) were widespread, so some information is limited.
The 2025 voting window for the Sanrio character poll goes from April 15 to May 25. The results for the poll will be announced on June 29. If you want to see results as votes are cast, you can check the voting site for the day-one results. Interim results will also be announced on May 13, allowing you to see how your favorite is doing.
The Sanrio Character Poll Winner By Year
CloseThe Sanrio character poll started in the magazine called Ichigo Shinbun (Strawberry Newspaper). This is a Sanrio magazine geared towards kids that was first published in 1975. There was actually a character popularity contest starting in 1975, serving as the framework for the character poll that we know today.
Below, you can find the winner for each year, starting in 1986. It's worth noting that until 2011, only the top ten slots were announced. Now, you can see all the way to last place!
Year
Winner
1986
Zashiki Buta
1987
Marron Cream
1988
Minna no Tabo
1989
Minna no Tabo
1990
Keroppi
1991
Pochacco
1992
Pochacco
1993
Pochacco
1994
Pochacco
1995
Pochacco
1996
Badtz-Maru
1997
Pompompurin
1998
Hello Kitty
1999
Hello Kitty
2000
Hello Kitty
2001
Hello Kitty
2002
Hello Kitty
2003
Hello Kitty
2004
Hello Kitty
2005
Hello Kitty
2006
Hello Kitty
2007
Hello Kitty
2008
Hello Kitty
2009
Hello Kitty
2010
My Melody
2011
My Melody
2012
Hello Kitty
2013
Hello Kitty
2014
My Melody
2015
Pompompurin
2016
Pompompurin
2017
Cinnamoroll
2018
Cinnamoroll
2019
Hello Kitty
2020
Cinnamoroll
2021
Cinnamoroll
2022
Cinnamoroll
2023
Cinnamoroll
2024
Cinnamoroll
2025
TBA!
read moreThese stats are based on the global winners, but Sanrio has occasionally shared the winner by country for their 'overseas ranking'. Below, you can find a table showing the winners based on country. This information isn't too readily available for earlier years, so we used all the data we could find on it.
Year
Country and Winner
2018
South Korea - Gudetama
Taiwan - Gudetama
Mainland China - Yoshikitty
Hong Kong - Pekkle
United States - Gudetama
Brazil - Aggretusko
United Kingdom - Aggretsuko
Italy - Yoshikitty
Germany - Yoshikitty
France - Yoshikitty
United Arab Emirates - Show by Rock!!
2019
Taiwan - Cinnamoroll
Mainland China - Cinnamoroll
Hong Kong - Pekkle
2020
Taiwan - Pompompurin
Mainland China - Cinnamoroll
Hong Kong - Pekkle
South Korea - Kuromi
United States - Hello Kitty
Brazil - Yoshikitty
United Kingdom - Kuromi
Italy - Cinnamoroll
Germany - Yoshikitty
France - Yoshikitty
2021
Mainland China - Cinnamoroll
Hong Kong - Pekkle
Taiwan - Pompompurin
South Korea - Show by Rock!!
United States - Cinnamoroll
Brazil - Aggretsuko
United Kingdom - Pompompurin
Italy - Yoshikitty
Germany - Yoshikitty
France - Yoshikitty
Australia - Cinnamoroll
Singapore - Pompompurin
Thailand - Yoshikitty
2022
Mainland China - Cinnamoroll
Hong Kong - Minna no Tabo
Taiwan - Pompompurin
South Korea - Kuromi
United States - Cinnamoroll
Brazil - Cinnamoroll
United Kingdom - Pompompurin
Italy - Cinnamoroll
Germany - Yoshikitty
France - Cinnamoroll
Australia - Cinnamoroll
Singapore - Cinnamoroll
Thailand - Yoshikitty
Spain - Kuromi
2023
Mainland China - Cinnamoroll
Hong Kong - Pochacco
Taiwan - Pompompurin
South Korea - Cinnamoroll
United States - Cinnamoroll
Brazil - Cinnamoroll
United Kingdom - Pompompurin
Italy - Cinnamoroll
Germany - Gudetama
France - Cinnamoroll
Australia - Cinnamoroll
Singapore - Cinnamoroll
Thailand - Yoshikitty
Spain - Cinnamoroll
2024
Mainland China - Cinnamoroll
Hong Kong - Cinnamoroll
Taiwan - Cinnamoroll
South Korea - Pochacco
United States - Cinnamoroll
Brazil - Cinnamoroll
United Kingdom - Pompompurin
Italy - Cinnamoroll
Germany - Cinnamoroll
France - Cinnamoroll
Australia - Cinnamoroll
Singapore - Cinnamoroll
Thailand - Minna no Tabo
Spain - Cinnamoroll
read moreLooking at the results by country for each year, it definitely looks like Cinnamoroll is taking over the world.
Who Has the Most Wins?
CloseIf we went by the global results, then Hello Kitty is a clear winner. From 1998 to 2009, she remained number one, and is the only character to hold the title for over a decade straight.
Looking at the results by country though, there is an obvious answer - Cinnamoroll. In the 2018 results, he was number one globally, but didn't appear on the countries listed. Starting in 2019 though, Cinnamoroll's popularity seemingly grows. Out of the 14 countries listed for 2014, Cinnamoroll is first in 11 of them.
Some other favorites include Yoshikitty and Pompompurin. If you're just a bit familiar with Sanrio, you may have no clue who Yoshikitty is. This is actually a character created in 2009, based on the Japanese singer Yoshiki, who is a member of the band X Japan.
Interestingly, Yoshikitty is the first Sanrio character based on a real person, and is often more popular (on the polls) than Hello Kitty.
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