Despite the continuing closure of the Sanrio Puroland theme park, Hello Kitty creator Sanrio has managed to keep fans excited by offering exclusive video chats with characters and opening a new Sanrio Cafe in Ikebukuro.
Around this time every year, Sanrio hosts its annual character ranking, asking fans to vote for their favourite Sanrio characters. This year, a total of 14,556,939 votes were collected from April 10 to June 9 from around the world, and the unexpected results may surprise you.
Photo: Sanrio
While last year’s poll put Sanrio’s best known character, Hello Kitty, firmly in first place, this year the cute white cat slipped to fifth position. Instead, with total of 1,387,152 vote, Cinnamoroll charmed people with its long ears, blue eyes, pink cheeks and curly tail, officially being crowned as everyone’s favourite Sanrio character in 2020. He is followed by – in order – Pompompurin, Pochacco and My Melody.
Photo: Sanrio
Here's the top 10 favourite Sanrio characters in Japan for 2020: 1. Cinnamoroll 2. Pompompurin 3. Pochacco 4. My Melody 5. Hello Kitty 6. Yoshikitty 7. Kuromi 8. ShowByRock! 9. Little Twin Stars 10. Tuxedosam
The official website has a list of all the Sanrio characters, where you’ll be able to see them ranked from one to 80. You'll also find the top three characters in different regions, like the United States, Brazil, Hong Kong, Italy, France and more. In the US, Hello Kitty tops the list of fan favourites.