Character Ranking Prediction Markets
The annual Sanrio Character Ranking is, in every way that matters, a prediction market: a scheduled event, a public vote to settle it, clear favorites, long shots, and momentum. No exchange lists it. This division prices it anyway.
The board
Who wins the 2027 Sanrio Character Ranking?
Implied odds to take the next No. 1. A toy model from recent form, not a real order book.
Pompompurin Won 2025 and 2026, back to back
34% ▲Cinnamoroll Won five straight, 2020–2024
30% ■Kuromi Climbed from seventh to the top four
15% ▲My Melody Perennial top five
8% ■Hello Kitty Won 2019, has faded since
6% ▼The field Hangyodon, Pochacco, and everyone else
7% ■No exchange lists this market. The implied odds below are a toy model derived from recent form, not real prices.
Where it would trade
Kalshi and Polymarket
Two real prediction markets. Neither lists a Sanrio ranking. Here is where it would live, and how it would settle.
Kalshi
VisitA US-regulated (CFTC) event exchange that already lists awards and pop-culture markets. It has nothing on Sanrio.
Polymarket
VisitA crypto-settled prediction market with the deepest pop-culture order books anywhere. Also nothing on Sanrio, so far.
How it would settle
The ranking already has everything a market needs: a fixed event announced each spring, an unambiguous resolution source in Sanrio’s official count, and a real number to settle on. A "who wins" market resolves on the announced No. 1. Over/under markets could price a single character’s vote total, or whether a given character finishes in the top three.
The incumbent
Pompompurin is the one to beat.
A pudding-loving golden retriever in a brown beret.
Pompompurin won the 2026 poll with 7.13 million votes, his second straight title and fifth overall — landing in the same year he turned 30. He first topped the ranking back in 1997. Dogs swept the podium again: Cinnamoroll second, Pochacco third.
The 2026 result in full
| Rank | Character | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Pompompurin | 7,135,114 |
| 02 | Cinnamoroll | 6,313,623 |
| 03 | Pochacco | 3,967,689 |
| 04 | Kuromi | — |
| 05 | Hello Kitty | — |
| 06 | Pekkle | — |
| 07 | My Melody | — |
| 08 | Tuxedo Sam | — |
| 09 | Hangyodon | — |
| 10 | Little Twin Stars | — |
70,647,379 votes worldwide. Counts below the top three were not broken out by Sanrio.
Price history
Where five characters placed, 2019–2026
Think of rank as a price. Every position was confirmed against the official result for that year. Rank 1 sits at the top.
Past settlements
Every No. 1, since 1986
Forty-one editions, grouped by consecutive reigns: two five-year runs, and one twelve-year run that has never been matched.
| Years | Champion | Titles | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Zashikibuta | 1 | The first-ever champion — a pink pig. |
| 1987 | Marron Cream | 1 | |
| 1988–1989 | Minna no Tabo | 2 | |
| 1990 | Keroppi | 1 | |
| 1991–1995 | Pochacco 5-year streak | 5 | Five straight wins, the first dynasty. |
| 1996 | Bad Badtz-Maru | 1 | |
| 1997 | Pompompurin | 1 | A golden retriever in a beret, first of five titles. |
| 1998–2009 | Hello Kitty 12-year streak | 12 | Twelve years in a row. The record nobody has touched. |
| 2010–2011 | My Melody | 2 | |
| 2012–2013 | Hello Kitty | 2 | |
| 2014 | My Melody | 1 | My Melody's third and last title to date. |
| 2015–2016 | Pompompurin | 2 | Pompompurin back on top, twice. |
| 2017–2018 | Cinnamoroll | 2 | |
| 2019 | Hello Kitty | 1 | |
| 2020–2024 | Cinnamoroll 5-year streak | 5 | Five straight — equalled Pochacco. |
| 2025–2026 | Pompompurin | 2 | Back-to-back, the second in his 30th-anniversary year. |
All-time first-place tallies
Regional mispricing
Overseas results diverge from Japan
Sanrio breaks the poll out for fourteen countries and regions. The global winner often loses several of them, and a few places back a character almost nobody else has heard of. In market terms, that is where the arbitrage would be.
Votes for a rock star in a bow
Thailand's No. 1 in both 2025 and 2026 was Yoshikitty — a Hello Kitty crossover with X Japan drummer Yoshiki. It tops Thailand every year and never cracks the global top 10.
A black cat nobody else votes for
Chococat finished 2nd in the US in 2025 and 3rd in 2026, and won Brazil outright in 2025. Globally that same year Chococat placed 24th and missed the top five across all of Asia.
A shopkeeper at No. 3
Spain put Umeya Zakkaten, an elderly-shopkeeper character, third in 2026. It ranked 70th worldwide. Regional fandoms can lift an obscure character dozens of places.
Bigger overseas than at home
Kuromi runs hotter outside Japan than in it — top three in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany and Hong Kong in 2026 — and she consistently outpolls her rival My Melody internationally.
The global winner lost three countries
Cinnamoroll won the world in 2024, but not everywhere: South Korea picked Pochacco, the UK picked Pompompurin, and Thailand picked Minna no Tabo.
Missing from the board entirely
In 2026 the brand’s face missed the top 10 outright in Germany, Spain, the US and the UK. Her best overseas finish was 4th, in China.
Sources of record
- Nippon.com — Hello Kitty most popular in ranking history (full winners table, 1986–2025)
- Sanrio Times — official 40th-anniversary history of the Character Ranking
- Sanrio — 2026 Character Ranking, overall results (official)
- Sanrio — 2026 Character Ranking, overseas results by country (official)
- Nippon.com — Hello Kitty returns to the top (full 2019 top 10)
- Sanrio — 2020 results (official)
- Sanrio — 2021 results (official)
- Sanrio — 2022 results (official)
- Sanrio — 2023 results (official)
- Game Rant — 2024 top 10 with vote counts
- SoraNews24 — 2025 results and country-by-country breakdown
- SoraNews24 — 2026 results; Hello Kitty absent from many countries’ top 10
- TheGamer — every past winner and country-specific results
- Tokyo Weekender — Pompompurin wins the 2026 ranking
Ranking figures are from official Sanrio result pages and contemporary reporting. The implied odds are a model for illustration, not investment advice and not a real market. Where a year’s lower placements were not published, they are left blank rather than estimated.