Star Wars Action Figure Sales Rankings in the Nineties

The April, 1998 issue of Playthings magazine (just one of many issues I looked at while in New York earlier this year) included an overall sales rankings for the toy industry in 1997. Minus video games, Kenner’s/Hasbro’s Star Wars action figures found themselves on both the top twenty lists by dollar sales and by unit sales.

  • Ranked by Dollars – #5 and #6 spots for Star Wars figure assortment one and assortment two.
  • Ranked by Units – #4 and #6 spots for Star Wars figure assortment one and assortment two.

Additionally, the Star Wars Galactic Figure Assortment found its way onto the top twenty (ranked by units), coming in at the number nineteen spot.

So, does anyone out there have info on what these three separate line items correspond to in terms of specific 1997 Star Wars action figures? Maybe once I’m home I’ll flip through the Toy Fair catalog for that year and be able to identify the figures in each of the three groupings.

BONUS: Mattel’s Hot Wheels take the top three spots for sales by units and the number ten spot. For sales by dollars, we see Hot Wheels at the fifteen and seventeen positions. When you sell toy cars for a buck you move a lot of toys.