Bud Light No Longer Top U-S Beer

Bud Light sales plunged in May, toppling the beer brand from its longtime perch as the nation's best-selling brew.

CBS News reports parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) sold $297 million worth of Bud Light for the four weeks ending May 28 — a 23% drop from the same time period the year before, according to consumer behavior data analytics firm Circana. Modelo Especial ranked No.1 in May, with $333 million in sales — a 15% increase from 2022.

The sales drop for Bud Light follows a promotion debacle with TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, a trans rights activist and actress, that sparked an uproar among conservatives including singers Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, who called for a boycott of the popular beer. 

Anheuser-Busch's Global CEO, Michel Doukeris, said last month on an investor call that Budweiser was still experiencing conservative backlash over the episode, in part because the public mistakenly believed it had a long-term partnership with the social media influencer.

The company's attempt to distance itself from the campaign caused further backlash, this time from the LGBTQ+ community, with some bars pulling all Anheuser-Busch products from their menu.

Bud Light is still enormously popular and has sold more cases than any competitor year to date, but the Mulvaney fiasco threatens to change that, according to Bump Williams Consulting, which tracks the alcohol industry. 

"Unless Bud Light starts to experience a serious course correction in terms of performance, which can only come from consumers finding their way back into the brand family, then that firm grip on the No. 1 rank by year-end loosens a bit more every week," Dave Williams, vice president of analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting, told CBS MoneyWatch. 

Williams pointed out that Bud Light had been the best-selling beer prior to May, and if it can reverse its sales decline, the brand could regain its top spot, he added.