For the second year in a row, the Nike Air Force 1 Low is the top-selling sneaker in the athletic industry.
The data for 2021 comes by way of NPD senior advisor Matt Powell, who specializes in athletic footwear sales. In his Sneakernomics breakdown of last year’s sales figures and trends, Powell highlights the year’s ten best-selling shoes in terms of revenue. The Air Force 1 Low, which makes the list nearly every time, took the number-one spot for the second consecutive year. There were many other commonalities with 2020’s best sellers, as all of the top-ten pairs were the same and only their rankings shifted.
The rest of 2021’s top movers, in order, include the Nike Air Max 270, Nike Air Vapormax Plus, Nike Revolution 5, Nike Air Max 97, Adidas NMD R1, Nike Air Max 90, Nike Air Vapormax Flyknit 3, Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG, and Air Jordan 13 Retro. This means that Nike and its Jordan Brand subsidiary dominate nearly the whole list two years in a row, with the Adidas NMD R1 being the only entry from a competing brand.
It’s worth mentioning that due to the ever-changing distribution of product, it’s not possible to track every piece of footwear sold. Sales resulting from factors like Nike’s continued direct-to-consumer push and Kanye West’s Yeezy Supply e-commerce site are not included in these numbers. Instead, the data here pertains solely to footwear sold through point of sale methods.
UPDATE (01/24): It turns out the Nike Air Force 1 Low wasn’t the top-selling sneaker last year. Today, NPD has revised its data for the best-selling sneakers for 2021, which now has the Air Max 270 at the number one position and the Air Force 1 Low coming in at the second spot. There have also been changes to the ten top-selling shoes of 2021 including the Nike Air Max 90, Nike Revolution 5, Adidas NMD R1, Air Jordan I Mid, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 21, Nike Court Vision Low, and Nike Air Vapormax Plus.
