Official : Top 10 Best Selling Sets of 2011

 

  • Official : Top 10 Best Selling Sets of 2011

    Posted by DrDaveWatford, 22 Mar 2012 16:45. Filed under Miscellaneous.

    One of the perks of being a LEGO Ambassador is that you get sent copies of the LEGO in- house magazine “LEGO Life” which gives some interesting insights into the company and contains nice little snippets of information.

    One of the things that caught my eye in the current edition (March 2012) is a listing of the Top 10 best selling LEGO sets of 2011, and I thought Bricksetters might be interested.

    Top spot goes to City Set 7498  Police Station; while AFOLs might grumble about a new Police Station appearing every couple of years, LEGO’s younger core demographic clearly doesn’t share the same reservations….

    Second place goes to Star Wars Set 7965 Millennium Falcon. For the Falcon to reach second place is itself an impressive achievement given that it wasn’t even available until the Summer of 2011…. It’s one of four Star Wars sets in the top 10, reinforcing the popularity of this enduring theme. It’s also interesting to see a couple of Ninjago sets in the list, which reflects the runaway success of this new theme. You can see the full list below.

    1.  7498 Police Station
    2.  7965 Millennium Falcon
    3.  7913 Clone Trooper Battle Pack
    4.  7929 The Battle of Naboo
    5.  8547 Mindstorms NXT 2.0
    6.  7914 Mandalorian Battle Pack
    7.  2507 Fire Temple
    8.  2260 Ice Dragon Attack
    9.  7288 Mobile Police Station
    10. 4842 Hogwarts Castle

    Note that the Top 10 listing is compiled on the basis of revenue rather than units sold, and hence the number of larger sets in the list.

    (Reproduced with permission from LEGO Life editors)


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Comments

Posted by just2good in United States, 22 Mar 2012 16:54

Do the have these for the previous years? I'm curious.

Posted by yys4u in United States, 22 Mar 2012 16:56

Surprised to see I only have 2 of the sets mentioned. I was going to comment on how such an expensive set such as the Millennium Falcon made it so high, but the I read the last comment about it being based on revenue.

Posted by Markey in Belgium, 22 Mar 2012 17:10

Quite surprised to see the mindstorms set in there TBH.

Posted by legos4ever in United States, 22 Mar 2012 17:12

7498 rocks

Posted by georgebjones in United States, 22 Mar 2012 17:12

Interesting. When you think about it and analyze the numbers a bit, they sold about 11 battle packs to every 1 Falcon. I would love to see the numbers on units sold, or even better, profit based.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 22 Mar 2012 17:15

^Seconded! Of course it is very expensive so the number of sales required to earn so much revenue is relatively small, but I would have thought that worked two ways, both putting customers off with the high price and adding a lot of revenue if a customer does buy it. Still a huge surprise for me though.

Apart from that I am not at all surprised, most of those sets are very popular, could be a fun feature in the future Huw to have some sort of competition to see who could guess the list nearest to correct.

Posted by brankell5566 in Canada, 22 Mar 2012 17:18

^^ Yes!

Posted by dougts in United States, 22 Mar 2012 17:27

to see a $15 battle pack at number 3 really shows that they move a TON of these. to make the same amount of revenue as the #2 item, they would have to sell over 9 times as many units.

NXT is at the other end of the Spectrum in that regard.

Breakdowns

4 Star Wars
2 Ninjago
2 City
1 Harry Potter
1 NXT

Posted by Starwarsgeek500 in United States, 22 Mar 2012 17:38

typical that the LEGO people base things on revenue. If they found a way to equalize things, most popular would probably be the cheapest set. Its interesting to see a battle pack make the top 10, though

Posted by Graysmith in Sweden, 22 Mar 2012 17:40

Such a shame to see that none of the very best sets of last year (in my own opinion) made the list.

Posted by suckerpunch83 in Canada, 22 Mar 2012 17:50

Meh. I agree with Graysmith. Some of the best set never made they list.

Posted by lastzodiac in United Kingdom, 22 Mar 2012 18:28

I was hoping to see the 7066 (Alien Defense HQ) make the list. Future again looking a little more bleak for the little ADU fellas.

Posted by DaddyDeuce in United States, 22 Mar 2012 19:42

I think the fact that two of the Ninjago "dragon" sets are on the list speaks very well for sales of those in the aftermarket.

Posted by murphquake in United States, 22 Mar 2012 20:01

I think with this based on revenue the most telling set is Battle of Naboo. At $25 with a bunch of el-cheapo battle droids and not very many parts (take off 5 parts per droid and 3 per gungan, plus all the droid guns and see how few are left). The battle packs don't surprise me some people have dozens and dozens of each. You could almost say this is a list of the most overpriced sets that actually sold last year.

Posted by TBOC in United States, 22 Mar 2012 20:30

I tried so freaking hard to find an Ice Dragon Attack last December... I'm so alone without that. Otherwise, this really makes sense to me. I own most of these except the Police, Mindstorms, and the Millenium Falcon sets. I, personally, think it's weird the podracers didn't make the list, I felt it was better (price-wise and set-wise) than the Falcon, though that is biased, considering I've never handled or owned the Falcon, anyway.

Posted by Zordboy in Australia, 22 Mar 2012 20:34

Aww. I only own two of those.

But the last Hogwarts Castle and the Ice Dragon were both *gorgeous* sets. I'm surprised the Battle of Naboo was so popular, I'll say that.

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 22 Mar 2012 20:37

I'm surprised to say the least. I wish it was a 'most sold' list. Or maybe even a 'most sold' and 'most money made' combined list (You add both number of sold and money made, then divide by two... I think :P)

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 22 Mar 2012 20:47

If this is based on price, then it's not accurate at all!

Posted by Ypres in Canada, 22 Mar 2012 20:51

"Ninja-Go!"... uhh I should say "Go Ninja-Go!"... no, now it sounds like I'm trying to mock my favourite children's book "Go dogs go". *Rolls eyes*

Given it's a revenue based list I'm not surprised. NinjaGo did very well... but more importantly their dragons did even better. Not too surprised to learn that Lego is doing a fifth dragon for the summer release. Judging by how many seasons the TV show looks to be getting, I'm estimating Ninjago to extend farther into 2013.

Posted by Ypres in Canada, 22 Mar 2012 20:53

@Jonbuddy - IT'S BASED ON "REVENUE"!!!

My god, some of you are acting like you don't know what that word even means. I can't think of anything more relevant than something based around REVENUE.

Posted by JohnnyB in United Kingdom, 22 Mar 2012 20:55

If it was units then tiny sets life polybags, city car, collectable minifigs would have easily topped the list. Revenue seems like the best way to me too.

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 22 Mar 2012 21:29

@Ypres, Of course the world cares about revenue! And of course I know what it means! But when you see "bestselling", don't you expect most units sold and not the revenue?

Posted by JohnnyB in United Kingdom, 22 Mar 2012 21:45

What's more successful depends on how the company defines success. Lego goes by revenue. What's better... Sixteen minifigs at 3 dollars or one police station for 100? In the end Lego has execs who want to make money. Best to us is subjective, but not so for the company. Plus revenue is revenue... What was most "profitable" would be interesting imo.

Posted by legomaniac in United States, 22 Mar 2012 22:01

Never knew the police station sells so well. Maybe that's why they come out with one so often :)

Posted by Takarii in United States, 22 Mar 2012 22:09

If it is based on revenue, then why isn't 8110 Unimog U400 on there?

Posted by SSJ2 Dark in United States, 22 Mar 2012 22:17

Well I'm hoping that the success of 7498 prompts development of a modular police station to go with Fire Brigade!

Posted by starfire2 in United States, 23 Mar 2012 00:17

What were the worst selling sets?

Posted by Zordboy in Australia, 23 Mar 2012 00:52

^ Actually that's a good question. The worst-selling sets. Although I doubt any company would be too quick to advertise its weakest products. And would that be as easy to measure as best-selling?

But that would be interesting to find out, it really would.

Posted by Playexpert.nl in Netherlands, 23 Mar 2012 01:42

Sorry for everybody,

Personally, I find this very unwise to bring this information to the outside!!

Posted by fyrmedhatt in United States, 23 Mar 2012 03:10

Not too many surprises, I knew City Police and Ninjago were popular. Star Wars is utterly dominating the list here, especially those battle packs must show incredible sales numbers in order to appear on this list. I'm thrilled that Hogwarts is on the list, it means we might see more Lego Harry Potter if there are 3d re-releases or something else new with the franchise.

Posted by ChicoCheco in Norway, 23 Mar 2012 03:12

...and that explains us, why the new police sets are released every year.

Posted by tamamahm in United States, 23 Mar 2012 04:07

Ironically, my son just put together that Lego set today. He had saved his Christmas/birthday money for it. He has had zero interest in anything city. He adores lines like AC, Atlantis, Ninjago (the new line with snakes), Powerminers.

What utterly captivated him with the police station was that MegaFactory Lego episode where they showed this particular set being made. Looking at the build this evening, I can see what it is so appealing to kids. It really has a fairly large area to play on compared to other Lego sets, and the police theme is often popular with kids.

I can see why this is top of the list.

Posted by cheshirecat in United Kingdom, 23 Mar 2012 05:36

Police station £18, fire temple £37 and mandalorian battle pack £5. Thanks to brickset I've been able to get some great deals even on these top lines!

would be interesting to see the proportion of total revenue each of these sets, or even all ten sets together, contribute.

Posted by barrenaaron in United States, 23 Mar 2012 08:10

Happy to see HP on the list, even at #10.

I was under the impression that HP and PotC themes were placed on HOLD, not discontinued/canceled.

Posted by Joefish in United Kingdom, 23 Mar 2012 08:50

Well of course it's revenue - it's internal company news, not originally intended to be seen by the public.
But I'm still surprised to see that those very big sets like the Millenium Falcon and Mindstorms sell in sufficient numbers to overtake more modest sets in generating revenue.

Posted by dragon_teenager in United States, 23 Mar 2012 09:03

A shame there's no Alien Conquest on here. I guess LEGO's decision to continue/cancel some themes isn't such a mystery after all.

Posted by sharky in United States, 23 Mar 2012 10:27

Not surprised by the Falcon. Heck, my daughter even wants it for Christmas or her Birthday. It's interesting to note that 4 of the 10 are Star Wars.

Posted by UtarEmpire in United States, 23 Mar 2012 11:14

Ha @ Police Station
LEGO continues to spread its worldwide message of global totalitarianism!

Posted by cheshirecat in United Kingdom, 23 Mar 2012 11:15

Yet only 5 out of 10 are licensed. Shows how bad the other licenses have done.

Posted by omnius in United Kingdom, 23 Mar 2012 15:26

UtarEmpire - don't be daft, the police/fire sets have always been popular with children. If you think Lego are trying to 'spread worldwide global totalitarianism', then I suggest you exchange your toys for tin-foil hats.

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 23 Mar 2012 20:50

UtarEmpire - Yeah, after all the Police Force is a definite sign of a 'totalitarianism' government...
One thing I never really realized is that Lego does decided to make sets that sell well the previous year. For example the Battle packs and Police Station sets are both on the top ten, and they've been coming out each year for a while.

Posted by DarthZared in United Kingdom, 24 Mar 2012 15:46

This list shows SW is still growing popular after 13 years of Lego sets. And we've got another 10 years too!
I think they renewed the licence because Lucas is planning a new film trilogy...

But who knows!!

Posted by Pulpdiction in United Kingdom, 25 Mar 2012 09:04

This will be the revenue attained in terms of orders from Lego and not the actual retail selling price, therefore the ony purpose of this information is to tell us what the shops have been shifting the most of, core stock items for any lego retailer would be the police and city sets, and star wars. The Ninjago would have been pushed heavily by lego and most shops where I've seen it have had point of sale displays, therefore it doesn't suprise me that these have shifted. Obviously as already mentioned for ever NXT set there would be 15-20 battlepacks, so again this doesn't suprise me.

Nice to know, but it doesn't really tell me anything, other than they are shifting lots of star wars lego.

Posted by AddictedToStyrene in Australia, 27 Mar 2012 21:06

Stop your whining! Lego is a *business*, and it sells toys for children. If it doesn't make a profit, you don't get any more new Lego sets! Lego's biggest customers are parents. Kids love police cars, fire engines, and the buildings for them.
Still, thanks to AFOLs and the answers they put in Lego Surveys, Lego City has had an amazing explosion of new sub-themes. In the last five years we have had: Coast Guard. Harbour. Public Transport. Construction. Airport. Trains. Space Port. Farm. What more do you want?
Well, you also can also get Creator Houses and Modular Buildings. Too expensive for you? I don't know, how about you buy some basic sets, any extra bricks you like from Bricklink and build your own!

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