Amazon made the top 10 for the first on time on Interbrand's annual Best Global Brands report. One year ago the company was listed at No. 15.
Interbrand, a brand consultancy group, has ranked the top global brands every year for the past 16 years.
Tech companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft overwhelmingly lead the list each year. Andrea Sullivan, chief marketing officer of Interbrand, said that technology brands are succeeding because they're getting increasingly better at "listening, learning and crowd sourcing, in some cases even co-creating" with their audience in today's hyperfragmented world.
"I think they're continuing to push boundaries more quickly," Sullivan said.
Interbrand measures the success of brands on a combination of three attributes: financial performance, influence over customer choice and the strength a brand has to command a premium price.
Apple, Google and Coca-Cola remained in the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 slots in 2015, same as last year. IBM and Microsoft switched places, moving to Nos. 5 and 4, respectively, this year. Nearly half the companies ranked in the top 20 are technology companies.
| 2015 Rank | 2014 | Brand | Sector | 2015 Brand Value USD (BV) | 2014 Brand Value USD (BV) | % change |
| 1 | 1 | Apple | Technology | 170275.96 | 118862.82 | 43.25% |
| 2 | 2 | Technology | 120313.93 | 107438.65 | 11.98% | |
| 3 | 3 | Coca-Cola | Beverages | 78422.83 | 81563.41 | -3.85% |
| 4 | 5 | Microsoft | Technology | 67670.41 | 61153.74 | 10.66% |
| 5 | 4 | IBM | Business Services | 65095.06 | 72244.46 | -9.90% |
| 6 | 8 | Toyota | Automotive | 49047.60 | 42391.60 | 15.70% |
| 7 | 7 | Samsung | Technology | 45297.17 | 45461.81 | -0.36% |
| 8 | 6 | GE | Diversified | 42267.39 | 45479.92 | -7.06% |
| 9 | 9 | McDonald's | Restaurants | 39809.16 | 42253.69 | -5.79% |
| 10 | 15 | Amazon | Retail | 37948.20 | 29477.59 | 28.74% |
| 11 | 11 | BMW | Automotive | 37211.93 | 34214.30 | 8.76% |
| 12 | 10 | Mercedes-Benz | Automotive | 36711.04 | 34338.20 | 6.91% |
| 13 | 13 | Disney | Media | 36514.24 | 32223.48 | 13.32% |
| 14 | 12 | Intel | Technology | 35414.80 | 34152.54 | 3.70% |
| 15 | 14 | Cisco | Technology | 29853.76 | 30936.35 | -3.50% |
| 16 | 16 | Oracle | Technology | 27283.35 | 25979.57 | 5.02% |
| 17 | 22 | Nike | Sporting Goods | 23069.84 | 19875.37 | 16.07% |
| 18 | 17 | HP | Technology | 23055.57 | 23758.14 | -2.96% |
| 19 | 20 | Honda | Automotive | 22974.99 | 21673.20 | 6.01% |
| 20 | 19 | Louis Vuitton | Luxury | 22249.58 | 22552.20 | -1.34% |
| 21 | 21 | H&M | Apparel | 22221.74 | 21082.50 | 5.40% |
| 22 | 18 | Gillette | FMCG | 22218.41 | 22844.55 | -2.74% |
| 23 | 29 | Technology | 22028.93 | 14348.57 | 53.53% | |
| 24 | 24 | Pepsi | Beverages | 19621.83 | 19119.43 | 2.63% |
| 25 | 23 | American Express | Financial Services | 18922.05 | 19510.12 | -3.01% |
| 26 | 25 | SAP | Technology | 18768.10 | 17340.30 | 8.23% |
| 27 | 26 | IKEA | Retail | 16541.38 | 15885.10 | 4.13% |
| 28 | 30 | Pampers | FMCG | 15267.07 | 14077.57 | 8.45% |
| 29 | 27 | UPS | Transportation | 14722.90 | 14469.76 | 1.75% |
| 30 | 36 | Zara | Apparel | 14030.84 | 12126.30 | 15.71% |
| 31 | 34 | Budweiser | Alcohol | 13943.47 | 13023.51 | 7.06% |
| 32 | 28 | eBay | Retail | 13939.67 | 14357.95 | -2.91% |
| 33 | 35 | J.P. Morgan | Financial Services | 13749.43 | 12456.35 | 10.38% |
| 34 | 32 | Kellogg's | FMCG | 12637.37 | 13441.53 | -5.98% |
| 35 | 31 | Volkswagen | Automotive | 12545.13 | 13715.90 | -8.54% |
| 36 | 38 | Nescafe | Beverages | 12256.71 | 11405.50 | 7.46% |
| 37 | 33 | HSBC | Financial Services | 11655.85 | 13141.67 | -11.31% |
| 38 | 39 | Ford | Automotive | 11578.30 | 10875.93 | 6.46% |
| 39 | 40 | Hyundai | Automotive | 11293.48 | 10408.98 | 8.50% |
| 40 | 37 | Canon | Electronics | 11277.51 | 11701.80 | -3.63% |
Source: BGT