Chart of the Day: The most requested gift cards

GIft cards have boomed since their introduction in the mid-1990s. Total spending on gift cards last year topped $110 billion, with more than 267,000,000 gift card sales.

But despite the demand, a surprising number of cards go unused.

More than one in every four digital or online gift cards sold in December are sold between Dec. 21 and Dec. 24. American households have an average of $300 in unused gift cards and more than $41 billion in gift cards went unused between 2005 and 2012.