Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The dolly & the ivy
Barbie’s set be the No1 Christmas toy
BARBIE is back in fashion and set to top the Christmas toy charts this year, retail experts predict.
The classic doll is expected to be on more lists for Santa than its main rivals, including LEGO and Nintendo Switch.
The Barbie buzz is growing ahead of the release of a movie about the Mattel toy, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by Greta Gerwig.
Online marketplace Onbuy believes Barbie-mania will hit fever pitch this Yuletide. Category manager Liam Tickner said: “Although the doll fell out of favour with children in the 2010s, recently Barbie has seen a surge in popularity, and our trends insight points towards her topping the 2022 Christmas charts.
“Excitement around the Barbie film is definitely feeding into the doll’s popularity. The closer we get to the film’s release, the more hype is going to build.”
Between 2011 and 2015, Barbie was losing popularity but the Fashionista line, updated with dolls of different shapes, sizes and skin colour, led to the biggest ever sales growth from 2020 to 2021, up 24% to $1.68billion.
Mattel has sold a billion Barbie dolls, its most profitable line.