Perfume has been around for well over 4,000 years, but what are the 6 most popular perfumes of all time? Fragrance can play an integral part of one’s outfit – perhaps even identity – and it’s all thanks to the Egyptians, who first began to adorn themselves with fragrances such as lily in order to signify their relative importance. Today, the perfume industry is worth well in excess of $35 million dollars globally. Unsurprisingly, many celebrities have got on board and personality-endorsed scents play a large role in short-term sales peaks. In our article, however, we are interested in the fragrances that remain popular despite these temporary fads; the fragrances that continue to thrive, decade after decade, proving timeless and eternal in their popularity. We haven’t just looked at this year’s sales figures, but we’ve also taken into account department store trends and advertising campaigns over the past 25 years to give you the bigger picture. We’ve searched many websites, compared many other lists, looked at the sales figures and everything we were able to find in order to create this list of most popular perfumes of all time.
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Since many of the perfumes which feature in our list of the most popular of all time still command a relatively high price-tag, you may also be interested in our article on the 10 most expensive men’s perfumes in the world. If any of these scintillate your nostrils, you’d better start saving! So without further ado, let’s begin our exploration of the 6 most popular perfumes of all time!
6. L’Air du Temps, Nina Ricci
L’Air du Temps is now almost 70 years old and still remains a top seller at perfume outlets across the world. This fragrance, created by perfumer Francis Fabron, is marketed as a light, floral bouquet marked by the scents of iris, jasmine, and gardenia. However, rather than its bloomy overtones, it is more famous for the beautiful bottle in which it is packaged – Lalique designed it, with its iconic white dove lid, and worked exclusively for The House of Ricci for several years. Interestingly, Hannibal Lecter mentions L’Air du Temps as the favored fragrance of Clarice Starling in the notorious film Silence of the Lambs.
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5. Shalimar, Guerlain
Founded in 1828 by Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain, who worked as the official perfumer of Napoleon and Queen Victoria, the House of Guerlain has created no fewer than 300 perfumes, though few have achieved the popularity of the iconic Shalimar. First launched in 1921 before being relaunched four years later, Shalimar was inspired by the love story between Prince Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal, the 16th century Indian Empress, who inspired the building of the Taj Mahal. Aromas of vanilla, bergamot and iris all contribute to the sensual fragrance, which evokes all of the vintage glamour of the decade in which it was created.
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4. Opium, Yves Saint Laurent
Fragrances by Yves Saint Laurent have consistently sold well, but none have attracted quite as much controversy as Opium. When it was first created, back in 1977, its name suggested to many that the perfumier was condoning drug use (it began the trend for ‘scandalous’ names by the major perfume houses, and just a few years later, Dior launched ‘Poison’). Perhaps the controversy – as well as its heady mix of mandarin, plum and sandalwood – contributed to its immense success, which has not waned over the years. Indeed, David’s Lynch’s commercials in 1992 and 1999 for the illicit fragrance demonstrate its success and justify its position in the 6 most popular perfumes of all time.
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3. Joy, Jean Patou
According to Jean Patou himself, in each 30ml bottle of Joy, there are exactly 336 roses and 10,600 jasmine flowers, a fact which its creator, Henri Alméras, used to justify the perfume’s high retail price. Ironically, the pricey bottle was created in response to the 1929 Wall Street Crash and was offered to his American friends to lighten their mood. Jean Patou was more widely known for his contributions to the fashion scene, with casual, comfortable clothing being his trademark. The scent, too, was intended to be light and cheery, ‘simple in its appearance but powerful in its composition’, in direct contrast to other muskier scents which were popular at the time. In 2000, ‘Joy’ was named the ‘Scent of the Century’, and its sales continue to soar, despite its high price-tag. It is seen as a symbol of elegance, and remains known as ‘the world’s most expensive perfume.’
2. Diorissimo, Dior
The House of Dior was bound to appear somewhere in the 6 Most Popular Perfumes of All Time, and here it is, at number two. Back in the 1950s when Edmond Roudnitska created this iconic scent from the capital of perfume, Grasse in the south of France, the dominant scents were heavy and overly sweet. Dior and Roudnitska, who had met the year prior to Diorissimo’s creation back in 1953, wanted to buck the trend. This romantic perfume was the product of their combined efforts and is heavily based on the Lily of the Valley flower, a symbol of hope and happiness in France, and handed out widely on Labor Day (May 1st) across the country. Wear this spring-like fragrance, and you’ll be left smelling as fresh as a daisy!
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1. Chanel No. 5
And now for the most popular perfume of all time! It’s perhaps no surprise that it’s Chanel No. 5, a global symbol of class and sophistication which transcends generations. This iconic perfume was the first that the much-celebrated Coco Chanel ever released, back in 1921. Her ‘nose’ at the time, Ernest Beaux, had put together a range of samples to present to Coco, and it was sample 5 which she chose as her preferred. Legend has it when Beaux asked her what name she would give to the fragrance, Mlle Chanel responded by saying she would call it number 5, after the sample number she had picked and because that number had always been lucky for her. It went on to be released on the 5th day of the 5th month, in 1921. And, it certainly did prove to be lucky! While initially, only 100 bottles of the now-iconic fragrance were created to be given away as Christmas gifts to Coco’s favorite customers, it is now – almost a century on – one of the top-selling fragrances in the world, every single year! Its iconic musky scent is widely recognizable as a fragrance of the utmost elegance and style; a worthy – and perhaps unsurprising – winner of our 6 most popular perfumes of all time.
