You remember that moment on Christmas morning when you opened your eyes, immediately remembered it was Christmas, and quickly jumped out of bed and ran to the living room to see the presents beneath the tree, just hoping one of those presents would be that coveted, most sought-after toy every other kid in the world also wanted? Did Santa come through? Did he really get me the Game Boy? The Tickle Me Elmo? The Teddy Ruxpin?
Of course, now we all know that Santa isn’t necessarily responsible for these gracious Christmas gifts. Your parents likely went to some lengths to get you the most popular gift of the season if it was at the top of your list. Like the PS5 of today, some of these toys went so quickly off the shelves that some kids were inevitably left disappointed come Christmas morning.
So today we’re going to take a look back at the most popular toy(s) of each year from 1980 to 2000.
1980 - The Rubik's Cube
Can you imagine having a Rubik’s Cube as your #1 toy ask these days? What a simple time 1980 was. It was invented in 1974, but went on sale in 1980, and won the German Game of the Year award for best puzzle. As of 2020, it has sold 450 million units worldwide. That’s a lot of cubes!
1981 - Lego Train Set / The Smurfs
Kids seem to really dig trains – match that up with Lego and the idea of having a train around the tree at Christmas time, and you’ve got a winning combination. But, The Smurfs were also super popular this year, with various plush toys and plastic figurines available to satisfy any Smurf fan.
1982 - BMX Bikes / My Little Pony
Did you know BMX isn’t actually a brand? It’s just the style of bike – bicycle motocross, used for tricks and stunts that became super popular in the ‘80s. But if you were not quite so sporty in 1982, you might have opted instead for a My Little Pony figure – the toys were created before the syndicated television series. The series from 1982 are unofficially known as the G1 or Generation One figures.
1983 - Cabbage Patch Kids
One of the first true toys to cause an actual riot in stores, Cabbage Patch Kids were THE toy to have in 1983, hands down. The news talked about their popularity, articles were written, it was a whole thing. Did your parents get in on the hitting, shoving, and trampling that went on at Sears, JCPenney, Macy’s, and the like?
Check out our in-depth article: 80’s Childhood Toy Wonder: Cabbage Patch Kids
1984 - Transformers
Here we have another example of a toy line inspiring a whole larger franchise. Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy created the Transformers toys, mainly using toys from the Japanese brand modified for western markets. The toys that began in 1984 are considered Generation One, and ran until 1993.
1985 - Teddy Ruxpin
The talking bear was one of the first of its kind, and combine that with a large supply of cassette tape stories to go with him, and you had a veritable cash bear. His popularity spilled over into 1986 as well, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll keep him in 1985.
Check out our in-depth article: ’80s Childhood Toy Wonder: Teddy Ruxpin
1986 - GI Joe
GI Joe action figures first came into the market much earlier than the ‘80s, but they had a resurgence in popularity thanks to the syndicated television series that aired from 1985-1986 with 95 episodes.
1987 - Koosh Ball
Koosh balls first came out in 1987, and immediately became popular. Koosh balls have about 2,000 rubber filaments radiating from a steel-bound core. They’ve been released in a multitude of color combinations, and have since expanded to various different Koosh-related products.
1988 - Nintendo Entertainment System
The NES was first released in Japan years earlier, and in the US in 1985, but didn’t start skyrocketing to popularity until the later ‘80s. The NES ended up selling 61.91 million units worldwide, and the deluxe set first sold for $175 in the US, which would be around $425 today.
1989 - Game Boy
The first handheld Game Boy system released in Japan in April 1989, and in the US a few months later, and quickly became the most popular “toy” of the year. It launched with a handful of titles, including Tetris and Super Mario Land.
1990 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Though the animated series had been around for some years, the live action movie released in 1990 and shot the ninja turtles to immense popularity, and every kid, especially every boy, wanted to have a Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo in their toy collection.
1991 - Super Nintendo
The Super NES first released in Japan in 1990, but didn’t release in the US until 1991, so that’s why it was most popular in 1991 and not 1990. The Super NES has sold 49.1 million units, and sold for $199 in the US, which translates to $380 in today’s market. Not as popular as the NES, but still highly sought after.
1992 - Barney Doll
The talking Barney doll released the same year as the original television show Barney & Friends that first aired on PBS in April 1992. A fairly ridiculous show these days, but back then everyone watched and knew of the big purple dinosaur that was Barney.
1993 - Talkboy
Tiger Electronics first made the prop for the Home Alone 2 movie, but after the popularity of the movie, the company decided to make a real version of the toy. They first created a version in 1992, but it didn’t have the voice modulator, so the deluxe version created in 1993 that included these features sold much better that holiday season.
Check out our in-depth article: Talkboy: The Coolest ‘90s Toy Inspired by a Movie Prop
1994 - Power Rangers
No kids syndicated television series is complete without the toy line to go with it, and the Power Rangers (or, excuse me, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) are no exception. There were a ride range of action figures, but in particular the ones where the heads flipped between the human counterparts and their helmet-ed versions are particularly memorable.
1995 - Beanie Babies
Beanie Babies were so hyped, man. Everyone kept saying how they’d be collector’s items and you just had to get them before they sold out. Who even started all of that? Their marketing department? I mean, it worked. But most of them aren’t worth very much today, so who really won here?
Check out our in-depth article: Beanie Babies: The Biggest ‘90s Fad of All-Time
1996 - Tickle Me Elmo
If you were around in 1996, then you remember the distinctive laugh of the Tickle Me Elmo. So much so that it might haunt your nightmares. Supposedly resellers were trying to get up to $1500 for a Tickle Me Elmo after it became such a fad, even though it only originally sold for $28.99. Now that’s a markup.
Check out our in-depth article: Tickle Me Elmo: The ‘90s Toy Mania That Drove Parents to Madness
1997 - Tamagotchi
The Tamagotchi was a digital toy pet that you had to feed and clean up after each day. Some kids were perhaps even known to sneak one into their backpack at school to make sure their pet was taken care of throughout the day, ‘cause if you didn’t take care of it, it could die. It was both simple and somewhat complex at the same time, and gave you that instant gratification that would become so popular with the smartphone games of today.
Check out our in-depth article: Tamagotchi: The Most Awesomely Addictive ‘90s Digital Pet
1998 - Furby
Sorry but, the Furby is kind of creepy looking. Nonetheless, it was a huge seller in the late ‘90s. The Furby was known for “learning” language, to demonstrate how a language was learned over time – really it was just programmed to speak its native language Furbish for a time, and slowly integrate English words as time went on, no actual learning was happening.
1999 - Pokémon
Pokémon was originally created in 1995 with the release of video games for the Game Boy, but eventually morphed into a whole empire with trading cards, anime series, and film versions. Kids would make their dad stand in huge lines with them to go see the movie, and would fill up endless binders with the cards. Did they even play the actual card game? Who knows, but it’s still popular today.
2000 - Razor Scooters
Over 5 million Razor Scooters were sold in the first six months of its release in the year 2000, and it was named Toy of the Year that same year. If your little brother wanted one of these, your parents had to make sure they snagged one early before stores ran out. The scooters are still made today, but aren’t nearly the fad they once were.
Did you get any of these toys during Christmas growing up? Which ones were your favorites? Let us know in the comments!
- Beanie Babies are considered the world’s first internet sensation, thanks to their huge popularity that was honestly some form of mass delusion.
- There have been many different versions of the Game Boy over the years, including the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Pocket. Eventually this morphed into the Nintendo DS systems which are available today.
- Rosie O’Donnell plugged the Tickle Me Elmo on her show in October 1996, causing a craze post-Thanksgiving that led to fights and arrests as parents tried to get the toy, and by the end of December, the entire stock of 1 million units had been sold.
- The most recent version of Teddy Ruxpin released in 2017, with no more physical cartridges, but rather pre-programmed with three stories already available, with more available to purchase on a mobile app.
- Pokémon is considered the highest grossing media franchise of all time, with a mix of merchandise, video games, card games, movies, television series, and manga series making up its empire, and is estimated to have made about $100 billion in revenue.
- Beanie Babies are considered the world’s first internet sensation, thanks to their huge popularity that was honestly some form of mass delusion.
- There have been many different versions of the Game Boy over the years, including the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Pocket. Eventually this morphed into the Nintendo DS systems which are available today.
- Rosie O’Donnell plugged the Tickle Me Elmo on her show in October 1996, causing a craze post-Thanksgiving that led to fights and arrests as parents tried to get the toy, and by the end of December, the entire stock of 1 million units had been sold.
- The most recent version of Teddy Ruxpin released in 2017, with no more physical cartridges, but rather pre-programmed with three stories already available, with more available to purchase on a mobile app.
- Pokémon is considered the highest grossing media franchise of all time, with a mix of merchandise, video games, card games, movies, television series, and manga series making up its empire, and is estimated to have made about $100 billion in revenue.
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1 thought on “The Most Popular Christmas Toys from 1980-2000”
Love this! I think we had most of these items! Brings back a lot of great memories!