Amazon Cyber Monday Best Sellers: This Year's Winners

As soon as Americans recovered from their Thanksgiving-turkey-induced comas, they were in stores and online buying gadgets, toys, and doo-dads on Black Friday. The frenzy continued through the weekend, culminating in additional sales on Cyber Monday.

Adobe Analytics forecasts that sales were up a full 20% for e-commerce retailers this year on Black Friday, landing somewhere in the ballpark of $9.4 billion (Forbes).

While there are no hard numbers yet, among the biggest winners this year was undoubtedly big, orange Amazon.

So what were people buying on Amazon on during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend? Tuesday morning, December 3, we dug into Amazon’s Best Sellers data to find out.

In this article, we analyze the biggest products of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019, spot the trends likely to continue throughout the holiday season, and take a look back to compare with which gifts were trending last year.

Here’s what we found:

#10 – Hasbro board game dominance

The first big “what the—?” moment I had while checking out Amazon’s top selling toys this year was the sheer dominance of Hasbro’s board games.

Of the Top 50 Toys & Games that sold this weekend, 17 were Hasbro board games.

In fact, the 40-year-old classic, Guess Who? led the pack as the second best selling Toy & Game on Amazon. It beat Frozen 2 merchandise, Legos, Star Wars toys, and even last year’s favorite, L.O.L dolls.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Toys & Games*

#9 – Amazon electronics stay strong

Last year, Amazon ruled the roost with its electronics. We reported that the first 22 entries on the Electronics list were all Amazon gadgets.This year the numbers are even crazier.

Out of the Top 50 Best Selling Electronics on Amazon, 36 are made by Amazon. Those products include Echoes, Firesticks, Kindles and other smart devices.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Electronics

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Charcoal
Fire TV Stick by Amazon
Fire TV Stick 4k by Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 5
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Sandstone
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Heather Gray
Amazon Fire 7 Tablet, Black
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Plum
Ring Video Doorbell
Ring Video Doorball 2 (with Amazon Echo Show)

#8 – Everyone’s wearing Carhartt beanies

Every year as the leaves start to fall and the weather gets chilly, men and women across the U.S. turn to Amazon for head-warmth solutions.

And who wins their dollars? Carhartt!

The Cahartt acrylic men’s hat is currently ranked 4th on Amazon. And if last year’s best-seller ranking charts are any indication, it’ll remain in the Top 10 best selling clothing products on Amazon through March of 2020.

What attributes to this $15 beanie’s success? My guess would be it’s incredible overall rating. With over 9,000 ratings on Amazon, the Carhartt beanie maintains an average 4.6 out of 5 stars, giving it 5 solid stars.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Clothing, Shoes, & Jewelry

#7 – Crockpots are still hot, but not as hot as they were in 2018

Last year, we reported that five out of the eight Best Selling Kitchen & Dining items were crockpot slow-cookers.

This time, only three made it to the Top 8.

Certainly, those that have remained in the Top 50 Best Selling Kitchen & Dining products are selling well. However, the interest seems to wane.

So what other Kitchen & Dining products are Americans buying?

Quality blankets and sheet sets show up a few times on the bestseller list. Also, robot vacuums are still popular, with five models on the list. iRobot’s Roomba 675 is at the top of the pack, sitting in 4th place overall.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Home & Kitchen

#6 – Kids are reading a lot

My son is 7 and he loves to read, so I wasn’t surprised when I discovered that Dav Pilkey and Jeff Kinney’s new releases, “Dog-Man” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” respectively, took two of the three top honors in Best Selling Books.

In addition to these two fart-joke-filled pre-teen books, a book of riddles took the 4th spot, “I Am Confident Brave and Beautiful” by Hopscotch Girls was in 5th place, and the perennial classic, “Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire” was 6th.

Sorry, folks, no edgy cookbooks this year.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Books

“Blue Zones Kitchen” by Dan Buettner
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Wrecking Ball” by Jeff Kinney
“Dog Man: Fetch-22” by Dav Pilkey
“Difficult Riddles for Smart Kids” by B. Prefontaine
“I Am Confident, Brave, and Beautiful” by Hopscotch Girls
“Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire” by JK Rowling
“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owen
“National Geographic First Big Kids Book of Why“
“Peek-a-Who” by Nina Laden
“Instant Pot Cookbook” by Jennifer Smith

#5 – So, who’s looking for gold?

Not one. Not two. Not even three, but four metal detectors made it onto Amazon’s Best Selling Patio, Lawn & Garden product lists this year. In effect, the Bounty Hunter TK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector is currently outselling Christmas lights on Amazon.

While metal detectors fare well during the holidays, it’s unusual to see them placed so high. This time they’re in 3rd place, with an estimated 400 units in sales on Cyber Monday.

Top 10 Sellers in Patio, Home, & Garden

#4 – Let’s go kayaking

Years ago, before everyone got as familiar with Amazon as they are today, I would joke, “You can buy anything you want on Amazon. Even a kayak!” And that wasn’t hyperbole.

You could and still can legitimately buy a kayak on Amazon. And it would appear that a lot of people are doing just that.

On the list for Best Selling Sports & Outdoors products, the green Intex Challenger K2 Kayak ranked 7th overall, and the yellow ranked 9th. This is a massive spike considering that this product’s best seller ranking normally hovers around the 3,000 to 4,000 range, resulting in a respectable 7,100 sales per month. Still, that’s a far cry from the 1,100+ sales it saw each day of BF/CM weekend.

See you guys on the white water trail this weekend.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Sports & Outdoors

#3 – Smart pets

Got a doggo? I have two! Love ‘em. So what’s the top gift for dog-lovers this year? Apparently, an Alexa-enabled device that takes pictures of your dog, records it, and throws treats at it.

Even dogs are getting in on Smart products (my in-laws could learn a thing or two from them)! As the images on the listing suggests, you can even ask Alexa to toss your dog a treat. It’s the best selling Pet Supplies product on Amazon this year. Just behind it is a DNA test for your dog.

Sorry, cats. Your stuff doesn’t show up until the third place. #dogsrulecatsdrool #exceptdogsactuallydrool

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Pet Supplies

#2 – Nintendo and Sony dominate video games (sorry, Microsoft)

In the Best Selling Video Games category, Nintendo has 14 of the top 50 listings, Sony Playstation has 13, and Microsoft slides in with seven.

However, Playstation actually gets the two top spots, with their gift cards landing at #1 and #2.

Poor Microsoft doesn’t appear until entry #9 with their version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare. To add insult to injury, Playstation’s version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare is four spots higher on the list.

Top 10 Sellers in Amazon’s Video Games

PlayStation Plus 12 Month Membership
PlayStation Store Gift Card
Pokemon Sword
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (PlayStation)
NBA 2k20 (PlayStation)
Pokemon Shield
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Xbox)
NBA 2k20 (Xbox)

#1 – The end of an era for Cards Against Humanity?

With Hasbro grabbing all the prime real estate in the Toys & Games category, where does perennial favorite Cards Against Humanity — a Top 5 Best Seller in the category for nearly a decade — appear on the list? All the way down at 54th.

Of course, 54th place in Toys & Games is nothing to scoff at. It’s still thousands of monthly sales on Amazon. But, that’s a big fall from the tens of thousands of units it sold on Amazon years prior.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2019: The Best Selling (and Surprising!) Products on Amazon