Pompompurin Tops Sanrio's 2026 Character Ranking With a Record 70 Million Votes

Sanrio has closed the books on its 2026 Character Ranking, and the final tally is staggering: 70,647,379 votes were cast worldwide, a 12% jump over last year and the highest turnout in the poll's four-decade history. When results were locked on June 28, Pompompurin emerged as the fan favorite — claiming the crown for a second straight year and for the fifth time overall.

The victory carried extra weight in Pompompurin's 30th anniversary year. Sanrio reports the custard-colored pup pulled in more than seven million votes on his own, enough to overtake Cinnamoroll, who had led after mid-campaign results were published. It was a late surge that turned a competitive race into a golden retriever celebration.

Sanrio's canine trio dominated the podium: Cinnamoroll finished second and Pochacco third, giving dog characters a clean sweep of the top three. Behind them, Kuromi edged Hello Kitty into fifth place for the first time in recent memory. Further down the chart, Pekkle leapt from tenth to sixth after last year's first Top 10 appearance in 31 years, while My Sweet Piano made the biggest climb inside the Top 20 — rising five spots from eighteenth to thirteenth.

This year's theme, "You All Try! We All Cheer! Smiling Ovation!," framed a ballot of 90 characters drawn from Sanrio's roster of more than 450 mascots. Beyond the global standings, Sanrio also published regional breakdowns, Partner Category rankings, and Happilinafriends award winners on the official site — underscoring how deeply the poll now shapes merchandise pipelines, café collaborations, and the broader kawaii economy that anime fans orbit year-round.

For otaku culture watchers, the 2026 results reinforce a trend: legacy icons still command loyalty, but momentum characters can rewrite the leaderboard fast. Pompompurin's back-to-back win cements him as Sanrio's reigning superstar heading into the back half of 2026 — and sets the merchandising agenda for every collab drop to come.