The Most Popular Product the Year You Were Born

Trends, fads, and crazy new obsessions happen every year. Overnight, a new toy can become the most popular, hard-to-get item on the market. Take a look back at the past 69 years and see what the must-have product was the year you were born. We bet you had a few growing up and even remember begging your parents to get you one.

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The Looky Fire Truck came out in 1950, launching what — more than half a century later — is still a wildly popular toy line. But you’ll notice the three tiny firemen attached to the truck look a lot different than the wide array of Fisher-Price’s Little People out today. The Fisher-Price figures have even grown into a franchise with animated television episodes and more.

More: See What the Most Popular Album Was the Year You Were Born

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Colorforms allowed you to peel different adhesive-free, vinyl characters and stick them to any background. During their early release in 1951, the “stickers” were colored shapes that could be used for games and puzzles. Within a few years, there were licensing deals to create themed Colorforms, like Gumby and the Smurfs.

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Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to ever be advertised on television. The original toy only included the body parts that came with pushpin ends to stick into a real potato.

After complaints from customers about their potatoes rotting over time, Hasbro began including the plastic potato body in 1964. The toy received its biggest recognition from the character by the same name in the Toy Story franchise.

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Matchbox cars we invented by British Manufacturing company Lesney Products’ co-owner, Jack Odell.

Odell, whose daughter Anne was only allowed to bring toys to school that fit in a matchbox, designed a steam roller made of brass. The miniature toy impressed Anne’s friends so much that he knew he was on to something. Soon, he developed a whole line: a London Bus, a Land Rover, a bulldozer, and a fire engine. By 1962, they were producing a million a week. Today, Matchbox is owned by Mattel, the same owner of Matchbox’s biggest competitors, Hot Wheels.

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What started as an idea in 1938 on a beach near Los Angeles became a full-fledged business in 1954 when Fred Morrison formed his own company (American Trends) to produce and sell his own flying saucers. He sold the rights to Wham-O in 1957, who gave the discs the brand name of “Frisbee.”

The success of the Frisbee really took off in 1964 when the VP and general manager of Wham-O decided to enhance the design of the disc with a thicker rim so you could throw more accurately.

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The green figure made of clay grabbed viewers’ hearts in the short film Gumbasia that aired in 1953. Two years later, he and Pokey, his little red pony sidekick, got their own show called The Gumby Show. That year, in 1955, Gumby toys hit the market, and they've been sold ever since.

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Before it got its name, Play-Doh was actually wallpaper cleaner. Joe McVicker discovered how much kids loved to play with it, because clay was too hard to handle. He quickly realized that it was more useful as a toy than for cleaning wallpaper. In 1956, every store was selling the tin can. Additional colors were later developed besides the original red, blue, and yellow. Now, you can get Play-Doh in 50 different colors.

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It's not uncommon to walk into a child’s play room or preschool and see one of these noisemaking machines. The toy, designed to keep your little one up and moving, was invented in 1957 by Arthur Holt, who sold the rights to Fisher-Price for just $50. If only he could see that it would become a classic children's toy.

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It’s hard to imagine jumping on a pogo stick without its signature two handles. Unfortunately, prior to 1957, there was only a vertical handle. This posed safety concerns, with riders hitting their chin and being unable to hold on. Once the two-handle version was invented, Pogo Stick riders could bounce higher and perform stunts.

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Barbie, one of the most iconic toys, was first invented in 1959 by Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler. The doll was “inspired” by the German dolls called Lilli, and was named after Handler’s daughter.

Since Barbie’s entrance into the world, Mattel has been through a lot. The company was sued by Lilli’s manufacturer for copying the doll’s design (the case was settled out of court). Barbie has also been ridiculed for her unrealistic body type and had to compete with the rise of Bratz dolls in the early 2000s. Today, Barbie has many different careers and is designed with a more realistic body.

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The Etch A Sketch was designed by a French electrician, André Cassagnes, who originally called it The Magic Screen (L'Ecran Magique). The Ohio Art Company renamed and launched the Etch A Sketch in the U.S. just in time for the holiday season in 1960, and sales skyrocketed.

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Barbie’s boyfriend hit shelves in 1961. Just like Barbie, Ken was criticized over the years for his anatomically unrealistic figure. The relationship between Barbie and Ken hasn’t been so smooth, either. The pair broke up in 2007 and then rekindled their relationship in 2011.

Chatty Baby came after the success of Mattel's Chatty Cathy doll. The Chatty Baby spoke phrases when the ring on the upper back was pulled. After the “Chatty Dolls,” Mattel trademarked the term “chatty” and released many talking dolls over the years under their “A Chatty Doll by Mattel” category.

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The Easy-Bake Oven made it possible for young chefs to whip up mini desserts in their own little kitchen. The original Easy-Bake, introduced in 1963, used an incandescent light bulb as a heating source, while the current versions use a true heating element. The other elements that have been revamped are the color scheme and design.

The Hasbro versions — the ovens were originally produced under Kenner until it became part of Hasbro and ultimately closed — incorporated neutral colors to appeal to young chefs of both genders.

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The U.S. armed forces — Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps — were represented in the 1964 action figures of G.I. Joe.

The name came from the generic term for a U.S. solider, and it was originally a 12-inch figure. In the ’60s, toy companies didn’t market dolls to boys, so Hasbro wouldn’t use the term “doll” when it came to G.I Joes — it was “America’s movable fighting man.” Today, it’s more common to see the 3.75-inch action figures as opposed to the classic 12-inch stand-up figurines.

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See N’ Say was a twist on Mattel’s popular talking toys. The clock-like device taught young children the sound a barnyard animal makes by simply pointing the arrow to the animal and pulling the lever. It quickly became a success, and Mattel developed other variations that included voices of famous characters, like Mickey, Big Bird, and Winnie the Pooh.

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This game is still tying us up in knots! Twister, originally named Pretzel, was the first game where humans were the playing pieces. Over the decades, there have been newer versions of the game that have been released like Twister Moves and Twister Dance, but the classic version is still a hit.

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Lite-Brite’s simple design unleashed kids' creativity from a young age. The backlit screen allowed children to poke the colored pegs through the paper and create designs. Released in 1967, it was surprising how popular the toy would be.

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Unlike the Matchbox cars that were more like real-life mini replicas, Hot Wheels were the cooler, souped-up toy cars that zoomed onto the market in 1968. The cars were designed with an added axel and rotating styrene wheels that made them go faster than Matchbox. The other advantage they had over their competitor was the coveted Hot Wheels Track System.

You can currently get a wide variety of cars and tracks that are still popular among young kids today.

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Currently a collector’s item, Flatsy Dolls were a hit when they launched in 1969. The flat dolls, which were made of vinyl, had wires in them that allowed their limbs to pose in different directions. Each Flatsy came with a themed accessory and a scene printed on cardboard.

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Nerf balls were the first indoor ball that quickly became one of the biggest hits of the '70s. Nerf, which stands for non-expanding recreational foam, was an original material introduced by the Parker Brothers. For the first time ever, parents couldn’t yell at kids for playing “ball” in the house. After the instant success, they released the Nerf Super Ball and indoor basketball hoop Nerfoop.

Hasbro’s Playskool division struck big with the invention of Weebles. The short, round, egg-shaped figurines — that would tip, but never fall — were a success in the early '70s. The original set was a dad, mom, brother, sister, baby, and dog. Hasbro developed new ones until 1982, and they relaunched in 2004 with a line shaped like animals.

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Merle Robbins, the inventor of UNO, spent $8,000 to have 5,000 copies of the game made after his family and friends began to constantly play. He would sell them in his barbershop and then through local businesses.

He later sold the rights to the card game to a friend, Robert Tezark, for $50,000 and royalties of 10 cents per game. Tezark formed International Games, Inc. in the back of the funeral parlor he owned, specifically to market UNO. It wasn’t until 1992 that UNO joined the Mattel family when they acquired Tezark’s company.

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In the ’70s, the Ideal Toy Company had a line of American stunt performer Evel Knievel toys that sold millions. The most popular of the toys was the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle, which was the bike-riding action figure.

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Magna Doodle was the dustless chalkboard that made it fun to doodle mess-free. The mechanism was similar to the Etch A Sketch. The magnetic particles would be lifted to the surface wherever you placed the plastic pen.

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The Pet Rock was the fad that lasted for six months. It was started by advertising executive Gary Dahl. The rocks came from Mexico’s Rosarito Beach, and they were marketed as if they were live pets. They each came in a box with breathing holes. At $4 each, Dahl became a millionaire because it was the hottest holiday gift in 1975. They later ended up being discontinued due to a drop in sales.

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Stretch Armstrong was the unbreakable toy every kid wanted to pull and twist. Stretch amazed fans by being able to expand out and snap back to his original size without any stretch marks.

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When George Lucas’ Star Wars hit theaters in 1977, merchandisers were unprepared for the fandom that was about to take the world by storm.

American toy company Kenner Products quickly rushed to make a line of Star Wars miniature action figures, which consisted of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and R2-D2. Stores couldn’t keep them on the shelves. Other characters from the movie were later made into toys, but the initial four were the most successful.

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Hungry Hungry Hippos was — and still is — a popular game among kids. The game has stayed a part of pop culture since it was introduced in 1978.

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The Atari 2600 gaming system launched in 1977. At first, it wasn’t a huge success. Players were burnt out on Pong and lost interest in the $200 Video Computer System. It wasn’t until the game Adventure was developed that sales for the Atari increased. Adventure was the first time a game had taken the player into a world bigger than the screen. Programmers started developing more adventure games, and by 1979, the Atari 2600 was the “must-have” Christmas gift of the year.

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Gamers didn’t have the luxury of playing Pac-Man on their couches when it was released by Midway Games in the U.S. in 1980. Instead, they were saving their quarters to play at arcades around the country. In its first year alone, Pac-Man grossed $1 billion in quarters.

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Released in 1980, Rubik’s Cubes had a slow start with the first round of sales, even though the brain teaser was winning game awards all over the world.

But in 1981, the craze began when the first competition for the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich to see who could solve it the fastest. Later, there were multiple books published, containing tricks and tutorials on how to solve the cube, that hit best-seller lists. It’s still considered a talent today if you can solve it.

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These little disproportionate yarn-haired dolls are still popular today. They were created by an art-school student in 1976 named Xavier Roberts, who first called his creation Little People dolls, until he licensed the toys to Coleco Industries, which changed the name to Cabbage Patch Kids in 1982. By the holiday season of ’83, parents were waiting outside of toy stores to get their hands on one for their kids.

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The transforming robot toys called GoBots were an overnight success in 1983. As the hottest toy on the market at the time, the popularity quickly declined after the first year when their biggest competitor, Transformers, was released.

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Shortly after CDs were being produced for the masses, the first Discman was designed by Sony. The ability to listen to compact discs on the go boosted the sales of CDs even more, which allowed more titles to become available. Kids these days wouldn’t even know what a CD Walkman (the name that was used starting in the '90s) looks like today. With all the digital music and streaming services, stores like Best Buy no longer sell physical CDs.

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Bedtime stories got a whole new meaning in 1985. Thanks to Disney engineer Ken Fosse, Teddy Ruxpin was the talking bear that you could cuddle while he read you a story. The stories played from a cassette tape that you inserted into the bear’s back, while his mouth would move to the words. Mr. Ruxpin is still on the market with a new version, and was the winner in the 2018 Toy of the Year Award's Infant/Toddler Category.

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With the intention of appealing to younger boys, Hasbro invented the My Buddy doll. The brown-haired doll was followed by a female version that was marketed toward young girls, named Kid Sister.

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For Leslie Scott, Jenga has been around since the ‘70s. It began with her family, and in 1983, she trademarked the name Jenga — from the Swahili word kujenga, which means "to build" — and launched the stacking game at the London Toy Fair in ’83. But it didn't hit the U.S. markets until it was licensed by the Milton Bradley Company in ’87.

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Starting Lineup action figures were released in 1988, beginning with Major League Baseball players. The success of the toys allowed for the introduction of other sports, like football, basketball, and hockey. Today, the figurines are considered a collector's item.

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Nintendo shocked the market of handheld game consoles in 1989 with the release of their Game Boy. The games available during the initial launch were Tennis, Tetris, Baseball, Alleyway, and the beloved Super Mario Land. Selling out in just weeks from its release, the Game Boy became the hottest item to get. Over the next decade, Nintendo went on to release different versions, like the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance.

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The ThighMaster proved you could exercise while sitting down and watching TV, and Suzanne Somers was there to show you. As the face for the infomercials, she became more known for the ThighMaster than her roles on Step by Step and Three’s Company. To this day, it's still one of the biggest-selling infomercial products of all time.

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Before it was called the Super Soaker, Air Force and NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson called his powerful water-gun invention the Power Drencher. It was released in 1990, but it rebranded a year later to be named Super Soaker, and was promoted through TV advertisements. Sales skyrocketed, and the Super Soaker — now sold under the brand Nerf — is still a huge seller.

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Barney & Friends premiered on PBS in 1992, and it was an immediate hit among young kids. Thanks to the Barney talking doll, kids were able to have their own Barney at home.

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One of the biggest '90s phenomenons was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. They first appeared on American TV in 1993, and it was a huge success from the start. That year, action figures and other merchandise from the show were some of the most coveted toys of the year. The show went on for a total of three seasons and got its own movie in 1995.

The original milk cap game started in Hawaii in the early 1900s, and it was played with the cardboard disks used to seal glass milk bottles before plastic and paper took over. In the '70s, Maui’s Haleakala Dairy brought back the classic cardboard disks to seal their fruit drink, POG, with the logo printed right on the cardboard.

Then, thanks to a teacher in Oahu, Blossom Galbiso, who taught the classic milk cap game to her students with the POG fruit drink caps, the discs caught on as a nationwide craze. By 1994, Pog discs were generating $10 million a week, and every brand wanted in to create their own.

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It was a slow start for the bean-filled stuffed animals that launched in 1993. By 1995, Ty Inc. — the company behind the Beanie Baby — had trouble getting stores to stock them in bulk throughout the U.S. because they weren't selling. Luckily for creator Ty Warner, they soon started to grow in popularity and then into a phenomenon.

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Tickle Me Elmo was the hottest item on the shelves during the holiday season of 1996. The original idea was a stuffed monkey that giggled when you tickled it, but it never reached success. The creator, Ron Dubren, was approached by Tyco to develop the same laughing technology for Elmo as part of their newly licensed Sesame Street toys. Stores quickly sold out, and parents were willing to pay big bucks to get their hands on one for their child.

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The egg-shaped keychain that doubled as a handheld digital pet was one of the biggest fads of the '90s. Released in 1997, the Tamagotchi had three buttons that allowed you to grow your little species into a full adult. The same year, the virtual pet craze was escalated with the release of Giga Pets, Tamagotchi’s competitor. Tamagotchis later resurfaced in 2004 with the new Tamagotchi Plus.

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Kids and adults were going crazy for Furbies in 1998. The little gremlin-like furry creatures that said phrases like “feed me” and “I love you” came in different colors. In the first 3 years of hitting stores, they sold more than 40 million worldwide. There were two different relaunches of the Furby, one in 2005 and one in 2012, but neither were quite as successful as the original release.

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In September of 1999, the third Harry Potter book was released. By this time, the world was in a magical frenzy over everything HP. That same year, the film rights were sold to turn the books into a film franchise, and we had more than a decade of magical book and movie releases to look forward to.

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Scooters weren’t just any scooters in 2000 — they were Razor scooters — and everyone wanted one. They folded in half, making them easy to carry around, and they had the signature colored wheels. The company, now RazorUSA, continued to adapt to the changing trends, and released an electric scooter in 2003 that continued the company’s success.

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Bratz were the opposite of Barbie. They were the fashion dolls with attitude. They had glittery makeup, big eyes, and more modern names. When they were released in 2001, they sold millions of dolls, along with CDs and DVDs that went along with the franchise. Of course, just like Barbie, the dolls were criticized for being too sexy, but that certainly didn’t stop the fandom.

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Beyblade spinning tops were all the rage in 2002. The toys, which were first launched in Korea, were based on the anime TV show by the same name. When you pull the jagged chord, the spinner launched into a circular arena where you'd face off against other Beyblades.

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Clikits, made by Lego, allowed you to create your own bracelets, rings, and necklaces. After many launches of new sets, the company expanded into hair styling tools, pillows, and art frames. In 2003, the year the kits hit shelves, Clikits received the Activity Toy of the Year from the Toy Association.

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The Nintendo DS introduced the dual screen that changed handheld gaming. Compared to the previous Nintendo Game Boys, the DS had a screen on top and bottom, with the bottom one being an interactive touchscreen. It was a huge seller for Nintendo, and it led them to their follow-up, the Nintendo 3DS, which displayed images in stereoscopic 3D.

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The Xbox 360 was influential in the gaming space, and it was widely popular in the first year of release. It advanced the online feature, Xbox Live, allowing players to download games and purchase and stream music, movies, and TV.

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The Wii was the first to introduce a handheld, pointing controller that detected movement. The game console was a top seller for Nintendo, and it did well in a competitive market against other consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

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It’s hard to believe what the first iPhone looked like and how little it could do compared to the latest models. But when the first generation of the phone launched, after years of speculation and rumors that Apple had been working on it, people waited in line for hours to get their hands on one.

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Elmo Live was the latest of the Elmo toys in 2008. It was highly anticipated for the holiday season after seeing how the previous toy versions of the red Sesame Street character performed. This time around, Elmo told jokes, danced and sang, and even told stories.

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Zhu Zhu robotic hamsters were all the craze in 2009. Even though they only cost around $10, the resale value on them was huge because stores were sold out. Now, the Zhu-niverse has expanded and is made up of all different animals.

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In April of 2010, the first iPad was released, and it changed the game for touch-screen computing and tablets. Everything that was offered on the phone was now available on the Wi-Fi-enabled device. In the first day, Apple sold more than 300,000.

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In 2011, Kindle had a big year. They released two versions of the new Kindle keyboard — one enabled with 3G and the other with Wi-Fi. Readers could now browse and download from Amazon’s library anywhere they were connected to the internet. Kindle also introduced the Kindle Touch, which added infrared touch-screen control.

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The Nintendo Wii U was the first of the Nintendo consoles to give players HD graphics. The handheld device could either be used as the main display or a supplement to the TV. Released in November, the console became one of the hottest ticket items that holiday. Unfortunately, the concept didn’t last, and they stopped developing games for it the following year.

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The Heartbreaker Bow by Nerf was a hit in 2013. Going off the archery trend (in part thanks to the beloved Katniss in The Hunger Games franchise), this line of toys, marketed to girls, shot foam darts up to 75 feet.

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It could easily be said that 2014 was the year of Frozen. The unanticipated phenomenon (released at the end of 2013) led to more merchandise sales than Disney probably could have dreamed. One of the biggest and hard-to-get toys was the Frozen Snow Glow Elsa Doll. Her dress lit up, she came with a little figurine of Olaf, and when you lifted her arm up, she sang “Let it Go.” Now in 2018, some of us still haven’t been able to let it go.

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With the release of a new Star Wars film for the first time in almost a decade, it’s no surprise fans of the franchise were on-the-edge-of-their-seat excited. In the seventh installment, The Force Awakens, viewers were introduced to BB-8, the rolling droid. A company by the name Sphere designed an app-enabled droid that looks and acts, at your control, just like BB-8 does in the movie.

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These hatching little furry friends are still popular among kids today, but in 2016, they were sold out everywhere. The idea for this self-opening toy came from the popularity of unboxing videos on YouTube. After the first launch in October 2016, Hatchimals quickly became the hottest toy that holiday season.

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These little electronic monkeys that wrap around your finger were the Furby-like obsession for 2017. The robotic pets will hang onto anything you wrap their arms around while they shake their head and make noises. You were lucky if you could get your hands on one.

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Pomsies are like the cuter, updated version of a Furby. These plush toys hit the market in 2018 and quickly became wildly popular and one of the “it” toys for the holiday season. The fluffy pets react to touch, make more than 50 sounds, and their eyes light up different colors to express their mood. The tails can bend and lock into different shapes, so kids can wrap them around their wrists and backpacks.