The most important thing we learned was that when a consumer pays a dollar for a product, that dollar is split is vastly different ways based on distribution strategy, taxaction, etc. For example, Coca Cola's 2015 annual report claims $44bn operating revenue and $7bn net income for the entirety of Coca Cola Enterprises. 

On the other hand, Apple controls all production and distribution of iPhones, thereby keeping nearly 100% of its revenues.

Which is why the total amount paid by consumers for purchasing a product is a meaningless metric for many companies, making this number hard to find.

Of course, we are well aware that there is a pretty big selection bias in our candidate list. All companies on our list are based in either the U.S. or Japan. Granted, companies from the two countries have done well in establishing global brands, but our research was based on educated guesses, and our guesses are rooted in the products we're most familiar with. We work in software, so of course certain tech products came to the top of our minds. We work in an office live in America, so of course we drink a lot of Coke. 

We did try finding local brands for consumer products, e.g. - Marlboro's equivalent in extremely populous countries like India and China. But data eluded us.

Do you think we've left out any obvious contenders? Out of the box ideas welcome.

We first took our question to Wonder, a helpful service where trained researchers help you with any inquiry you might have. Armed with their initial findings, we were able to kick off our "contest."

A Google search of our question turned up varying results. This USA Today Article on "The 10 best-selling products of all time" showed us exactly what we don't want to do. Sales were variously reported in units and ambiguous dollar amounts that could have been sales, revenues, or profits for one year or several.