Nearly 16% Think This Is The Worst Starburst Flavor

Poor old Starburst. When it comes to candy rankings, it's pretty much doomed to a life as a mid-carder. According to data compiled by Galvanize, Starburst doesn't crack the top 10 candies in sales either worldwide or here in the U.S. Okay, they did reach the #8 spot among kids polled at Halloween, but the respondents may just have been relieved not to have gotten the dreaded Smarties or Good & Plenty. Another survey notes Starburst was the third best-selling Halloween candy of 2020, but sales doesn't always correlate to enjoyment. As to why Starbursts will never, ever rival Reese's or Snickers, that can be explained in just 3 words: they're not chocolate. Unfortunately, fruit-flavored candies far more frequently taste of strange chemicals that barely approximate the named fruit (if at all).

While Starburst hasn't admitted that their candies are all the same flavor under those different-colored wrappers, there are those, including an on-air personality from radio station Country 92-5, who swear there's no difference in taste (via Facebook). Starburst fans adamantly deny this; they all have their favorite flavors as well as ones they just don't care for. While Mashed has conducted Starburst preference polls in the past, tastes change over time. Still, it's clear from the latest, up-to-datest 2022 results that one flavor remains as unpopular as ever.

From time eternal (okay, just 1967, which was the year Starburst was introduced to the U.S.), everyone has hated on the yellow ones. Surprisingly enough, these did not come out at the bottom of our Starburst popularity poll. That dishonor, instead, went to mango melon. Okay, maybe it's not such a surprise that nearly 19% voted these the worst Starbursts of all, especially since it's not one of the more common flavors. Lemon, however, was a solid second place; still the unfavorite of almost 16%.

In this latest poll, orange managed to pull ahead of lemon despite the fact that just a few months ago the two citrus flavors were locked in a last-place tie. Orange is now just the 6th-most hated flavor. It earned less than 12% of the vote, making it more popular than lemon-lime with 14%, fruit punch with almost 13%, and watermelon with well over 12%. In fact, the only flavors people prefer over orange are the perennially popular cherry — which was disliked by fewer than 9% of people polled — and strawberry, something not even 6% of our pollees considered the worst.

Still, it's good to know that Starburst opinions are so divided. It means there's a flavor out there for everyone. (Except those of us still holding out for chocolate.)