The 100 Most Valuable Brands In The World, Visualized

When it comes to the most valuable brands in the world, there's been quite a shuffle from last year's ranking to this year.

Using data from Brand Finance, personal finance site HowMuch has put together this data visualization that allows us to see the top 100 most valuable brands around the world. You can see a higher-res version of the graph here.

The brand valuation was created, according to HowMuch, using many different criteria, including "investments into marketing, stakeholder equity and their contributions to financial performance." Topping the charts this year is Amazon, valued at $221 billion, which is quite a leap from its valuation of $97 billion last year.

Here are the top 10 most valuable companies this year:

1. Amazon: $221B (Retail)
2. Google: $160B (Tech)
3. Apple: $141B (Tech)
4. Microsoft: $117B (Tech)
5. Samsung Group: $94B (Tech)
6. ICBC: $81B (Banking)
7. Facebook: $80B (Media)
8. Walmart: $78B (Retail)
9. Ping An: $69B (Insurance)
10. Huawei: $65B (Tech)

And for comparison, here are the top 10 most valuable companies from last year:

1. Apple (Technology): $205.5B 
2. Google (Technology): $167.7B
3. Microsoft (Technology): $125.3B
4. Amazon (Technology): $97.0B
5. Facebook (Technology): $88.9B
6. Coca-Cola (Beverages): 59.2B
7. Samsung (Technology): $53.1B
8. Disney (Leisure): $52.2B
9. Toyota (Automotive): $44.6B
10. McDonald's (Restaurants): $43.8B 

While companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung continue to be in the ranks of some of the most valuable companies this year, a few companies' valuations have dropped precipitously, such as McDonald's, going from a $43.8 billion evaluation to $37 billion this year.

[Read more at HowMuch]