The latest Bud Light tumble could be the beginning of the end.
Sales of the once-popular brew fell nearly 27% in the week ending July 22, marking the third straight week of declines after pressure seemed to be loosening earlier this month. Unfortunately, that “light” at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a freight train.
According to industry expert Bump Williams, the latest plunge could be the final nail in the Bud Light coffin.
“It’s going to happen a LOT sooner than anyone had ever thought,” Williams told The NY Post Monday. “We have it surpassing Bud Light mid-August.”
It would be Modelo Especial — the surging brew that experts have said for months now could officially overtake Bud Light as the top-selling beer in the US. Most of those predictions, however, pointed to December as the month Modelo could take the top spot.
This latest data dump paints a much darker picture.
The Anheuser-Busch brand saw sales drop 26.8% during this most recent week — which is worse than the previous week’s decline of 26.1%. Modelo, meanwhile, jumped over 13%, further closing the gap for the top spot across the nation.
The Mexican brew has now reached 8.2% market share year to date, just barely shy of Bud Light’s 8.4%. Williams said the latest jump is eye-opening.
“(It’s) the closest any brand has come to surpassing Bud Light as the King of Beers,” he said.
As has been the case for months now, Budweiser also saw another plunge to the tune of a 10.3% decline through the same week.
Yuengling sales soared another 21.3% in the most recent sales data, while Coors Light was up 21.2% and Miller Lite jumped 17.7%.
