The Force Awakens Toy Sales: $700M

Is it a trap? Maybe for fanatic consumers, but not for the toy industry, which had a stellar sales year in 2015, partly thanks to the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars toys—including hot sellers such as Kylo Ren lightsabers and BB-8 models—scooped up more than $700 million in sales in the US last year, making them the most coveted brand and boosting the industry, Reuters reports. The NPD Group notes that US toy sales overall rose 6.7% to $19.4 billion in 2015. The Star Wars spree really kicked into high gear on Sept. 4 (aka "Force Friday"), when tons of new merch flooded into stores and onto online retailer websites. As for Rey, who was initially MIA in the toy onslaught, "Rey came in with a huge amount of momentum and ultimately above what we were expecting," says a licensing exec. "We really struggled to keep Rey on retail shelves." (More Star Wars stories.)