The Bestselling Christmas Toys of the 00s
Following on from our lists of bestselling festive favourites from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, here are the bestselling christmas toys of the 00s!
Let’s get started…
2000 – Razor Scooter
Come Christmas 2000, Razor Scooters were all the rage! Taking its name from the closing motion of a cut-throat razor, the folding compact Razor Scooter sold six million units in its first six months, and the streets were filled with kids whizzing around on them! It was named Toy of The Year the following year in 2001.
2001 – Harry Potter and LOTR
The first installment of JK Rowling’s bestselling book series had just been adapted into a box office smash, and Harry Potter toys were also taking the Toy market by storm with its enormous series of action figures, games, puzzles and play sets!
But Harry Potter wasn’t alone this year. Peter Jackson had also unleashed part one of his colossal adaptation of JRR Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings; spawning a toy line of its own!
These two huge fantasy franchises battled it out; filling toy shelves across the land, and appearing under Christmas trees all over the world!
2002 – Bratz
A new line of fashion-based dolls was released in 2001, and it quickly became the number one item on a lot of Christmas wish lists. Named Bratz, the original line only had 4 dolls – Cloe, Jade, Sasha and Yasmin. These 10-inch dolls flew off the shelves and all came complete with clothes and cutesy accessories.
The brand soared from that point on; eventually landing its own TV series in 2005, which ran until 2008. Dozens more dolls, play sets and vehicles were released; allowing a child to create their own Bratz world!
2003 – Beyblade
Similar to the concept of Battling Tops, (a board game from 1968 by the Ideal Toy Company), Beyblade is a game where players yank on plastic cords and launch rather impressive-looking spinning tops into a battle ground. The last Beyblade standing (or spinning) wins!
Although it had existed in Japan for a couple of years already, where it had its own Manga TV series, Beyblade was launched internationally by Hasbro in 2002, and it soared to the top of the Christmas bestseller lists. An enormous range of Beyblade spinners became available; and plastic ‘stadiums’ were also sold as battle arenas, where the players could unleash their Beyblades to battle to the death!
2004 – Robosapien
Invented by Brit Mark Tilden and manufactured by WowWee Toys, Robosapien is a biomorphic robotic toy that was first released in April 2004. By Christmas, this clever bit of kit had sold 1.5 million units! Robosapien responds to sound and touch and has 21 buttons on its remote to perform different actions and moves.
Its inventor designed the toy to be easily modified and hacked; leaving it open to those with programming skills to have fun and make the toy perform amusing acts. In 2005 in Germany, two teams of three Robosapiens played each other in a game of football in a world-first for humanoids.
Love toys? Please consider joining the Geeky Whale newsletter for gift guides, giveaways, TV and movie trivia and more…
We never email more than once a week!
2005 – BMX Bike
Also peaking in 1982, which you can see in our handy list of Best Selling Christmas Toys from the 80s, the BMX Bike came out on top in 2005, when you asked your kid what they wanted from Santa. The BMX is not only perfect for getting around on, but it’s also ideal for performing collar-bone-shattering stunts.
2006 – Nintendo Wii
Nintendo had great success with their Wii console, which was released in late 2006. It’s USP was the motion-sensitive controller, which could also be used as a pointing device – this made game play much more immersive, and more interactive if groups of friends were gathered around the screen. They could, for instance, play bowling on Wii Sports, which came with most of the consoles as standard. It was one of the hottest selling Christmas releases in 2006.
2007 – Iggle Piggle
The most visually mesmerizing children’s TV show Teletubbies, In the Night Garden exploded onto screens in March 2007, and come December, kids were besotted; resulting in the Iggle Piggle plush doll being the most-bought toy that year.
2008 – High School Musical Dance Mat
Following the release of the all-singing, all-dancing High School Musical trilogy, which came to a close in 2008, children were left with dance fever. Luckily, they could strut their their on the High School Musical Dance Mat, which was the hottest selling Crimbo toy that year.
2009 – Go Go Pet Hamsters
So many bestselling toys come in the form of robotic pet-type creatures; think back to Tamagotchi and Furby! Well, in 2009, it was the turn of Go Go Pet Hamsters to have the top spot on the Christmas bestseller list! They make noises and scurry around like real hamsters, but without the inconvenience of having to feed them, clean them, and listen to them running in their wheel all night long.
There you have it – the bestselling Christmas toys of the 00s!