The 10 Best—and the 10 Worst—Halloween Candies

As soon as October hits, debates on hot-button political issues take a backseat to what might be the most important discussion of all time: Which Halloween candy is the best, and which is the worst?

To find out, CandyStore.com aggregated data from several best and worst lists from sources like Business Insider, Bon Appétit, and BuzzFeed, and combined its findings with surveys from more than 30,000 of its customers. The results are about as close to a definitive answer as we can maybe ever hope to get.

Surprising no one, the absolute worst Halloween candy is candy corn, which knocked last year’s number one loser (or winner, depending on how you look at it), circus peanuts, into the second spot.

What follows is a list of candies that includes a few of candy corn’s classically despised contemporaries—we're looking at you, licorice, Good & Plenty, and Smarties—as well as some confectionery disasters that are apparently so bad that you might never have heard of them, like peanut butter kisses and wax cola bottles.

If thinking about unappetizing treats is starting to spoil your enthusiasm for the spookiest season, even a cursory glance at the list of best candies will surely restore it. Universally beloved Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups took the top spot in what CandyStore.com called both a “blowout” and a “candy massacre.” Though Milky Way, Nestle Crunch bar, and 3 Musketeers are conspicuously missing, most of the other trick-or-treating mainstays are represented—Snickers, Kit Kat, and Twix all ranked highly, and cult favorite Sour Patch Kids came in at number eight.

See the full lists below, and feel free to use them to triumph over any candy corn sympathizers or Snickers skeptics during your rousing office-wide debate.

10 Best Halloween Candies

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

1. Snickers

1. Twix

1. Kit Kat

1. M&Ms

1. Nerds

1. Butterfinger

1. Sour Patch Kids

1. Skittles

1. Hershey Bar

10 Worst Halloween Candies

1. Candy corn

1. Circus Peanuts

1. Peanut Butter Kisses

1. Wax Cola Bottles

1. Necco Wafers

1. Tootsie Rolls

1. Smarties

1. Licorice

1. Good & Plenty

1. Bit-O-Honey

To see how your state’s candy predilections compare to the overall rankings, check out this map.

[h/t CandyStore.com]