Fashion retailer tops list of 10 ‘most recommended’ brands
Zara ranks as the most recommended brand in the U.S.
That’s according to global research data and analytics groupYouGov’s 2026 Most Recommended Brand Rankings, which identifies the brands earning the highest percentage of positive recommendations from their current customers, the brands making the biggest year-over-year gains and the leaders across seven major sectors. Zara, which is owned by Spanish apparel giant Inditex, led the national ranking with a 90.5% positive “recommend” score.
British natural cosmetics and skincare retailer Lush was a close second, with a score of 90.3, followed by pop superstar Rihanna's SavageXFenty (90.1) lingerie and lifestyle apparel brand. (The list of the top 10 brands is at the end of the article.)
Restaurant Brands
In-n-Out Burger topped the list of the most recommended dining brands, with a positive recommend score of 87.3, followed by Culver’s (85.7) and First Watch (85.2). Schlotzsky's (85) and Smoothie King (84.4) rounded out the top five.
Other insights from the YouGov report are below.
•Vrbo led the ranking of the most improved brands, with its positive recommend score rising 9.2 percentage points, from 69.2% to 78.4%. Big Lots and online footwear retailer HeyDude awere also among the most improved brands, taking the seventh and tenth spots respectively.
•Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) shared an experience they had with a brand in the previous three months. Almost half (49%) shared a positive experience, compared with 32% who shared a neutral experience and 21% who shared a negative one.
•Americans often share good experiences to help others and bad experiences to protect them. Among those sharing positive experiences, 46% say they wanted to help others discover something good. Among negative experience sharers, 52% wanted to warn others, while 49% said the experience fell below expectations and 44% wanted to hold the brand accountable.
“Recommendation is one of the strongest signals a brand can earn because it reflects a customer’s willingness to put their own experience behind an endorsement,” said Ryan Gross, senor VP data products, client services at YouGov. “This year’s leaders show there is no single path to customer advocacy. Brands across categories are earning strong recommendations by creating experiences customers believe are worth sharing. And with Americans considerably more likely to share positive brand experiences than negative ones, consistently delivering for customers can create a powerful advantage.”
Methodology:
YouGov’s Most Recommended Brands 2026 rankings are powered by YouGov BrandIndex and based on positive Recommend scores among current customers from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Brands must have a minimum sample of 300 and at least six months of BrandIndex data to qualify. Recommend measures whether customers would recommend a brand to a friend or colleague.
Top 10 Brands
Here is YouGov’s list of the top 10 brands based on positive “recommend” scores for the last 12 months among current customers.
- Zara
- Lush
- SavageXFenty
- PUBG: Battlegrounds (a free to play multiplayer online video game)
- Hoka
- Rolex
- Bloomberg
- Toyota
- Super Mario Bros.
- Call of Duty
To download the full YouGov report, click here.