Apple was ranked as the top brand in the United States for 2005 by brandchannel. The number two brand was Google. In the global market, however, the two are flip-flopped: Google took first place, and Apple took second. The rankings are based on which companies had the greatest impact in 2005.
Apple earned its ranking thanks to a year of impressive innovations. Products like the Mac mini, Tiger, and three new iPods, the shuffle, nano and video capable iPod, all wowed consumers and analysts alike.
Here is a breakdown of the top five brands Globally, and in the U.S.:
| Global | US |
| Apple | |
| Apple | |
| Skype | Starbucks |
| Starbucks | Target |
| Ikea | Lance Armstrong |
Brandchannel conducts an annual study in November and December where it asks readers to vote for the brands that had the most impact on them, good or bad, over the last year. For 2005, it had over 2,500 people from 99 countries vote in the study.