Last week, The Fragrance Foundation announced its Awards for 2026, the industry’s main event for recognizing creativity among brands, perfumers and manufacturers. The ceremony includes a public prize, based on an online survey of a few thousand consumers but as I wanted a clearer picture of what people preferred among recent perfumes, I pulled and analyzed data on more than 800 fragrances launched in 2025 from Perfumist, an app that tracks the preferences of over 3 million perfume users worldwide.
Puig comes out on top of the ranking with Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male Elixir Absolu with a popularity more than twice as high as the runner-up Lattafa’s Khamrah Dukhan. The Dubai-based mass brand doesn’t stop there with a total three entries in the ranking.
L’Oréal places the most fragrances of any group in the ranking with Prada Paradigme, Armani Stronger With You Sandalwood, and Azzaro Forever Wanted Elixir all in the top ten. Middle Eastern brands also carry real weight. Between Lattafa’s three entries, Armaf’s Odyssey Dubai Chocolat, and Kayali’s Fleur Majesty Rose Royale, Dubai-based houses take five of the fifteen spots.
That popularity of oriental fragrance shows up again when looking at all the fragrances launched in 2025, not just the most popular ones. Oriental is the leading family, ahead of floral and woody while Vanilla, musk and bergamot are the three most-used notes.
