The other day, a new collector slid into my DMs on Instagram, clearly panicked. They'd just dropped $150 on a single Soy Milk Macaron LABUBU from a reseller and were having a serious case of buyer's remorse. "Did I get ripped off?" they asked.
My answer? It's complicated.
Welcome to the wild, wonderful, and sometimes completely irrational world of collecting LABUBU. As someone who runs PopNya and has handled literally thousands of these little monsters, I see the market from a unique perspective. I see the hype cycles, the reseller games, and the quiet, beautiful figures that get overlooked.
People are constantly searching for the "most popular labubu color" or a definitive "labubu popularity ranking." But those lists you see on TikTok and Reddit? They only tell you half the story. They tell you what's hyped, not necessarily what's best.
So, let's talk about labubu colours. For real.
The Great Illusion: What "Most Popular" Actually Means
When someone asks for the most popular color, they're usually asking one of three different questions:
1. Which color is most hyped on social media? (e.g., Soy Milk, thanks to Lisa from Blackpink) 2. Which color is most expensive on the secondary market? (Often the same as above, but not always) 3. Which color do people actually buy the most? (The answer might surprise you)
The hype is a feedback loop. A celebrity is seen with a figure, TikTok blows up, resellers hoard that specific color, the price skyrockets, and suddenly it's crowned "most popular." It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A perfect example is the Soy Milk from The Monsters Exciting Macaron series. It's a fantastic, neutral, creamy-white figure. It's subtle and clean. But is it $150 better than the other figures in the same box? Honestly, no. Its price is almost entirely driven by celebrity association and the ensuing FOMO. I remember when we first stocked the Macaron series; Soy Milk was just another cool design. Then the photo of Lisa with it went viral, and our inventory vanished overnight. The aftermarket price went from maybe $30 to over $200 in a matter of weeks. It has since cooled off, settling in the $100-$120 range, which is a classic hype cycle in action.
This is where a lot of new collectors get burned. They equate "expensive" with "best" and overpay for a trendy color, when they could have gotten two or three other amazing LABUBUs for the same price.
A Seller's Breakdown of the Key Series Colours
To really understand the LABUBU color landscape, you have to look at it series by series. The vibe, the paint finish, and the "chase" colors are completely different for each one.
The Monsters Exciting Macaron: The Hype Machine
This is the series that took LABUBU from a beloved designer toy to a global phenomenon. The colors are bright, playful, and named after desserts. It's a collector's dream and a reseller's playground.
* The God Tiers (Hype & Price): Soy Milk, Lychee, and Sesame Bean. These are the holy trinity of the Macaron series. Soy Milk is the creamy white, Lychee is the perfect soft pink, and Sesame Bean is a unique gray. If you pull one of these from a blind box, you've hit the jackpot. But buying them secondhand will cost you. * The Underrated Gems: My personal opinion? People are sleeping on Green Tea and Taro. The Green Tea has this beautiful, muted matcha color that's incredibly sophisticated. And the Taro is a lovely pastel purple. Because they aren't part of the "holy trinity," you can often find them for close to retail price. They offer 100% of the design quality for about 20% of the hype price. For a deeper dive into this specific series, our Honest Labubu Macaron Buyer's Guide covers all the secrets and fakes you need to watch out for. * A Collector's Tip: The paint finish on the Macarons is a semi-gloss. It's durable, but the lighter colors like Soy Milk can show dirt easily. If you display them out of the box, give them a gentle dusting with a soft makeup brush every now and then.
The Monsters Have a Seat: The Sophisticated Sibling
After the Macaron explosion, Pop Mart released the "Have a Seat" series. The energy is totally different. The colors are more muted, earthy, and grown-up.
* The Standouts: The clear winner here is Toffee. It's a warm, caramel-brown that feels incredibly premium. It's the "Soy Milk" of this series in terms of desirability, but the hype never reached the same insane levels. Chestnut Cocoa is another favorite, a rich dark brown that looks great on any desk or shelf. * Real Talk (Information Gain): Here's something most people don't notice until they own them. The texture on the "Have a Seat" figures is a very fine, almost powdery matte finish. It looks and feels amazing, but it's more delicate than the Macaron's semi-gloss. I've seen figures get scuffed just from rubbing against the plastic insert in the box. The darker colors, like Shadow and Phantom, are especially prone to showing these marks. Be extra careful when unboxing them. If you're curious about the V2 release of this series, we wrote a seller's honest guide to the Have a Seat hype that you might find useful. * Market Watch: This series is a great example of stable value. While it didn't have the explosive hype of the Macarons, the popular colors like Toffee have held their value well without the crazy price swings. It's a more mature collection for a more mature collector.
The Monsters Big into Energy: A Return to Fun
The newest "main" series, "Big into Energy," feels like a direct response to the muted tones of "Have a Seat." The colors are bold, saturated, and full of personality.
* Early Favorites: It's still early, but the ones I've seen people gravitate towards are Little Fire (a vibrant orange) and Super Soap (a translucent bubbly design). The translucent figures are always a hit.
Availability Insight: As of me writing this, the "Big into Energy" series is still widely available at retail prices. This is the golden window. If you're interested in collecting, now* is the time to buy a few boxes or even a case. In a few months, the community will anoint one or two of them as the "chase" figures, and the secondary market will do its thing. Don't wait until it's too late. We've got a collector's guide to the Big into Energy hype if you want to see our initial thoughts on the series.What is the Most Common LABUBU Color?
In theory, for any given blind box series, all the regular designs have the same production ratio. So there shouldn't be a "most common labubu color."
But that's not what we see on the ground.
Here's a little seller secret: Pop Mart sells these figures in a case of 12. A sealed case does not guarantee you'll get one of each of the 12 designs. More often than not, you'll get duplicates of some figures and be missing others entirely. This is how the company creates artificial scarcity for certain designs within a case, making them harder to find even if their overall production number is the same.
From my experience opening hundreds of cases, I can tell you that I often end up with more duplicates of the less-hyped colors. For the Macaron series, I always seemed to have extra Black Sesame or Grape figures. So while they aren't officially "more common," they are certainly more available (and thus, more affordable) on the secondary market.
If we're talking about a color that appears frequently across different series, it would have to be the classic monster green. From the original Kasing Lung art to figures in the Flower Elves or Monsters Toys series, that signature green is a recurring theme. It's the OG. If you're a fan of this classic look, our Green Labubu Survival Guide might help you track down the perfect one.
Real Talk: My Personal LABUBU Popularity Ranking
Okay, let's put the market data and hype aside for a second. If you asked me, a collector and seller, for my personal favorites, the ones I'd keep on my own shelf, the list would look very different from a TikTok ranking.
This is my honest-to-goodness, hype-free labubu popularity ranking.
1. "Have a Seat" Toffee: It's perfect. The color is a warm, inviting neutral that fits any decor. The matte finish feels premium. It's the figure I have on my own desk. It's popular, yes, but for the right reasons: it's just a flawless design. 2. "Exciting Macaron" Green Tea: I will die on this hill. This figure is criminally underrated. The color is a beautiful, dusty matcha green that's so much more interesting than the standard pinks and whites. It's a connoisseur's choice. 3. Zimomo "Cotton Candy": This isn't a standard LABUBU, but a Zimomo (the one with the zipper mouth open). The older Zimomo figures had some of the most creative colorways. The Cotton Candy variant is a swirl of pastel pink and blue that's just pure joy to look at. It reminds me of a time before the hype, when it was all about Kasing Lung's artistic expression. 4. "Exciting Macaron" Lychee: Okay, I have to give credit where it's due. The hype for this one is justified. It's the perfect shade of soft pink, not too bright, not too pale. It's a genuinely beautiful figure that became a victim of its own success. If you're looking for a pink LABUBU, it's the gold standard, but be prepared to pay for it. We actually have a whole Pink Labubu Buyer's Guide if that's your jam.
The point is, your personal ranking is the only one that matters. Don't let the internet bully you into thinking your favorite is "bad" because it's not expensive.
Beyond the Macarons: Crossovers and Special Editions
The world of LABUBU colours extends far beyond the main series. There are special releases and collaborations that have their own unique palettes. The Monsters x One Piece Labubu crossover, for example, saw LABUBU dressed as characters like Luffy and Chopper, with colors and details specific to that world. These are a completely different collecting game, often released in limited quantities and with their own dedicated fanbases.
Ultimately, the world of labubu colours is a rabbit hole. You can approach it like a stock market, trying to predict trends and flip for profit. Or you can approach it as an art collector, finding the little guy that just makes you happy.
There's no right or wrong way. But if you're just starting out, my advice is simple: ignore the noise. Watch a few unboxing videos, see all the designs in a series, and pick the one that your heart genuinely leaps at. If that happens to be the "common" color, you just saved yourself a lot of money and stress.
We do our best to keep things fair and celebrate the art of the toys, not just the fleeting hype.
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