Sorry labs, there’s a new top dog in the U.S. The French bulldog is officially the most popular dog breed in America, ending Labrador retrievers’ three-decade reign as number one. The American Kennel Club, which is the largest registry of purebred dogs in the world, uses registration stats to rank the most popular breeds every year and for the first time in history, 2022 has the French bulldog in the top spot.
For the last 31 years, the Lab has been the most popular, but don’t feel too bad for the breed, they’re still the second most popular. French bulldogs, known as Frenchies, have been slowly becoming more popular over the last decade, as the breed was ranked 14th back in 2012 and has since had a 100% increase in registrations. In 2021, they were number two.
The AKC’s Top 10 Most Popular Dog Breeds of 2022:
- French bulldogs
- Labrador retrievers
- Golden retrievers
- German shepherds
- Poodles
- Bulldogs
- Rottweilers
- Beagles
- Dachshunds
- German shorthaired pointers
- The least popular dog breed in the U.S. in 2022 is the English foxhound, which lands at number 199 on the AKC’s list.