It’s that time of year where we traditionally use blood sugar as a metric for love, and with that in mind, CandyStore.com has ranked the most popular Valentine’s Day candy by state.
While those chalky little bites of love, the Conversation Hearts, have traditionally been a leader overall, disruptions with their production have left an opening for the classic heart-shaped box of chocolates.
Those topped the list as the most common candy that will be doled out this year, with dozens of states ranking those #1, including Connecticut, New Hampshire, Ohio, Indiana and Louisiana.
That said, it was close: Spending on heart-shaped boxes was at 10.2% to the hearts’ 10.1% — the latter tops in nearly as many states, including New York, California, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.
Hershey’s Kisses are popular, too, with Utah, Oregon, and Idaho ranking them as their most popular.
Pink and white M&Ms are the most popular in Arizona, Iowa, Maryland, North Dakota and Vermont.
As for the outliers, Alabama chose candy necklaces, and Michigan picked Cupid Corn — that’s right, the Valentine’s Day variant of candy corn.
Seriously.
Even Ohio, Nebraska and West Virginia came to their senses from last year and relegated that stuff to #2.
With some 58 million pounds of chocolate bought during Valentine’s Day week, check out the full interactive map on candystore.com.