'The Cola Wars Are Now a 3-Horse Race'

It's long been accepted that Pepsi is Coke's main rival in the soda biz, but that truth has just been overturned. "The Cola Wars are now a three-horse race," per 24/7 Wall St., which reports that sales of regular Dr Pepper now equal regular Pepsi, the latter of which has pretty much held steady as the No. 2 cola for years. The Wall Street Journal reports that, after nearly 140 years in the industry, Dr Pepper is tied with Pepsi for second place among carbonated soft drinks, "in a spot that Pepsi has held nearly every year for the past four decades," according to stats from Beverage Digest.

The overall Pepsi brand, which includes Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Zero Sugar, is still hanging on to the No. 2 spot over the overall Dr Pepper brand. The Journal says Dr Pepper's seemingly sudden ascent was actually more of a "steady climb" over the past 20 years, fueled by more cash thrown into marketing, the introduction of various flavors, and even TikTok videos that show young people gulping it down.

In reality, however, "the soda race only has one horse," per 24/7 Wall St.: Coke, with a market share of about 20%; Pepsi and Dr Pepper, as well as Sprite, hover at around 8% each. Pepsi has held down second place in terms of sales since 1985, except for between 2010 and 2013, when Diet Coke swiped that spot. Surprisingly (to many), Dr Pepper, a brand that's older than both Pepsi and Coke, isn't even technically a cola, notes the Motley Fool. That determination came down in 1963, when a court ruled that it couldn't be designated as such because it didn't contain kola nut. (More Dr Pepper stories.)