Ariana Grande has become a household name for a number of reasons: her otherworldly singing voice, her stacked acting resume, and even her alleged relationship with one SpongeBob Squarepants. Yet one thing that most people don’t immediately associate with Grande is her billion-dollar perfume empire. With twice as many perfumes as she has number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, Grande has quietly become one of the biggest celebrity players in the global fragrance market.
Hot off the release of Cloud Pink, her 14th fragrance, Landys Chemist reports that Grande dominates celebrity perfume searches, with Cloud taking the top spot, followed by Sweet Like Candy at #2, Moonlight at #3, and Ari at #5. (Fourth place goes to Antonio Banderas’s Blue Seduction.) With such an impressive track record, the singer is her own biggest competition. Logging over 1.8 million searches to date, Cloud far outpaces even Grande’s second most popular perfume, Sweet Like Candy, which reported nearly 383,000 searches.
Grande launched her first perfume, Ari, in 2015, and has since expanded her aromatic empire to include Thank U, Next; R.E.M.; and God Is A Woman—all references to some of her most recognizable earworms. While scores of celebrities have tried their hand at perfumery, few seem to enjoy success as Grande. The multi-platinum singer has twice won Fragrance of the Year from The Fragrance Foundation: In 2019, Cloud won for Women’s Popular, and in 2021 R.E.M. won in the Popular category.
It seems that Grande has mastered the art of branding when it comes to her signature scents. She’s emulated her poppy, sweet, and sassy personal ethos in her perfumes—and appealed to a younger fanbase—by opting for sweeter notes, generally bouncing between gourmand, fruity, and floral scents. Her best-selling Cloud boasts top notes of lavender blossom, pear, and bergamot; middle notes of coconut cream, praline, and vanilla orchid; and base notes of musk and blonde woods.
Search for Grande’s perfumes on TikTok and you’ll find a demographic of mostly girls and young women who enthusiastically spritz on their celebrity-branded perfume. With its reasonable price point hovering between $45 and $68, and a loyal teen fanbase, Grande’s team smartly formulated scents that can serve as an entryway into the world of fragrances for consumers of her own generation. She isn’t attempting to compete with Baccarat Rouge or Santal 33—she’s appealing to the people who would otherwise douse themselves in Victoria’s Secret body mist after gym class, or those in the vast liminal space between Bath and Body Works and Glossier You. It’s no wonder that her global perfume sales have surpassed $1 billion.
