As Americans commemorate National Ice Cream Month this July, a recent study indicates that the frozen dessert brand generating the most online queries takes a distinct approach to its products.
Halo Top topped the list as the most-searched ice cream brand from April 2025 through April 2026, according to an analysis of Google search trends across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., conducted by Innerbody Research.
Popularity Driven by Health Consciousness
Halo Top positions its ice cream as a “feel-good treat,” highlighting its “fewer calories and less sugar than other leading brands, with a good source of protein.”
“From the beginning, Halo Top has taken a different path,” the company’s website states. “While most ice cream brands hide their calorie counts, we put ours right on the front: big, bold and impossible to miss.”
Founded in 2011, Halo Top was lauded as “Food Disruptor of the Year” in 2017 by Food Dive, following a remarkable 2,500% increase in sales during the preceding year. In 2019, ice cream manufacturer Wells Enterprises, which also owns the Blue Bunny brand, acquired Halo Top.
Following Halo Top, the ice cream brands with the highest online search interest included Cold Stone Creamery, Breyers, Talenti, and Häagen Dazs, as per the Innerbody Research report. However, high search volume does not always correspond directly to sales figures. In 2025, Dairy Foods Magazine reported that Breyers, Blue Bunny, and Turkey Hill were the top-selling brands based on dollar sales.
Market Trends and Consumer Behavior
One industry expert noted that Halo Top’s success in online searches stems from its promise of “indulgence without the consequences naturally associated with that experience.” They suggested that the interest in Halo Top reflects the “GLP-1 era translated into dessert,” characterizing the brand as offering “Protein-forward, portion-sized, low-sugar and guilt-free indulgence.”
Maeve Webster, president of Menu Matters, a food and beverage consulting firm based in Vermont, explained that consumers seeking foods they can enjoy without guilt is not a new phenomenon, drawing parallels to the previous frozen yogurt trend.
“The technology is catching up,” Webster added. “And increasingly, we’ll be able to create healthier versions of these kinds of products that are closer, if not almost exactly like, the original full-indulgence ice cream experience.”
Webster also suggested that social media engagement and innovative marketing strategies have played a role in the recent surge of interest in Halo Top. She explained that with the constant influx of daily information, individuals are likely encountering products they’ve never seen or heard of before, sparking curiosity after viewing content on social media.
Ice cream is frequently cited as America’s preferred dessert, with a 2024 International Dairy Foods Association survey indicating that 97% of Americans either love or like it. The association also reported that the average American consumes approximately 20 pounds—nearly four gallons—of ice cream annually. Given this frequent consumption, consumers are more inclined to seek out brands that allow them to “enjoy ice cream without that guilt and the feeling that you’re doing something wrong or bad for yourself,” Webster observed.
Understanding 'Healthier' Alternatives
Despite the appeal of health-conscious claims, an expert cautioned that foods marketed as “natural” should not be equated with being “risk-free,” nor does “high protein” automatically signify health. They emphasized, “Safety and benefit are designed at the formulation stage, not conferred by a claim on the front of the box.”
Consumers should also be mindful of light ice creams that utilize the sugar alcohol erythritol, which is produced through the fermentation of corn. The expert referred to a 2023 Cleveland Clinic study, published in Nature Medicine, which linked higher blood erythritol levels to increased instances of heart attack and stroke, noting that the sweetener appeared to make platelets more prone to forming clots.
However, the expert provided crucial context regarding the study’s findings: “The context matters: that is an association in at-risk cardiac patients, it concerns circulating blood levels rather than any single serving and it has been debated in the literature. The authors notably called for long-term safety studies.” The concluding advice was, “Not a reason to panic. Just a reason to pay attention.”