The French bulldog has been ranked the top dog breed in the United States for the third consecutive year, according to the American Kennel Club’s latest annual rankings. Coverage from Wvtm13 has highlighted this story.

The AKC’s list, an annual accounting of popularity that draws on registrations and entries tracked by the organization, once again places the compact, bat-eared Frenchie at No. 1 after a multi-year run to the top. That ascent disrupted a long-running pattern: the Labrador retriever — which held the top spot for 31 straight years — fell to second place beginning in 2022. The French bulldog has now remained ahead of the Labrador through 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The registry’s published dataset, which includes 202 dog entries and maps shifts across a two-decade span from 2004 to 2024, highlights how breed popularity can change markedly over time. While the headlines focus on the No. 1 slot, the full sequence of rankings captures smaller and larger movements across the spectrum of recognized breeds. Reporting by Akc offers additional detail on this case.

Some of the shifts are subtle and gradual across many years; others are dramatic and fast. For example, over the 2004-to-2024 window the pug slipped from 12th place to 38th, a multi-year decline that illustrates sustained changes in registration patterns for that breed. The Chihuahua also moved down the list, falling to 37th in 2021, a placement that reflected changing entry volumes at that point in the decade.

Single-year volatility is also recorded in the AKC’s numbers. In 2023 the Finnish Lapphund registered a striking climb, rising 32 places in one year — a jump that stands out amid otherwise steady movers. In the same year the pumi experienced the opposite; it fell by 32 spots, matching the Lapphund’s gain in magnitude but in reverse. Those pairs of movements underscore how the registry’s annual snapshot can show sudden swings as well as long-term trends.

Certain familiar names remain prominent near the top of the list even as the very top alternates. The golden retriever, the German shepherd and the poodle continue to appear among the most recognized breeds in the AKC rankings, reflecting steady interest and ongoing registrations for those breeds. As covered by Npr, readers can explore more context around the event.

Other entries on the farther reaches of the list illustrate the breadth of the AKC’s coverage. The greyhound, for example, currently occupies the No. 118 spot in the registry’s most recent ordering. Meanwhile, the Danish-Swedish farmdog is noted in the AKC materials as the newest breed recognized by the organization, a reminder that the list is not static but evolves as the registry acknowledges additional breeds.

Observers inside the AKC emphasize that the rankings are meant to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. Brandi Hunter Munden, Vice President of Public Relations and Communications for the American Kennel Club, placed the numbers in context: “There’s over 400 dog breeds in the world,” she said, noting that the AKC’s list is one way to see how public preference and registration behavior change over time. In explaining breed profiles, she described certain breeds as “a companion dog that loves to work and enjoys a challenge,” language the AKC uses to pair popularity information with descriptions of breed traits and typical roles.

National reporting picked up the AKC’s release and emphasized the French bulldog’s sustained success. NPR highlighted the breed’s rise in public attention and registration, and local outlets such as WVTM13 ran regional coverage that placed the French bulldog’s third straight year atop the charts into local perspective. Those stories typically used the AKC’s rankings as a starting point to explore which breeds are gaining or losing traction among American owners.

The AKC positions itself as the largest registry of purebred dogs in the United States, and its annual rankings function as a public record of how preference and registration patterns change over time. By archiving yearly placements for each recognized breed, the organization provides a longitudinal view: readers can follow multi-year declines like that of the pug, marked single-year moves such as the Finnish Lapphund’s rise and the pumi’s fall, and long-term displacements at the very top of the list like the end of the Labrador retriever’s three-decade run at No. 1.

For this year, the final and most prominent detail is simple: the French bulldog continues to lead the American Kennel Club’s list of popular purebreds, holding the No. 1 spot for a third consecutive year and anchoring a set of rankings that document two decades of ebb and flow across more than 200 entries.

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Original reporting: view the original article.