• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, February 5, 2016

The NFL and lucky football pool bettors aren't the only ones that clean up during Super Bowl season. 

For certain CPG categories, the days leading up to the big game drive a substantial share of overall annual sales.  

Here's a look at the leading and largest-growth categories for last year, based on IRI's sales data for Super Bowl week (ending Feb. 1, 2015) in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, mass market retailers, gas/convenience stores, military commissaries and selected club and dollar retail chains:

* Beer/ale/alcoholic cider was the largest Super Bowl category by dollar sales, generating $583.1 million during the week before the game -- a 12.6% increase over the previous week in 2015. That far outpaced sales of spirits, which themselves were not exactly anemic, at $109.4 million (up 12.2% versus the previous week. (Liquor stores are not included in this data.)

Beer and carbonated beverages have jockeyed for the top Super Bowl dollar-sales position over the past five years, Susan Viamari, VP of thought leadership at IRI, tells Marketing Daily. Beer was No. 1 in 2014 as well, but carbonated beverages took the top spot in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Carbonated beverage sales during last year's Super Bowl week were $528.4 million. The category's dollars and units each increased 7%, and volume jumped 20%.

* Salty snacks were No. 1 in units sold: 196.2 million (versus, for example, beer's 86.4 million). Salty snacks are also a dollar sales leader: They racked up $437.7 million during Super Bowl week last year.

* Natural cheese saw 10% growth in the week and was No. 4 in dollar sales, at $277.1 million. But cream cheese and processed cheese saw larger sales gains vs. the previous week: 31% and 19%, to reach $34.1 million and $69.6 million, respectively.

* Frozen pizza's dollar sales rose 17%, to $109.4 million, and its unit sales grew 15.7% versus the previous week, to 32.8 million.

* Dips and spreads experienced the most dramatic sales lift of any category in the period. Shelf-stable dips/dip mixes grew more than 45% versus previous week (to $13.5 million), refrigerated dip sales by 48% (to $21.1 million), and refrigerated spreads by 13% (to $20.2 million). In total, $54.8 million was spent on dips and spreads during the week.

Viamari notes that refrigerated dips have seen solid unit growth over the past few years (including 4% last year)--and that the category's dollar sales have been even stronger (up 8% in 2015, and running at +6% this year). 

* Other top-growth categories by percentage, versus the previous week in 2015, included barbecue sauce (up 41%, to $16 million); cream cheese/spreads (up 31%, to $34.1 million); Mexican sauce (up 27% to $41.1 million); and sour cream (up 27%, to $27.2 million).  

* Food and beverage categories are not the only beneficiaries. For instance, firewood and fire-starter product sales jumped 27% as Americans prepared to watch the Super Bowl. Candles also performed well, with sales growth of more than 10%.

IRI looked at Super Bowl week 2015 sales for categories, with a minimum of $10 million in dollar sales and a greater than 10% change in dollar sales versus the prior week. IRI has posted a free PDF of the complete category comparisons.