Tropicana 100% Grape Juice leads all 15 popular U.S. bottled and canned drinks at 57g of sugar per 12 fl oz serving. On a like-for-like 12 oz basis, juices average the most sugar (51.8g), ahead of soda (47.6g) and — surprisingly — energy drinks (45.5g).
Which Bottled Drinks Have the Most Sugar?
Compared on an identical 12 fl oz (355 mL) serving, 100% fruit juice — not soda or energy drinks — packs the most sugar. Tropicana 100% Grape Juice tops all 15 popular U.S. beverages at 57g per serving, ahead of Welch's 100% Concord Grape Juice at 52.5g and POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice at 51g. The data comes from USDA FoodData Central and manufacturer nutrition labels, standardized to a single 12 fl oz pour so every drink is measured on the same basis.
That standardization matters. Juices, sodas, and energy drinks are sold in very different container sizes, so comparing a 16 oz energy can to an 8 oz juice would be apples to oranges. Putting all 15 on a level 12 oz playing field reveals a counterintuitive ranking: the drinks marketed as the "healthy" option are, gram for gram, the sweetest.
Every Drink Ranked by Sugar (per 12 fl oz)
Here are all 15 drinks ranked from most to least sugar, with each measured per 12 fl oz serving.
| Rank | Drink | Category | Sugar (per 12 fl oz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tropicana 100% Grape Juice | Juice | 57g |
| 2 | Welch's 100% Concord Grape Juice | Juice | 52.5g |
| 3 | Crush Pineapple Soda | Soda | 51g |
| 4 | POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice | Juice | 51g |
| 5 | Welch's Sparkling Grape Soda | Soda | 49g |
| 6 | Crush Peach Soda | Soda | 49g |
| 7 | Sunkist Fruit Punch Soda | Soda | 48g |
| 8 | Rockstar Original Energy | Energy | 47.3g |
| 9 | MUG Cream Soda | Soda | 47g |
| 10 | Martinelli's Gold Medal 100% Apple Juice | Juice | 46.8g |
| 11 | Mountain Dew Original Soda | Soda | 46g |
| 12 | Mello Yello Citrus Soda | Soda | 46g |
| 13 | Rockstar Punched Fruit Punch | Energy | 45.8g |
| 14 | Sun Drop Citrus Soda | Soda | 45g |
| 15 | MTN Dew AMP Energy Original | Energy | 43.5g |
Juice vs. Soda vs. Energy Drinks
Grouping the 15 drinks into their three categories and averaging each tells the headline story:
- Juice — 51.8g average. The four 100% juices (Tropicana Grape, Welch's Concord Grape, POM Pomegranate, and Martinelli's Apple) average the most sugar of any category. "100% juice" means no added sugar, but fruit is naturally loaded with it.
- Soda — 47.6g average. The eight sodas land in the middle. Crush Pineapple leads the category at 51g, with Welch's Sparkling Grape and Crush Peach close behind at 49g.
- Energy drinks — 45.5g average. The three energy drinks average the least sugar per 12 oz. Rockstar Original tops its category at 47.3g, while MTN Dew AMP Energy Original is the single lowest-sugar drink across all 15 at 43.5g.
Despite their reputation, energy drinks rank last among the three categories by sugar content at this serving size, while 100% fruit juices — often perceived as the healthier choice — rank first.
The Catch: Container Size Changes Everything
The 12 oz comparison is the fairest way to rank sweetness per sip, but it is not how much sugar you actually drink from a typical container. Energy drinks are the clearest example: they are usually sold in 16 oz cans, not 12 oz.
A full 16 oz can of Rockstar Original contains roughly 63g of sugar — more than any single soda can in this ranking, and more than a 12 oz Coke and Pepsi combined. Scaled to its actual can, Rockstar Punched delivers about 61g and MTN Dew AMP about 58g. So while energy drinks are the "lowest sugar" category per 12 oz, the way they are sold flips that result for real-world intake.
Juices cut the other way. POM Wonderful's common single-serve bottle is 8 oz (about 34g of sugar), and Martinelli's apple juice ships in a 10 oz bottle (about 39g). Their per-12-oz figures here are scaled up to the standard serving so they can be compared fairly. Soda cans are natively 12 oz, so their label values are used directly — which is why the soda figures double as real per-can numbers.
A Quick Note on the MUG Drink
The MUG entry in this ranking is MUG Cream Soda (47g of sugar per 12 fl oz can, USDA FoodData Central ID 2657771), not MUG Root Beer. Root beer is lower, at 43g per can, so the 47g figure points unambiguously to the Cream Soda.
The Bottom Line
If you are watching sugar, the label on the front of the bottle can be misleading. Per identical serving, 100% juice is the sweetest of these drinks, soda sits in the middle, and energy drinks have the least — but because energy drinks come in bigger cans, a single purchase can still hand you the most sugar of all. The smartest move is to read the total sugars per container, not just per serving.
Methodology & Data Sources
Sugar values are sourced from USDA FoodData Central Branded Foods entries and manufacturer nutrition labels (PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, The Coca-Cola Company, and Welch's), then standardized to a uniform 12 fl oz (355 mL) serving so all 15 drinks are compared on the same basis. Products natively sold in other sizes (16 oz energy cans, 8–10 oz juice bottles) are linearly scaled to 12 oz; soda cans are natively 12 oz and use label values directly. Category averages: Juice (57 + 52.5 + 46.8 + 51) / 4 = 51.8g; Soda (51 + 49 + 49 + 48 + 47 + 46 + 46 + 45) / 8 = 47.6g; Energy (47.3 + 45.8 + 43.5) / 3 = 45.5g. Label values can vary by ±2g across retailers and reformulations. All data current as of June 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tropicana 100% Grape Juice has the most sugar of the 15 drinks ranked here, at 57g per 12 fl oz (355 mL) serving — more than any soda or energy drink in the comparison.
On a standardized 12 fl oz serving, yes. The four 100% juices average 51.8g of sugar, ahead of the eight sodas at 47.6g and the three energy drinks at 45.5g. "100% juice" has no added sugar, but it is naturally very high in fruit sugar.
Per 12 fl oz, yes — energy drinks average 45.5g, the lowest of the three categories. But energy drinks are usually sold in 16 oz cans, so a full can of Rockstar Original actually delivers about 63g of sugar — more than any single soda can in this list.
It is MUG Cream Soda, which has 47g of sugar per 12 fl oz can (USDA FoodData Central ID 2657771). MUG Root Beer is lower at 43g per can, so the 47g figure identifies the Cream Soda.