License Global, a leading source of news and trends for the global consumer products and licensing industry, has recently released the ranking of the Top 150 Global Licensors, which provides retail sales data by licensor, key insights and trends for the world's major brands.

According to this year's report, which covered the major sectors of entertainment, character, fashion/apparel, sports, corporate brands, art and non-profit, the total retail sales of licensed merchandise reached an impressive US$272.2 billion in 2016, up from US$262.2 billion in 2015.

The top 10 global licensors reported retail sales of US$143.7 billion in 2016, accounting for about 53 percent of all overall retail sales of the top 150.

The Walt Disney Company has been the No. 1 global licensor, with the retail sales of licensed merchandise reaching US$56.6 billion in 2016, US$4.1 billion more than the previous year.The strong performance was driven by its diverse offerings such as the iconic Star Wars franchise, Finding Dory, Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Zootopia and Moana, among others.

Meredith Corp. came second, with a reported US$22.8 billion of revenue, followed by clothing magnate PVH, which reported US$18 billion in global retail sales.

The following are the top 10 global licensors.

 IMG College Licensing (Collegiate Licensing Company)

IMG College Licensing [File photo]

Global retail sales in 2016: US$4.5 billion

Industry: Education

Website: www.clc.com