Drivers have been chasing different versions of perfect for more than a century. They've gone from looking for the cheapest way to get off a horse to finding the flashiest fins in the neighborhood, before eventually chasing bulletproof commuters and electric crossovers. In every era, a few models don't just sell in huge numbers — they become the default car you picture when you think of that decade.
Here, we walk from the 1920s to the 2020s, over 100 years of following the cars that combined sales dominance with cultural impact. You will see how Ford built the first true people's car, and how post-World War II icons reshaped family life and youth culture while some vehicles quietly became the global default. You will see how the feel of the truck and SUV combined with the family sedan emerged later in the 1990s, and how modern EVs of today have managed to turn an electric crossover into the best-selling vehicle in the world.
Most popular here means more than a single sales trophy in one country. These are the models that show up in registration stats, advertising, and family photo albums over and over again. Exact rankings can shift depending on region, but historians, automakers, and long-term sales data all keep pointing to the same machines as the cars that defined their eras.
By the 1920s, Ford's Model T — which had been on sale since 1908 — wasn't just a car. It was the car. Ford's moving assembly line and relentless cost-cutting meant that Model T got cheaper as it improved, putting ownership within reach of farmers, factory workers, and small-town shopkeepers. In the U.S., the Model T routinely made up a huge slice of all cars on the road, and it held global production records long after it went out of production.
Ford built millions of Model Ts in multiple body styles, from bare-bones runabouts to enclosed sedans, and the car helped standardize things like left-hand drive and pedal layouts. It also changed how people lived. Rural families could get into town in minutes instead of hours, and businesses reorganized themselves around trucks and delivery bodies based on the Ford Model T platform. Today these cars are still seen as collector's items, and some have even turned their Model Ts into beastly hot rods.
Even when Ford finally retired the Model T in 1927 and rolled out the more modern Model A, the Model T's shadow still covered the decade. The Model A drew massive crowds at launch and racked up millions of sales in just a few years, but it was really riding the wave that the T had created. If you looked at a busy American street in the 1920s, odds were good most of the cars in the frame wore Ford badges and tall, boxy Model T bodies.
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The economic hardships of the '30s pushed buyers to chase maximum value for every dollar, and Chevrolet's Master and Master Deluxe sedans hit that bullseye. Chevy leaned hard into affordable six-cylinder power, roomy interiors, and surprisingly upscale styling for the price. The result was a family car that felt a step up from bare-bones transportation without asking buyers to stretch their budgets to the breaking point.
Under the hood, Chevrolet leaned on smooth inline-six engines and improvements in ride and comfort that made long trips easier. Annual styling updates kept the Master looking fresh even when money was tight, and reliability helped it become a favorite for drivers who chose the Chevrolet over the Ford.
That value play is what helped Chevrolet overtake Ford in U.S. sales in the early 1930s. The Master and Master Deluxe became the default mainstream sedans in driveways across the country. These were the cars that let the people have an affordable vehicle during the Great Depression, and they dislodged Ford as the de facto leader in vehicle sales during this time.
Few American vehicles in 1940s were as visible than the Jeep. The wartime Willys MB wasn't built to win beauty contests – it was built to win a world war. Lightweight, simple, and tough, it served as everything from battlefield runabout to field ambulance and portable tractor.
The Jeep's layout was brutally functional. It had flat fenders you could sit on, a fold-down windshield, and four-wheel drive that could push through mud, sand, and snow for maximum usability. It was designed to be shipped overseas and field-repaired with basic tools, which made it beloved by mechanics and drivers alike. Military leaders valued it because it could scout, haul radios, and move officers with equal ease, often in places where heavier trucks would bog down or break. Photos and newsreels from the era are packed with Jeeps splashing through rivers and maintaining military logistics.
After the war, Willys handed that reputation over to the civilian CJ, and the Jeep quickly moved from trenches to farms, construction sites, and hunting trails. It helped invent the idea of a go-anywhere utility vehicle long before SUV existed as a marketing term. In terms of sheer cultural imprint and how often it appeared on newsreels, postcards, and in people's memories, the Jeep was the 1940s icon on four wheels. Even today, the Willys MB still has the goods.
If you close your eyes and picture a 1950s American car, chances are you see something that looks a lot like a Chevrolet Bel Air. The Tri-Five Chevy, produced from 1955 to 1957, in particular nailed the mid-century formula. These cars had chrome for days, sharp tailfins, two-tone paint, and V8 power under the hood. They were priced for middle-class families but looked like something out of a futuristic ad, which is exactly what Chevrolet was aiming for.
Chevy's new small-block V8 gave the Bel Air real performance, and buyers could order everything from mild family cruisers to hotter two-door hardtops that became favorites at local drag strips. The car's styling and options made it a staple of 1950s pop culture, and it's still one of the most recognized shapes in classic-car sales, posters, and model kits.
However, there is another era-defining vehicle from the 1950s alongside the Chevrolet Bel Air. The Volkswagen Beetle, which first appeared in 1938, was quietly building a huge presence overseas and increasingly gaining a foothold in the U.S. The Beetle offered basic, air-cooled durability and was increasingly becoming the transportation of choice for students, workers, and families in dense European cities. Still, when it comes to defining American postwar optimism on four wheels in the 1950s, the Chevy Bel Air wears the crown.
The 1960s belonged to the Ford Mustang. When it debuted in 1964, Ford priced it within reach of younger buyers, gave it sporty proportions, and let customers choose from a menu of options and engines. The result was more than 400,000 Mustangs sold in the first year and over a million by 1966. It didn't just launch a model — the Mustang launched the entire pony-car segment.
Built on humble Ford Falcon bones but wrapped in long-hood, short-deck styling, the Mustang became the official car of the Baby Boom. You could have a basic six-cylinder commuter, a V8 GT, or a convertible that looked at home on any beach town strip. It starred in movies, TV shows, and quickly became visible in the media over the years ahead.
Meanwhile, the Volkswagen Beetle was still quietly becoming the world's favorite anti-Mustang. It was still slower and simpler, but was increasingly seen just about everywhere, especially among European and American buyers who wanted cheap, durable transportation. It was the other car filling 1960s college parking lots. But in terms of defining 1960s youth culture and performance on a budget, the Mustang is still the car that made every high-school parking lot feel like a pit lane.
By the beginning of the 1970s, cars had become more complicated, more powerful, and were using more fuel. Unfortunately, the rest of '70s were not kind to thirsty, complicated cars as two oil crises and growing concerns about reliability pushed buyers toward compact, efficient models. So is it any surprise that the Corolla, which delivered simple engineering, good fuel economy, and a reputation for reliability, thrived during this era? It wasn't glamorous, but it quietly climbed sales charts around the world as families and commuters looked for something that simply worked.
Toyota kept refining the Corolla with each generation, adding small comforts and safety features without overcomplicating the basic formula. These vehicles and their parts were relatively affordable and made regularly available to drivers around the world. By the end of the decade, the Corolla had become a serious global volume leader, especially as Toyota expanded its footprint in North America and Europe.
At the same time, the aging Volkswagen Beetle had finally passed the Ford Model T in 1972 as the best-selling car, but it was also fading. Production was shifting and newer models replacing it in many markets. In a lot of places, the car parked where a Beetle used to live was now a Corolla.
In the 1980s, the Volkswagen Golf finished the job the Beetle started and took over as Volkswagen's global workhorse. The first and second generation Golfs learned from the past and improved on what people liked about the Beetle. It was still compact, efficient, and durable, but now wrapped in a modern hatchback layout with front-wheel drive and more usable space. It became a fixture on European roads and a serious player in other markets.
The Golf's boxy shape made it easy to park yet roomy inside, and the hatchback configuration made space for furniture, luggage, and family. It arrived in affordable base trims and nicer versions that nudged the car toward premium territory. The GTI hot-hatch variants added performance credibility on top of the everyday practicality, turning the Golf into both a family car and an enthusiast favorite.
The Golf's appeal was the roles it could play. For some it was a simple commuter, others it was a family's only car, and for some it was a GTI with a dream of rally stages. They were easy to service, tough enough for daily abuse, and familiar to mechanics almost everywhere. Sales numbers reflected that. The Golf climbed to the top of European registration charts and would eventually surpass the Beetle's production totals.
The 1990s were the decade when Americans decided they wanted to sit higher, and the Ford Explorer was one of the vehicles that made it happen. When it arrived for the 1991 model year, the Explorer took what would become the basics of an SUV and wrapped them in something that felt familiar to minivan and wagon buyers. It had four doors, real back seats, and enough comfort and features to be the default family car.
Underneath, the Explorer offered four-wheel-drive capability and towing ratings that fit boats, campers, and weekend projects. Inside, it had a nice interior and trim packages that felt like a well-equipped sedan. It showed buyers they could have truck toughness without giving up daily-driver comfort, and that mix proved irresistible in suburbs across the country.
Sales followed. The Explorer quickly topped segment sales charts and spent years as one of the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. It helped normalize the idea that a family daily driver could be a truck-based SUV rather than a sedan or station wagon, and it helped further pave the way for the SUV and crossover wave that came later. If you picture a 1990s suburban driveway with a boxy SUV next to the basketball hoop, odds are it's wearing a Ford Explorer badge.
In the 2000s, the Toyota Camry became the go-to answer for drivers who just wanted a good car. It wasn't the most exciting midsize sedan, but the Camry had a reputation for reliability, comfort, and low running costs that few rivals could touch. Year after year, it topped U.S. passenger-car sales charts, often by a comfortable margin.
Toyota leaned in with conservative styling and a focus on refinement rather than flash. Multiple engine options and even an early hybrid version arriving for the 2007 model year made it easy to tailor the car to budgets and commuting needs. Dealers loved Camrys because they were easy to sell new and used, and owners loved them because they rarely did anything surprising — they just worked, and then kept on working. By the mid-2000s, the Camry had become a familiar sight, the kind of four-door appliance people bought once and barely thought about because nothing ever went dramatically wrong.
That consistency mattered. Fleets bought Camrys because they were easy to live with and extremely reliable. Families bought them because everyone knew someone whose Camry had crossed 200,000 miles without drama. As the SUV shift picked up speed, the Camry held on as the archetypal sedan of the decade.
By the 2010s, the Toyota Corolla had quietly become the world's favorite car. In 2017, Toyota celebrated 50 years of the Corolla. While models like the Camry dominated U.S. sedan sales, the Corolla was doing work on a much larger stage, piling up tens of millions of cumulative sales in markets from Asia and Europe to Africa and Latin America. In global nameplate rankings, the Corolla sat at or near the top as the best-selling passenger car in the world as it marked its 50th birthday.
The formula didn't change much. It was always compact, reasonably priced, and backed by a reputation for durability that made it a go-to choice for first-time buyers, families, and taxi fleets alike. This allowed the Corolla to become woven into different lives all over the map. In many cities, Corollas also became the common ride-share and cab, quietly racking up brutal mileage with few complaints.
New generations added more safety tech, better fuel economy, and slightly sharper styling, but the core mission stayed the same. It remained a dependable small car that didn't demand much from its owner. If you landed in a random city in the 2010s and looked around the nearest intersection, there was a good chance at least one Corolla was idling at the light, doing exactly what it was built to do.
The 2020s are still being written, but one milestone is already locked in – the Tesla Model Y has become the first fully electric vehicle to top global sales charts. It hit the sweet spot of current buyer tastes with a compact crossover footprint, lots of cargo space, and the kind of tech-heavy cabin that makes smartphones feel old-fashioned. When you add in access to a large fast-charging network and, in many markets, tax credits or other incentives, the Model Y had a strong tailwind from the start.
It also arrived at a moment when more countries were tightening emissions rules and pushing electrification, which pushed buyers who might have considered a gas compact SUV into an EV instead. The Model Y's shared components with the Model 3 helped Tesla ramp production quickly and offer multiple trims that balanced range, performance, and price.
What makes the Model Y's surge so significant is who it beat. For the first time, an EV nameplate outsold long-established gasoline favorites that had dominated for decades. It shows how quickly most popular can shift when infrastructure, regulation, and consumer interest all tilt in the same direction. Whatever ends up defining the 2030s, the Tesla Model Y will be remembered as the car that proved an electric crossover could be the world's best-selling car.