BofA Brand Leading Indicator Rankings – 2026
Bank of America’s Brand Leading Indicator evaluates 43 luxury brands using three digital metrics – social‑media followers, search activity and website traffic – with a 60 % weighting on momentum and 40 % on overall digital presence. The latest quarterly assessment, covering the first half of 2026, identified Prada as the overall leader, followed by Michael Kors in second place and Alaïa in third.
Prada’s top‑rank position was sustained across both Q1 and Q2, confirming its strong digital momentum. Michael Kors experienced a notable three‑month surge after Google searches rose sharply in April and May, propelling the brand from 33rd in the first quarter to a top‑three position in the second quarter. Alaïa maintained its second‑place standing throughout the period.
Chanel recorded the most dramatic improvement late in the period, climbing from 10th in April to first in June as consumer interest intensified around Matthieu Blazy’s new collection. In June, Alaïa and Coach occupied the second and third slots respectively.
Gucci’s quarterly momentum ranking advanced 20 places to finish sixth, driven by stronger U.S. website traffic, heightened search activity and promotional events. Saint Laurent rose five positions to 16th, while fellow Kering brand Balenciaga fell from 13th to 35th.
Within the LVMH portfolio, Loro Piana re‑entered the top‑10 at seventh place, Louis Vuitton moved up to 10th from 28th, and Dior slipped to 31st after a weakening of Chinese search activity throughout the quarter.
In the hard‑luxury segment, Swatch led the combined ranking, benefitting from online interest surrounding its Royal Pop pocket‑watch collaboration with Audemars Piguet. Jaeger‑LeCoultre and Tissot secured the second and third positions respectively.
Overall digital engagement for the soft‑luxury sector accelerated 18 % year‑over‑year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth. Google searches increased 47 %, website traffic rose 39 %, while activity on China’s Baidu platform declined 18 %. Even after excluding an unusually strong Google search spike, overall online activity improved by 7 percentage points from Q1, underpinning expectations of continued luxury‑demand recovery led by the United States and South Korea.