Ahead of Nike’s ‘Air Max Day’ on March 26, research conducted by sports fashion retailer JD reveals that the most popular franchise in the collection on TikTok is the Air Max 95.
With over 379 million hashtag views, the Air Max 95 takes the number one spot on the video-led social media platform.
The Air Max 95 – designed by Sergio Lozano and introduced in 1995 – has become a staple in young sneakerheads’ collections and therefore no surprise to see it viewed the most on TikTok
Next on the list was the Nike VaporMax with 332 million hashtag views on TikTok – behind the 95 by just shy of 50 million views, the VaporMax is a much newer addition to the Air Max family.
Released in 2017, VaporMax was launched to mark the 30th anniversary of the first Air Max sneaker and is still proving to be a hit amongst the sneaker community.
The third most popular Air Max on TikTok is the Air Max 97, with views totaling over 241 million.
Initially released as a running shoe, the 97 was said to be inspired by high-speed Japanese bullet trains.
It seems the trainer is still a hit among the TikTok generation, with nearly a quarter of a billion hashtag views.
Next on the list is the Air Max 90 with 216 million views on TikTok. Released in 1990 originally as the Air Max III, the trainer has gone from strength to strength and cemented itself as one of the all-time classics in the collection.
The fifth most-viewed on TikTok is the OG silhouette – the Air Max 1. This trainer has become the flagship for the Air Max collection and has gone down in history as the design that elevated the brand to what it is today. The Air Max 1 has now been viewed over 128 million times on TikTok hashtags.
Following the Air Max 1 is the Air Max 270, which has just under 100 million hashtag views; the 270 was named so for the 270 degrees of visibility in the Air unit around the shoe.
After the 270 comes the Air Max 98, which has accumulated 212 million views on the social media platform.
The list is rounded off by the Air Max 720, Air Max 96, and Air Max 93, which have acquired 162 million, 3 million, and 830,000 hashtag views, respectively.
TikTok was just one metric of JD’s index into the most popular Air Max silhouette, three additional data points were measured to ascertain the most popular trainer: Google search volume, appearances in TV and film, and mentions in song lyrics.
The most Googled Nike Air Max is a tie between the Air Max 90 and the Air Max 95 – both styles are searched online 1 million times each month.
This is followed by the Air Max 97 which acquires 823,000 online queries every four weeks, while the 270 has 550,000.
The Vapormax is searched 368,000 times a month whereas the Air Max 1 – the trainer which started it all – is searched 301,000 times.
Air Max 720 and 98 both had 90,000 Googles, and rounding off the list were the 96 and 93, on 60,000 and 22,000 each.
The Air Max that was seen most on film and TV over the past year was the Air Max 90, which was spotted on 17 different films and TV shows, including Barbie, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Behind the 90 was the Air Max 97, which appeared on screen 7 times in productions like A Good Person and Gen V.
The Vapormax was third, spotted on screen three times, whereas the Air Max 98 and 95 were both on once.
When it comes to the most popular Air Max in song lyrics, the Air Max 90 takes the accolade. The sneaker is mentioned in 84 songs including ‘Paper Route’ by Australian hip-hop artist Hooligan Hefs.
The Air Max 95 was second on the list, appearing in lyrics on 77 occasions. Songs include ‘Don’t Trip on Me’ by will.i.am and ‘Awesome’ by Snoop Dog.
In third was the Air Max 97 with 53 placements in music, followed by Air Max 1 with 14 and Air Max 98 and 270, both with six.
Beyond that came the Vapormax and 720 on four and three, with the Air Max 93and 96 on one-a-piece.
Scores were then weighted using the normalised score method, an average score across all four metrics was then calculated for each trainer before being multiplied by ten to give a score out of ten.
The Air Max 90 scored 8.94 out of ten in the index after being seen on screen 17 times over the past year and being mentioned 84 times in song lyrics – more than any of the other trainers.
The 90 was also joint-most searched on Google with 1 million queries per month, along with the Air Max 95.
In fact, it was the Air Max 95 that came second in the index with a score of 7.44 out of ten. The trainer was most popular on social media platform TikTok, with over 366 million hashtag views, 35 million more than the Vapormax.
Occupying third place was the Air Max 97 which scored 6.29, following the 97 was the Vapormax, 270, and 1 respectively.
