US candle market retail sales

Forbes' count of Chinese billionaires and American candle sales, on the same upward path. Two different forms of luxury retail, served at very different price points, both receiving good news every year. The mansion and the mantle, agreed at last.

Forbes' Chinese billionaires count rose from about 70 in 2010 to over 600 by 2020 as the country's tech and property booms minted fortunes, before the 2021-2023 downturn trimmed the list. US candle sales grew steadily across the same window thanks to the home-fragrance and self-care category expansion, a category that survives because it serves a small, daily emotional purpose at low cost. Two stories about disposable spending, separated by several orders of magnitude, sharing a decade because the 2010s rewarded most consumer categories that someone wanted.

The same decade made one form of buying possible and another form irresistible. Both ledgers ended in black.