From Chicago Tribune:
Coors Light surpassed Budweiser in 2011 to become the country's No. 2-selling beer, according to the trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights.
The milestone, which has been widely anticipated for more than a year, is the result of years of declines by Budweiser, the only full-calorie beer in the top five U.S. beers, according to data from SymphonyIRI, a Chicago-based market research firm.
Bud Light is the top-selling beer by a sizable margin. Miller Lite is fourth, with Natural Light rounding out the top five, according to SymphonyIRI data for the 52 weeks-ended October 21.
Coors Light, handled by Chicago-based Miller Coors, has been posting slow but steady growth.
"Dethroning the King is a great accomplishment so early in the history of MillerCoors," a MillerCoors spokesman wrote in an email.
"We will be appropriately celebrating this achievement with our employees and distributors who have worked so hard to deliver an impressive 7 consecutive years of growth on Coors Light and then getting back to work to deliver an 8th consecutive year of growth."
An Anheuser-Busch spokesman said the company's 2011 sales numbers won't be available until its earnings report in early March.
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