Do you remember the first celebrity whom influenced a purchase? For me, it was pre-middle era and it was Kathy Ireland’s clothing line at Kmart. In the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space there’s no shortage of celebrity-backed products. These ones are a step beyond ambassador relationships, but include investment aspects.

With social media making celebrities more accessible to consumers, it’s not surprising that celebrities are taking a more active role in their CPG investments. This has led to what feels like a surge of celebrity-backed beverages.

“There has certainly been a lot of activity in celebrity endorsed brands,” says Brian Sudano, CEO of S&D Insights, Norwalk, Conn. “Not all are successful. Much is dependent on how authentic they are and true to celebrity values. Active celebrity participation on social media also plays a big role. That said, the number of celebrity brands is getting crowded. Perfect example is Messi’s Mass+ brand in sports drinks following up on Prime’s.”

Sudano explains that although the celebrity backing can provide brands with excitement and noise, the impact on beverage categories has not changed much.

An area where there is no shortage of celebrity backing has been in the alcohol space. For instance, in June, brothers, Jason and Travis Kelce, were announced as significant owners and operators of Garage Beer, a small-batch brewed, classic light beer company founded in their home state of Ohio. And coinciding with a surprise Super Bowl after party in Las Vegas, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg kicked off the rollout of Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop, the first ready-to-drink product from their new premium spirits company.

“Beverage alcohol traditionally is the most active space due to its lifestyle orientation and messaging coupled with higher margins,” Sudano says. “Today it seems like all the A list celebrities has a Tequila as an example.”

Recently, QR Code Generator calculated which alcohol brands are the most popular, based on Instagram and Google search data. The study looked at the average number of monthly searches for more than 150 celebrity alcohol brands. This analysis included data for the name of the alcohol brand, and the celebrity’s name alongside their alcohol product. This was combined with the alcohol brand’s number of Instagram followers, and an equal weighting was applied to both criteria to create a total index score out of 100, it explained.

With an index score of 95.4 out of 100, Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila topped the list, with 818 Tequila registering 1.2 million Instagram followers and generating a monthly average of 76,150 Google searches in the United States, QR Code Generator shared.

“This new data reveals the widespread popularity of celebrity alcohol brands in America, with several brands attracting over 20,000 monthly Google searches on average, or over 100,000 Instagram followers,” said Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator, in a statement. “Tequila brands in particular are popular, with the drink comprising five of the top 10 spots on the list. Other common choices for celebrity endorsed alcohol brands include spirits such as rum, gin and whiskey.

“While a member of the Kardashian family ranking number one is unsurprising due to their huge celebrity status and name recognition, many A-List stars’ brands are further down the list than would possibly be expected due to their huge fame, such as Mariah Carey and Robert De Niro,” he continued. “This just goes to show that there are many variables determining whether a celebrity alcohol brand is successful or popular, and that these companies can rarely rest on the strength of the celebrity’s name alone.”

But with so many celebrity-backed beverages in the market, are we finally approaching the peak?

“Celebrity-backed beverages go through ebb and flows,” S&D Insights’ Sudano says. “Although many have become engaged recently, it is likely to decelerate over the next several years and then accelerate again. When you look at celebrity backed brands, they tend to be in categories that are growing rapidly.  Then a large number will chase the growth cycle than it eases until another category’s growth explodes.”

Time will tell what is to come next, but with the growth in tequila/mezcal, ready-to-drink cocktails and non-alcohol, I won’t be surprised if we see more celebrities popping up in these categories.