Kayla Zhu
2025-04-10 10:51:00
www.visualcapitalist.com
The 10 Largest S&P 500 Companies From 1985 to 2024
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The S&P 500’s top companies are often considered industry leaders and bellwethers of the broader market, and typically make up a substantial share of the index’s total market cap.
The top 10 company rankings have fluctuated significantly over time, as shifts in technology, consumer behavior, and economic cycles have propelled different industries—and the companies leading them—to the forefront.
This visualization shows the 10 largest companies in the S&P 500 by their share of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization from 1985 to 2024.
Data comes from Goldmans Sachs and the American Enterprise Institute.
Tech Companies Are S&P 500’s New Leaders
Below, we show the 10 largest companies by share of total market cap by year.
Editor’s Note: the data series here is less comprehensive than in the graphic, which shows each complete set of years.
| Rank | 1990 | % | 2000 | % | 2010 | % | 2024 | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IBM | 2.9 | General Electric | 4.1 | Exxon Mobil | 3.2 | Apple | 7.0 |
| 2 | Exxon Mobil | 2.9 | Exxon Mobil | 2.6 | Apple | 2.6 | Nvidia | 6.4 |
| 3 | General Electric | 2.3 | Pfizer | 2.5 | Microsoft | 1.8 | Microsoft | 6.4 |
| 4 | Phillip Morris | 2.2 | Cisco Systems | 2.4 | General Electric | 1.7 | Alphabet | 6.2 |
| 5 | Royal Dutch Shell | 1.9 | Citigroup | 2.2 | Chevron | 1.6 | Amazon | 3.8 |
| 6 | Bristo-Myers Squibb | 1.6 | Walmart | 2.0 | IBM | 1.6 | Meta Platforms A | 2.4 |
| 7 | Merck & Co | 1.6 | Microsoft | 2.0 | Procter & Gamble | 1.6 | Eli Lilly | 1.8 |
| 8 | Walmart | 1.6 | American International | 2.0 | AT&T | 1.5 | Broadcom | 1.6 |
| 9 | AT&T | 1.5 | Merck & Co | 1.8 | Johnson & Johnson | 1.5 | Tesla | 1.4 |
| 10 | Coca-Cola | 1.4 | Intel | 1.7 | JPMorgan Chase | 1.5 | JPMorgan Chase | 1.2 |
Tech companies have quickly become the leaders of the S&P 500, despite barely appearing in the top 10 before 2000.
In 2024, companies like Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, and Meta made up the majority of the top 10 largest companies of the index.
Looking at the past, consumer staples and iconic brands like Phillip Morris and Coca-Cola were once giants in the S&P 500 but no longer crack the top rankings.
Similarly, oil and gas once ruled the market, with ExxonMobil consistently ranking near the top from 1985 through 2005 before being overtaken by tech.
While these major tech companies dominate the top rankings in terms of market cap, other sectors have been seeing stronger returns in recent months.
The energy sector led all others in returns during the first quarter of 2025, while information technology lagged near the bottom—reflecting a shift toward more defensive investor positioning amid economic uncertainty.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
To learn more about the various sectors of the S&P 500, check out this graphic that breaks down the Q1 2025 performance of every sector in the S&P 500.
The post Ranked: The Largest S&P 500 Companies Over Time (1985-2024) appeared first on Visual Capitalist.
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