Since 2026 is already set to become a new record-breaking year for assets under management and estimated net inflows into the global ETF industry, it would be a surprise if there weren’t also exceptionally high estimated net inflows into some ETFs around the world.
Since the global ETF industry is dominated by the U.S., it is no surprise that 11 of the 12 best-selling ETFs globally were domiciled in the U.S., while one was domiciled in Ireland (Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF). That said, the best-selling ETF from Asia (Taiwan) came in as the fourteenth best-selling ETF globally.
The stunning thing about these estimated net inflows over the course of the first five months of 2026 is the fact that these 12 ETFs enjoyed all estimated inflows of more than $10.0 bn. Overall, these 12 ETFs enjoyed a stunning $254.2 bn in estimated net inflows.
Graph 1: The 12 Best-Selling ETFs – January 1, 2026 – May 31, 2026 (in bn USD)
The 12 best-selling ETFs 2026 globally
LSEG-Lipper
Source: LSEG Lipper
The best-selling ETF was the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) with estimated net inflows of $62.4 bn. This ETF was followed by the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPY) (+$36.7 bn) and the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund; ETF (+$24.4 bn). While the differences in estimated net inflows between the best-selling ETF globally and second best-selling ETF, as well as between second and third best-selling were quite large. As graph 1 shows, this gap got much narrower further down the list.
When it comes to the high level of inflows, it was surprising to see the Roundhill Memory ETF (+$12.3 bn) on this list, since this ETF was launched on April 1, 2026. Hence it made it on the list despite the fact that it had three months less to gather inflows than the 10 other ETFs on this list. The second ETF which was not available over the full five-month period was the ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF (+$22.0 bn).
These two ETFs show that new products are still able to gather significant amounts of money, even as the U.S. ETF industry is highly concentrated with regard to the assets under management and the estimated net flows. Obviously the same is true for the global ETF industry. That said, the global ETF industry shows in general more diversification on various levels when it comes to the concentration of assets under management and estimated net flows.
To answer an open question which might be at the back of the heads of the readers, I have chosen the 12 best-selling ETFs, as these had all inflows above $10.0 bn, hence a natural milestone to determine the constituents of such a review.
The views expressed are the views of the author, not necessarily those of LSEG.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice.
