Nerds Gummy Clusters made Nerds cool again. What’s behind the obsession?

They’re “the best thing to ever be invented.” For some they’re an “unhealthy addiction.” Others, meanwhile, are using them to fuel their marathons or adding them to “candy salads.”

Nerds Gummy Clusters, which are bite-size, sweet gummy balls coated in tangy, crunchy Nerds candy, are behind the exponential growth of Nerds Candy. The product is beloved by some of the most-followed influencers on the planet, including Alix Earle and Kylie Jenner, and the popularity of these clusters comes at a time when candy is reigning supreme in the food market.

Nerds Candy launched Nerds Gummy Clusters in 2020, two years after it was bought by Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Company. Prior to the release of the clusters, all Nerds Candy products combined brought in under $50 million. As of October 2024, sales of Nerds Gummy Clusters alone surpassed $500 million, according to Circana — a 900% increase in the sales of all Nerds Candy products. Now, according to the Morning Consult, Nerds Candy is one of the fastest-growing brands for women, and No. 17 on the list of fastest-growing brands for Gen X.

Candy brands like Nerds now have an advantage over the market. In 2024, the cost of chocolate reached new heights due to the higher cost of cocoa. Nerds are able to innovate at a lower price point than their chocolate competitors and can therefore bring in new customers through different products and variants.

Meanwhile, younger individuals — teens to adults in their 40s — are showing a preference for chewy and sour treats, Sally Lyons Wyatt, an analyst at market research firm Circana, told the Washington Post in Oct. 2024.

Though more people are still choosing chocolate over candy when it comes to sweets, candy sales are growing faster — and that bodes well for the continued success of Nerds Candy.

Nerds nailed the eating experience

Before there was Nerds Gummy Clusters, there was Nerds Rope, which is still sold today. Instead of a candy you can pop in your mouth, Nerds Rope is a gummy rope coated in full-sized Nerds. It inspired what would become Nerds Gummy Clusters, according to Katie Duffy, vice president of global brands at Ferrara.

Eating Nerds Rope is a “multi-sensorial eating experience,” Duffy tells Yahoo Life, meaning “flavor, texture and color” are all combined into one, but it wasn’t the easiest food to eat. The Nerds easily fall off the rope, which you have to hold the entire time you’re eating. Enter: Nerds Gummy Clusters, with smaller Nerds coating the cluster for an even better mouthfeel (the way food or drink feels in your mouth).

Food scientist Bryan Le Quoc tells Yahoo Life that a large part of the candy’s success is due to “its unique composition, which is made of a chewy center coated in mini Nerds candy bits, in equal weights.”

“This ratio and combination gives consumers the sweet, sour and crunchy experience of Nerds in a softer delivery system,” he says. This “textural contrast” likely causes the “addictive appeal” of the candy — you simply “do not want the experience to end,” Quoc explains.

Nerds Gummy Clusters, he says, also don’t have much of an aftertaste, which may keep you reaching for more “without being overwhelmed or growing tired of it.”

Fans agree: “Can’t stop eating them,” Redditor The_Thundertaker wrote on a thread praising the candy, noting the clusters have “great flavor with the crunch and gummy center.” Sauerkraut916 called them “very, very addictive” and “saliva inducing tiny pleasure nuggets.”

As Redditor Rough-Fill8101 put it: “Back in my day we had to chew a rope. You kids have it easy these days.”

The mess is gone

Duffy called the consumer perception that Nerds are too messy of a candy — because of its small pieces, which can easily spill out of the box — one of the brand’s biggest “challenges.” Nerds Gummy Clusters, however, are now minus that element, creating a delivery system for Nerds that don’t involve accidentally spilling them everywhere.

The much less messy clusters, Duffy notes, helped “bring more customers” to the brand who could have a better eating experience. She speculates that the lack of mess may be why women are more interested in clusters than other varieties of Nerds candies.

Celebrities are on board

There was a time when Ferrara thought Nerds Gummy Clusters was a gamble. Initial consumer testing was mixed, according to the New York Times. Then Jenner stepped in. The mogul — who, at the time, was the most-followed person on Instagram — took to social media to declare Nerds Gummy Clusters delicious.

“Kylie Jenner was entirely organic,” Duffy says. That Instagram Story — in which Jenner said the candy was “next level” — was the brand’s “first really big celebrity hit.”

“Google searches from that day really indicated that she created some interest — people were like, ‘What is this?’” Duffy notes. “But I would say it's been a pretty consistent drumbeat since the launch … of celebrities discovering this product.”

Other fans of the candy, Duffy says, include influencer Alix Earle, Jimmy Fallon and the Kelce brothers. When Nerds sees celebrities gushing over the clusters, they will often follow up with publicists and send them product, Duffy says. “Sometimes we'll get posts out of that effort as well,” she adds.

They’re jumping on big moments — with big stars

Last year, TikToker turned pop star and actress Addison Rae starred in a Super Bowl ad for Nerds Gummy Clusters. In the ad, an animated gooey center of a Nerds Gummy Cluster danced to Irene Cara’s “What a Feeling” — reminiscent of the iconic scene from the 1983 movie Flashdance — before being doused with Nerds candies. When the camera zooms out, Rae is sitting on the couch, snacking on the candy.

“Obviously, we know that she's a very popular figure within Gen Z and in the TikTok world,” Duffy says. “She's authentically a fan of the product, and we were very excited to work with her.”

This year, the brand is bringing on another star for its Super Bowl ad: singer Shaboozey. The new ad features the return of the cluster character from Rae’s ad — this time leading a second-line band along the streets of New Orleans. It’s set to Shaboozey’s remake of New Orleans native Louis Armstrong’s hit “What a Wonderful World.”

Nerds is switching things up

“There’s a large and vocal demand for new Gummy Cluster flavors and new experiences,” Duffy says. Now there’s a Valentine's, Easter, Halloween and holiday variety of Nerds Gummy Clusters to correspond with each season.

And it’s not just seasonal flavors that are making a splash. “Recently, we’ve brought forward a fun rivalry with some limited-time offer flavors, timed for football season,” she says. “So we've got a red, white and blue variety that's called Berry Punch Rush that's competing against the OG flavor combination called Grape Strawberry Blitz.”

No matter which Nerds Gummy Clusters you choose, it’s clear these candies are here to stay. Don’t be shocked if you see them at your next Super Bowl party — and if the hype is any indication, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy them just as much as Shaboozey and Rae.