Halloween 2011: It’s Time for Candy Corn and Chocolates, Too [PHOTOS]

Halloween is a treasured American holiday, and candy has a special place on this occasion.

It has been reported the average American eats 24 pounds of candy a year, and most of that is likely consumed right around this time. Americans purchase nearly 600 million pounds of candy a year for Halloween.

About 90 million pounds of chocolate candy is sold during Halloween week, which gives it a strong lead compared with other holidays. More than 10 percent of annual candy sales are recorded over the days leading up to Halloween, which comes to almost $2 billion in sales.

Chocolate is clearly the preferred choice of sweets for many. Of the $1.9 billion spent on Halloween candy each year, $1.2 billion is spent on chocolate candy and only $680 million is spent on other candy.

However, the top-selling candy is candy corn. Americans purchase over 20 million pounds of it a year. Closely following it are other best sellers such as Snickers, Reese's, Kit Kat, and M&M's.