Apple Tops 'World's Most Admired Company' List for 14th Consecutive Year

Apple continues to dominate Fortune's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies" for 2021, taking the top spot for the 14th consecutive year.

Technology and entertainment held the top four rankings, with Amazon claiming second place, followed by Microsoft in third, and Disney in fourth.

After a year in which humanity leaned more heavily than ever on tech giants—to connect, entertain, and even feed us in a time of isolation — it's fitting that Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft hold the top three spots in Fortune's ranking of corporate reputation. Apple, the premier personal-tech provider, tops the roster for the 14th year in a row, based on our poll of some 3,800 corporate executives, directors, and analysts.

Elsewhere, Netflix returned to the top ten, placing ninth, and Walmart and Target earned their highest rankings since 2011 and 2008. Nvidia and PayPal also earned a place in the top 50 for the first time.

The 50 companies selected for the 2021 Fortune rankings were narrowed down from an initial list of the 1,000 largest companies in the U.S. ranked by revenue and 500 non-U.S. companies from Fortune's Global 500 database with revenues of $10 billion or more.

Management consulting firm Korn Ferry then asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate companies in their own industry based on nine criteria, from investment value and quality of management and products to social responsibility and ability to attract talent, and select the ten companies they admired most.

While the result is not indicative of financial performance, the list does provide an interesting insight into how some of the world's best-known companies are perceived relative to each other.