Which convenience store onigiri rice balls are the most popular? Survey reveals surprising results

There’s one rice ball that everyone chooses at Lawson, 7-Eleven, Mini Stop and Family Mart in Japan.

If you were to step inside a Japanese convenience store and reach for a rice ball, which one would you choose? That’s the question the Onigiri Association seeks to answer to in its annual Convenience Store Onigiri Popularity Survey, sent out to the nation’s top four convenience store chains – Lawson, Family Mart, 7-Eleven and Mini Stop – between January and December every year.

Now, the data for 2025 has been collated and the results are in, revealing that certain types of customers go for different onigiri, and there was one rice ball so popular it ranked in the top spot across all convenience store chains.

▼ So let’s take a look at the top three best-selling onigiri rice balls at each chain, and the general type of customer buying them, starting with 7-Eleven.

1. Nori-wrapped Tuna Mayonnaise (Men in their 50s)
2. Nori-wrapped Red Salmon & Salt (Men in their 60s)
3. Seaweed (Men in their 50s)

▼ Next up, Family Mart.

1. Nori-wrapped Tuna Mayonnaise (Men and women in their 20s-40s)
2. Nori-wrapped Salmon (Men and women in their 20s-40s)
3. Nori-wrapped Soy Sauce Tuna Mayonnaise (Men and women in their 20s-40s)

▼ And at Lawson?

1. Nori-wrapped Tuna Mayonnaise  (Men and women in their 40s)
2. Soy Sauce Tuna Mayonnaise  (Men in their 30s-50s)
3. Nori-wrapped Kelp (Men in their 50s)

▼ And finally, Mini Stop.

1. Nori-wrapped Tuna Mayonnaise
2. Nori-wrapped Salmon (with barley)
3. Nori-wrapped Red Salmon

Mini Stop was the one chain who didn’t reveal the demographic of customers buying up their onigiri, but one thing was clear – regardless of the customer’s background, there was one rice ball everyone was reaching for across all four convenience store chains.

▼ Tuna Mayonnaise.

This particular rice ball goes by different Japanese names depending on the chain, with some referring to it as “シーチキンマヨネーズ” (“Sea Chicken Mayonnaise”) or ツナマヨネーズ (“Tuna Mayonnaise”), but the English rendering on the packs is consistent, with “Tuna Mayonnaise” printed on them. The popularity of this combo has long been a top seller, and it remains the top choice despite massive price hikes across the board.

7-Eleven rice balls increased by a whopping 50.2 yen (US$0.32) from 2024 to 2025, followed by a 43-yen increase at Lawson, 41.04-yen increase at Mini Stop and 24-yen increase at Lawson.

Image: Press release

The results of the survey indicate that seaweed and salmon are the two other varieties that rank in the top three most popular convenience store rice balls, and having previously tried them in a taste test, we have to agree.  So next time you find yourself standing in front of the rice ball shelves at a convenience store, you might want to keep these top three varieties in mind, and don’t forget that the nori used to wrap them tastes different if you buy them in Kyoto.

Source: Press release
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