Anytime Fitness Ranks as Highest Fitness Brand on Entrepreneur’s Top Global Franchises List

Anytime Fitness topped the list of fitness brands on Entrepreneur’s 2021 Top Global Franchises List. It came in at No. 9 overall.

Anytime Fitness has appeared for 14 straight years on the Top Global Franchises list and seven times in the top 10. Anytime Fitness has more than 4,000 franchise locations on all seven continents – more than half outside the United States in more than 30 countries.

Entrepreneur released its full 2021 Franchise 500 list in January. The list included 19 fitness franchises. Throughout the year, Entrepreneur breaks down the list in a variety of ways, including its Top Global Franchises list, which is included in its July/August issue.

The Top Global Franchise list of 200 companies ranks brands based on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 formula but with adjustments to give extra weight to international size and growth, according to Entrepreneur. The only companies considered for the list were those seeking new franchisees outside the United States that had a minimum of five units open abroad as of July 2020.

All of the fitness brands on the Top Global Franchise list are:

  • Anytime Fitness No. 9
  • Planet Fitness No. 26
  • F45 Training No. 34
  • Crunch No. 41
  • 9Round Fitness No. 47.
  • Jazzercise No. 62.
  • The Exercise Coach No. 84
  • Snap Fitness No. 100
  • The Little Gym No. 106
  • 30 Minute Hit No. 140
  • Title Boxing Club No. 146
  • Tapout Fitness No. 156
  • Club Pilates No. 189
  • Oxygen Yoga & Fitness No. 195

Earlier in the year, Entrepreneur broke down its Franchise 500 list in other ways. It released its Top New Franchises list on which Xponential Fitness, which only had one brand (Club Pilates) on the Top Global Franchise list, had four of its nine studio franchises listed: AKT at No.77, Row House at No. 37, StretchLab at No. 49 and YogaSix at No. 42.

Xponential also had brands on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Franchises list this year: Club Pilates at No. 66, CycleBar at No. 78, Pure Barre at No. 76, Row House at No. 51, StretchLab at No. 59, and YogaSix at No. 80. The fastest-growing ranking identifies franchises’ ability to leverage their ability to scale quickly across the globe.

Other brands on the Fastest-Growing Franchises list included F45 Training (No. 8) and Anytime Fitness (No. 10), among others.

For this year’s Top Global Franchises list, McDonald’s came in as No. 1 of all brands, followed by mostly fast food chains until Anytime Fitness’ ninth ranking: KFC (No. 2), 7-Eleven (No. 3), Pizza Hut (No. 4), Dunkin’ (No. 5), Taco Bell (No. 6), Century 21 Real Estate (No. 7), Kumon Math & Reading Centers (No. 8).