Walmart reveals the most bizarre top-selling items of 2018 in every state

AP/Gunnar Rathbun

Walmart has revealed its most surprising top sellers.

• Walmart.com analyzed the top-selling items across every state in the US and found some interesting patterns.
• While some states focused on electronics, like California and the Nintendo Switch, other states like Montana, Minnesota, and South Dakota relied on Walmart.com for essentials like their Folgers morning java.

Walmart.com is revealing the best sellers on its website throughout the year.

The online retailing arm of the shopping giant analyzed the top-selling items across every state in the US and found some interesting patterns. To create the map, Walmart excluded some top-selling items that were popular across the country, like HDTVs and private-label Mainstays pillows.

But digging in a bit more, there are some startling differences across the country.

While Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Virginia loved the whimsy of Crayola Crayons, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island were much more practical, with paper towels as their top-selling item.

The top sellers were determined by data from sales on Walmart.com, but they don't include Walmart's online grocery service.

Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Walmart's online sales had a good year in 2018, hitting a major milestone. The company leapfrogged Apple to become the third-biggest online retailer in America in 2018, according to eMarketer's latest forecast.

Read more: Walmart has a new initiative that proves it still has a serious edge against Amazon in one key way

According to eMarketer, by the end of this year Walmart will have 4% of all online retail sales in the United States, up from 3.3% last year. In terms of dollar value, those sales would total $20.91 billion. Ahead of Walmart is eBay, with 7.6% of US online sales, and Amazon, with a 48% share.

Walmart also posted strong online growth numbers over the course of the year.