Older than you, still winning

Fragrance is a fashion business. New launches arrive by the thousand, every year. So it is worth paying attention to the ones that refuse to leave — bottles from the last century that people are still buying, still wearing, and still rating in their thousands.

We found 10 of them: released in 2000 or earlier, and rated by at least 3,000 people. Drag through them in order.

The eldest

Creed Green Irish Tweed is the oldest here, from 1985 — 41 years ago. Created in 1985 by Pierre Bourdon for the House of Creed, it pioneered a fresh green fougère later echoed by many mainstream colognes. It still averages 3.96 out of 5.

The most rated

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male, from 1995, has the biggest audience of the group: 25,000 ratings. Gaultier's sailor-torso icon — a lavender-vanilla 'barbershop' that defined masculine sweetness in the '90s.

Together, these 10 have been rated 102,365 times. The average score is 4.06.

For comparison, fragrances released since 2020 with a similar audience average 4.17. The newcomers edge it — but they have not had to last 41 years.

Why they last

There is no single reason. Some defined a category so completely that everything after is measured against them. Some were simply very good, and stayed in production long enough for each generation to discover them. Highest rated of the lot is Frédéric Malle Musc Ravageur, at 4.2.

And because they have been around long enough to be copied, 9 of these 10 now have alternatives in our index, many at a fraction of the price. Open any of them to see.