The world's largest companies by revenue; how the rankings have changed since the pandemic

The ranking of the world's largest companies - by revenue - has changed considerably since 2020, with energy giants giving way to a growing mix of retail, technology and healthcare companies.

Visualcapitalist.com presents the ranking of the world's ten largest companies by annual revenue between 2020 (the year of the Covid pandemic) and 2026, using the latest available data from the Fortune Global 500. Revenue figures are for fiscal years (ending in March).

• Top Companies in 2020

In 2020, five of the world's ten largest companies by annual revenue were in the energy sector, led by Chinese oil refiner Sinopec (second place, with $407 billion). American retail chain Walmart ($524 billion) was the only company to generate more revenue than Sinopec that year, taking first place.

Chinese state-owned companies took three of the top four spots, while oil giants Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia; $330 billion) and BP (UK; $283 billion) also made the Top 10.

However, the effects of the pandemic have led to a decline in energy demand. As a result, all non-Chinese companies fell out of the top ten global names in 2021.

• Amazon's rise to the top

In 2026, no private energy company is among the world's top ten largest companies by revenue. Retail leads the way, with Amazon ($717 billion) narrowly edging out Walmart ($713 billion). Amazon's rise to the top of the world's largest companies is notable. In 2020, the company ranked ninth globally, with revenue of $281 billion. Its sales skyrocketed in 2020 and 2021 as consumers stayed home during the pandemic and ordered more online. Amazon climbed to third place in 2021 and ranked second in 2022, 2024, and 2025. In 2026, it surpassed Walmart by just $4 billion to take the top spot.

• Healthcare sector growing in importance

Healthcare companies have also gained significant ground over the period. Healthcare has become one of the largest economic sectors in major markets such as the US and Europe, in part due to aging populations.

Neither UnitedHealth Group nor CVS Health ranked among the top ten companies in the world by revenue in 2020. In 2026, UnitedHealth climbed to fourth place with revenue of $448 billion, while CVS Health ranked ninth with revenue of $402 billion.