What does top banana mean?
A top banana is the person in charge: the boss, the leader, or the one who matters most in a group. If you are made top banana at work, you run the place. Merriam-Webster gives two senses: the leading comedian in a burlesque show, and more broadly a kingpin [2]. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as colloquial for the most important person, or occasionally group, within an organisation or field [3].
It is informal and usually friendly or slightly jokey. You would call a manager the top banana in conversation, not in a formal report. Similar phrases are “big cheese” and “top dog” [4].
Where does the phrase top banana come from?
The phrase comes from American burlesque and vaudeville, where comedians were ranked by billing much as boxers are ranked today [1]. The star comic at the top of the bill, who got the best lines and the biggest laughs, was the top or first banana. The comic who fed him lines was the second banana, and below that came the third banana [1].
The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation is from 1948, and researchers have since found a 1947 newspaper article about the comedian Phil Silvers with “Top Banana” as its headline [1]. In that article Silvers said the burlesque comic Harry Steppe had coined the term in 1927. That claim rests only on Silvers’s memory, so treat it as a story rather than a fact [1]. A rival account credits the comedian Frank Lebowitz, who reportedly used real bananas as props in his act [1][4].
The ranking itself is older than the printed phrase. A 1938 newspaper article about burlesque slang already used “third banana”, about a decade before “top banana” appears in print [1]. Silvers later starred in the 1951 Broadway musical Top Banana, which helped carry the phrase out of the theatre and into everyday speech [5].
Second banana and third banana
The opposite of a top banana is a second banana: a supporting figure, deputy or sidekick [1]. It is still used for vice-presidents, number twos in a company and the friend who always plays along. The other ranks in the same family of slang are:
- Second banana: a deputy or straight man who sets up the star [1].
- Third banana: a minor role, lower down the bill [1].
How to use top banana in a sentence
- “Ask Sarah, she’s the top banana in the finance team.”
- “After ten years he finally became top banana at the firm.”
- “Every band has a top banana, and in this one it’s the drummer.”
Because it is playful, it can sound mocking if you use it about someone who takes their status seriously. In a CV or formal letter, use “head”, “director” or “lead” instead.
The top banana of banana importing
Datamyne, a trade data company, borrowed the phrase for its infographic on the US banana trade, and the title fits. On the UN Comtrade figures in the graphic, the United States was the world’s biggest banana importer in 2015, taking in 4,613 thousand metric tons. That was more than three times the next country, Belgium, at 1,387 thousand tons, followed by Germany (1,226), Russia (1,217) and the UK (1,127) [6]. Belgium’s high place largely reflects the port of Antwerp, which handles bananas bound for much of Europe, not just for Belgium.
Bananas are also America’s favourite fresh fruit. The graphic quotes the USDA figure that Americans eat 10.3 pounds of bananas per person a year, ahead of apples at 9.9 pounds, and almost none of those bananas are grown in the US [6]. In 2013, bananas made up 39% of all US fruit imports by volume, far more than pineapples or avocados [6].
Where America’s bananas come from
Almost all US bananas come from Central and South America. Datamyne’s 2015 shipping data puts Guatemala first with 39% of import volume, followed by Ecuador (19%), Costa Rica (15%), Honduras (14%) and Colombia (6%) [6]. The busiest departure port was Puerto Barrios in Guatemala, with 28% of container volume [6].
On the US side, Wilmington in Delaware handled 34% of banana containers arriving in 2015, ahead of San Diego (11%), Gulfport in Mississippi (10%), Port Hueneme in California (9%) and Freeport in Texas (8%) [6]. Imports run all year, with the monthly figures in the graphic peaking in March and lowest in January [6].
Who are the top bananas of the banana business?
A handful of companies dominate. In 2015 Dole imported 35% of US bananas by volume and Chiquita 29%, so the two together brought in nearly two thirds of the total. Del Monte had 6%, Turbana 2% and Walmart 1% [6]. Chiquita has a long history in the trade: its shipping arm, Great White Fleet, was once part of the same group, United Brands. In 2014 Chiquita agreed to merge with the Irish fruit company Fyffes, but its shareholders voted the deal down and Chiquita was bought instead by the Brazilian juice exporter Cutrale and the Safra Group [6][7].
The figures are from 2013 and 2015, published by Datamyne in 2016, so treat them as a snapshot of the trade rather than current numbers [6].
Questions about the top banana meaning
What does top banana mean in slang?
The boss or the most important person in a group. It started as theatre slang for the star comedian at the top of the bill in a burlesque show [1][2].
Where does top banana come from?
From American burlesque, where comedians were ranked as first, second and third banana. The earliest known printed uses of “top banana” date from 1947 and 1948, and “third banana” appears in print in 1938 [1].
What is the opposite of top banana?
Second banana, meaning a deputy, sidekick or supporting player [1].
Is top banana British or American?
American. It began in US burlesque and vaudeville, though it is understood and used in British English too [1][3].
Which country imports the most bananas?
The United States. In 2015 it imported 4,613 thousand metric tons, more than three times Belgium in second place, on the UN Comtrade figures Datamyne used [6].
Sources
- The Phrase Finder, Top banana, meaning and origin.
- Merriam-Webster, top banana.
- Oxford English Dictionary, top banana, n. and adj.
- Dictionary.com, top banana.
- Wikipedia, Top Banana (musical).
- Datamyne, US Import Trade in Bananas (archived copy of the creator’s page for this graphic) (sources: UN Comtrade, USDA ERS, Datamyne US Census and maritime import data).
- Wikipedia, Chiquita.
Last reviewed 2 November 2026
