Sales of Diet Coke officially passed Pepsi-Cola's to become the No. 2 soft drink in the U.S. last year, according to data just released by trade journal Beverage Digest. That is a first for Diet Coke and bestows bragging rights on Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., now has the top two soft drinks in the U.S.
Coca-Cola Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co.now has the top two soft drinks in the country.

Last year, sales of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke fell by half a percentage point and one point, respectively. But those were less steep than Pepsi-Cola's, enabling Diet Coke to pass Pepsi-Cola.

The overall soft drinks category shrank for the sixth straight year, although the decline was less dramatic than in 2009, according to Beverage Digest. Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Coca-Cola both gained market share while PepsiCo lost it.

With the volume declines of the last six years, the category's volume is back down to about where it was in 1996, eliminating years of growth, Beverage Digest said. The industry grew roughly 3 percent a year in the 1990s before starting to decline in 2005.