This year’s top-selling specialty license plate in Texas is ‘Classic Black’ — a mid-1900s design that has regained popularity in the Lone Star State.
The second-most popular specialty plate in 2023 is Classic Black Silver, according to My Plates, the company the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) contracted with to design, market, and sell plates such as Classic Black and others.
“In all, over 90,000 My Plates specialty license plates were sold during the last 12 months across 271 unique designs, with Classic Black racking up just over 15,400 of those sales,” My Plates announced in a press release. “The popularity of this design reaches back to the mid-1900s when a general issue Texas license plate featured a full black background. Ever since this plate was released in 2016, it has held the honor as the top selling plate in Texas.”
Every specialty plate in Texas can be found on the company’s website.
The company has created more than 500 plates that include military, college, professional sports, and Texas themes. The top-selling college-branded plate was Texas A&M University, with just over 1,200. In the organization category, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Bluebonnet design was the highest-selling plate, just ahead of the Monarch Butterfly plate.
And in the pro sports category, the Dallas Cowboys beat Austin FC for the top-selling plate. According to the company’s website, “The TxDMV contracts with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to manufacture all license plates. The plates are made by offenders at the Wynne Correctional Unit in Huntsville.”
The Classic Black and Classic Black Silver plates start at $90 a year. According to My Plates, part of each plate purchase is sent to the state’s general fund. Since November 2009, the program has generated more than $130 million.