It is the lovechild of Gangnam Style and Crazy Frog – so it was almost inevitable that merchandise spun out of the viral Baby Shark song and video took toy shops by storm. Demand for a range of the battery-operated singing toy sharks is so high that the first container load will have sold out online before they even arrive in the UK next month, according to the toy chain The Entertainer. “The last time I saw anything like this was Crazy Frog,” Stuart Grant, the retailer’s sourcing director, says. In 2005, the Crazy Frog ringtone famously outsold Coldplay’s Speed of Sound as Britons raced to purchase the ringtone with its distinctive “a ring ding ding” hook.Grant predicts the toys – with the cheapest selling for £7, rising to £25 for a model that gyrates in time to the music – will be among the most-coveted this Christmas. Baby Shark has blockbuster sales potential. In South Korea, the merchandise is a $100m (£76m) business that spans soft toys, T-shirts and duvets.
