Every piece in sets, counted by colour and by year. Red, yellow, blue, white, black and green were — of the pieces in the 1970s and are — now. The palette grew to more than fifty colours, was cut back hard, and in 2004 the greys were replaced almost overnight.
Each column is one release year, split into 30 studs by share of colour. Greys sit at the bottom, then the classic six, then earth tones, then everything else. Hover a column for its full mix.
Faded columns come from fewer than 20 sets. Counting pieces lets big sets dominate; counting sets equally gives each box one vote.
In 2004 LEGO replaced its old greys with slightly blue-tinted ones, and swapped Brown for Reddish Brown at the same time. Fans have called the new greys "bley" ever since.
Old Light Gray and Dark Gray were — of all pieces in 2003 sets. In 2004 they were —, and — by 2006. The bluish greys went from — to — over the same two years. Brown followed the same path: it was — of pieces in 2003 and gone after —.
The swap is easy to miss. The old Light Gray and the new Light Bluish Gray are only a few shades apart, but builders with old collections could no longer match a wall. The house behind this page makes the same swap when you scroll past the charts.
Some new-grey pieces show up in 2003 because a set's year is its release year, and sets released late in 2003 already used the new colours.
Each bar stacks one small brick for every colour that made up at least 0.1% of that year's pieces. Below the line, each stud is a colour: new colours rise above the axis in the year they first appeared, and retired ones hang below it in their last year.
Through the 1970s a year's sets used about — colours that mattered. By — there were —. — colours first appeared between 1998 and 2004.
Then LEGO cut the list. By — it was down to —, and — colours made their last appearance between 2004 and 2008. Since then the count has climbed back to — in —, close to the old peak. The additions since 2010 are a different mix: Medium Nougat, the azures, the lavenders, and later Coral.
Arrivals and retirements only count colours with at least 100 pieces across all sets. A colour whose last year is 2024 or later is treated as still in use.
The same columns as the wall, grouped into six colour families.
For its first four decades LEGO was mostly the classic six: — of 1970s pieces were red, yellow, blue, white, black or green. In the 2020s that is —. Greys peaked at — of pieces in the 2010s. Earth tones (tan, browns and nougats) went from almost nothing to —. The fastest growth is in "everything else": — of 2020s pieces are colours like lime, azure, coral and sand green.
All pieces ever released in a theme, as one strip of colours. The number on the right is the share of greys. Themes with fewer than 40 sets, and catch-alls like Promotional or Seasonal, are left out.
— is the greyest theme: — of its pieces are grey. — uses the least grey, at —. The themes that stayed closest to the classic six are —.
"Most colourful" ranks by the effective number of colours: how many equally used colours would give the same variety.
Search by name or set number. The tray shows the set's colours scaled to 400 studs at most, with the full parts count by colour underneath. Use compare to put a second set beside it.