Tencent, a Shenzhen-based internet giant, claimed the top spot on the list of the BrandZ? Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands in 2015. The list was recently released by WPP Group, one of the world's leading communications services companies and its global research agency Millward Brown.

The company, which ranks as the most valuable Chinese brand for the first time, boasts a brand value of US$66.1 billion, a 95-percent increase from 2014. It is followed by China's biggest online commerce company Alibaba, which generated a record-shattering US$25 billion IPO in September 2014.

China Mobile, which has stayed in the top position since the ranking was established in 2011, slipped two spots to third this year.

The aggregate brand value of the top 100 is US$464.2 billion, up 59 percent compared to 2011.

The report shows that "tech companies have become brand powerhouses."The tech category, with a total brand value of US$106.9 billion, accounts for 23 percent of the aggregate value of the top 100. It has outpaced financial institutions to become the highest-value category.

Brands from private enterprises, or market-driven brands, have seen rapid value growth over the past few years. This year, three market-driven brands made their way into the top five, all of them in 2011 state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The presence of Chinese brands in the world has increased. China's PC giant Lenovo (ranked 21st with a brand value of US$3.3 billion) and telecommunications solutions provider ZTE (48th with US$1.1 billion) generated half of their revenues in the overseas market.

Ctrip, an online tour operator, is the only brand in its industry on the list. The company ranked 44th with a brand value of 1.2 billion, a 71 percent increase.

This year's ranking is based on the financial data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel and evaluation of the opinions of a total of 23,000 Chinese consumers, according to the WPP official website.

The following are the top 20 most valuable Chinese brands in 2015.

  Bank of Communications 中國交通銀行

Category:Bank

Brand value 2015 (US$M):3,829

Brand value change 2015 vs 2014:-22 percent

Rank change:2