Yorkshire Tea has been revealed as the seventh top brand in the UK, beating Apple, Waitrose and YouTube, according to the annual YouGov BrandIndex.

The traditional tea brand is a newcomer to the top ten list, with a score of +10.1, in the index which measures the public’s perception of brands on a daily basis.

In truly British style the brand displayed modesty as it tweeted a screenshot of the ranking on Twitter with the caption “Blimey! Is that a misprint?!”

It set itself the target of becoming the UK’s second largest tea brand and it made a heavy investment in TV ads as well as marketing promotions last year, including the release of a special edition tea to mark the birth of Princess Charlotte.

The brand’s head of brand marketing Kevin Sinfield said the ranking was a “huge, huge compliment”.

He said: “We do things properly at Taylors of Harrogate so we put the same amount of passion into building genuine connections with our drinkers, as we do into our teas. We believe we’ve made it on the list because we’ve focused our communications on our values and what we stand for, and it feels like more and more people want to be a part of that.”

For the second year in a row, Aldi and Lidl fill the two top spots.

Aldi takes the top spot with an average Buzz score of +19.7. Lidl follows closely behind on +17.5. The rest of the top five is filled by BBC iPlayer (+13.5), John Lewis (+12.1) and Dyson (+11.6).

The other top ten brands are made up by YouTube, MoneySavingExpert.com, and Apple and Waitrose (in joint tenth).

The rankings were compiled using Buzz scores from across the year. Buzz scores measure whether people have heard good or bad news about a brand during the previous two weeks.

YouGov BrandIndex UK’s director Sarah Murphy said: “Aldi and Lidl hold the top two spots in our rankings for the second year in a row but their marketing strategies have evolved over the past 12 months. While they have always marketed themselves being value for money the emphasis now is on the quality side of that bargain and not just the cost.

“Their ongoing store opening programme, including plans for far larger stores, cements the impression that both Aldi and Lidl have made the leap from ‘challengers’ to central players in the industry. The embrace of the recommended living wage by both was popular among consumers, helping them stand out as brands that do right by their staff, particularly as some rivals were seen to be undecided on the issue.’’

YouGov BrandIndex also ranks the “most improved” brands of 2015. Following a punishing 2014, the Co-operative Bank tops the list, having made great strides in its recovery.

Tesco ranks second highest in the “most improved” list but still came out with a low score of -12.