It’s amazing to see what some companies are worth these days, but also no surprise considering the contributions they make to the market. Their value is more than just what they have in the bank and their assets; the world-class brands top companies possess have considerable weight as well. When it comes to brands, Apple is leading the pack these days.

Forbes recently posted a list of the top 100 Most Valuable Brands in the world, and Apple easily conquered this list, with a brand value of $145.3 billion (an increase of 17 percent over last year) and a brand revenue of $182.3 billion. In addition, the company also spends a whopping $1.2 billion in advertising, making it the clear leader in the Technology department.

The rest of the top ten are easily recognizable names, but the distance between first and second place are staggering. Taking the second place spot is Microsoft, whose brand value is nearly half that of Apple’s at $69.3 billion. However, it has $93.3 billion in brand revenue, and spends $2.3 billion in advertising – nearly twice what Apple spends. Nevertheless, second place isn’t a bad place to be, as Microsoft shows a ten percent increase in value change over last year.

Rounding out the top ten in brand value are Google ($65.6 billion), Coca-Cola ($56 billion), IBM ($49.8 billion), McDonald’s ($39.5 billion), Samsung ($37.9 billion), Toyota ($37.8 billion), General Electric ($37.5 billion) and Facebook ($36.5 billion). Each of these companies show a positive increase in brand value over the previous year, save for McDonald’s, which decreased by a paltry one percent.

Other noteworthy names on the list include Disney (at #11, with $34.6 billion), Amazon (at number #13 with $28.1 billion), and Pepsi, way down at #29 with $19 billion – a distant second from its rivals at Coca-Cola.

This list has a lot in common with Brandz’ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list, which we reported on earlier in the year. Apple was number one on that list as well, but Google was a close second on that particular list, followed by Microsoft, IBM and Visa. Obviously, some changes are notable here, especially when it comes to the technological side of things. Still, for comparison’s sake, there are some interesting statistics here.

The entire list can be found here, and features a variety of companies in various areas, including Alcohol, Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services and even Tobacco. However, Technology seems to be the stronger category, as six of the top ten companies specialize in this field. And with Apple and Microsoft ruling the roost with a big lead, that’s not likely to go away anytime soon.