The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats are large cap, well known S&P 500 companies that have consistently increased dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years. Many of the companies have above average dividend yields, price appreciation and dividend growth.

Currently, 59 companies from 10 sectors qualify as Dividend Aristocrats. Here are the top 10 Aristocrats by real dividend growth from 1997 and 2007 (last day).

• Lowe’s (LOW ) - 22.02%
• McDonald’s (MCD) - 21.88%
• M&T Bank (MTB) - 20.19%
• Aflac (AFL) - 18.73%
• Wal-Mart (WMT - 17.48%
• Pfizer (PFE) - 14.76%
• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) - 13.25%
• Kimberly-Clark (KMB) - 12.37%
• Auto Data Processing (ADP) - 12.27%
• State Street (STT) - 11.97%

See Dividend Aristocrats - A Few Truly Great Stocks for more information about these and other Dividend Aristocrats.