In a twist that has left even ardent sports card enthusiasts scratching their heads, 2025 is the year of the Pokémon in the grading universe. Once the underdog in a world dominated by baseballs, basketballs, and gridiron warriors, Pokémon cards have now surged past their sporty counterparts, marking a pivotal shift in the world of collectible card grading. According to the latest revelations from GemRate, if you’re submitting a card for grade, there’s a 97% chance it comes from the fantastical realm of Pikachu and his pocket-monster pals.
This year’s data paints a clear and colorful picture: Pokémon and other non-sports Trading Card Game (TCG) cards have taken the lion’s share, accounting for 59% of all graded submissions across the industry’s chief grading services in the first half of the year. Scanning the horizon of collectibles, a staggering 7.2 million TCG and non-sports cards passed through the meticulous scrutiny of graders from January to June. That’s a 70% escalation from last year, a boom driven by nostalgia, strategic gameplay, and perhaps a bit of Pikachu-powered magic.
In stark contrast, sports cards—those venerable totems of athletic admiration—saw a decline, dipping to a measly 5.1 million submissions, which translates to a 9% fall from previous figures. My, how the tables have turned in stadiums and grading stations alike.
Standing victorious among the graded is the Japanese Iono’s Wattrel Battle Partners Promo No. 232, leading the charge with over 45,600 sets of eagle eyes appraising its quality. Yet, the true mascot of this frenzy is none other than Pikachu, who claims the spotlight with a startling 345,000 graded entries this year alone. If collectors flaunt trophies, then they surely boast of the “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat” variant—born out of the Van Gogh Museum collaboration—now famed as the most frequent visitor to PSA’s appraisal benches, with near to 84,000 submissions to its name. Despite its ubiquitous nature, snagging a PSA 10 still holds a prestigious premium, fetching prices north of $900 as collectors vie for perfection.
In this era where sport merges with spectacle, sports cards have become an endangered species on grading lists. Of the PSA’s hallowed top 100 list, only three non-TCG cards manage to sneak in. These disparate newcomers include the 2024 Panini Prizm Jayden Daniels rookie, a Panini Instant Caitlin Clark WNBA ROY card, and another Jayden Daniels print from Donruss, each boasting submissions between 8,800 and 10,500. The sports arena might feel sparse and quiet, while Pokémon’s realm reigns should parade to the tune of marching drummers.
Unpacking the figures from June furthers the narrative, with TCG and non-sports cards comprising 63% of all submissions. PSA itself graded a whopping 911,000 cards in this category, easily surpassing the total sports card count—743,000—across all major grading firms.
Enter CGC Cards, triumphing on the wings of Pokémon’s ascent. This year alone, CGC has evaluated 2.18 million cards, nudging ever-so-close to matching last year’s total output in record time. It’s a tale of more than just numbers, as over 1.8 million of these treasures hailed from the TCG or broader non-sports universe.
Meanwhile, poor Beckett seems to have taken a tumble, slipping to the fourth rank among top graders. Their once-pristine numbers shrank to 366,000 cards graded—over half of which were TCG or Pokémon-related.
Now, some may speculate whether PSA’s uptick in Pokémon submissions is driven by sheer popularity, or whether their strategic alliance with GameStop has spotlighted them as the go-to grading service. Ever since the partnership materialized in October, it has ushered in over a million submissions, feeding the fiery furnace of this grading phenomenon.
The fever extends far beyond grading rooms to the bustling aisles of retail stores, where Pokémon products fly off shelves faster than a Quick Attack. With new editions barely touching down before disappearing into waiting hands, retailers cope by deploying restricted sales limits to appease the masses yearning to catch ‘em all. The Pokémon craze seems unstoppable, its momentum akin to a rolling Snorlax—slow to start but undeniably mighty once it gets going.
This narrative, unfurling in hobby shops and grading labs worldwide, confirms it: if collectibles were a sports league, Pokémon surely has secured its spot in the playoffs for the foreseeable future.
