Gone are the days when the sports fan in the grading community smugly declared victory over their non-sport counterparts—at least for now. In the epoch of 2025, Pokémon cards have dramatically overshadowed their traditional sports card peers in the grading arena. Data from GemRate has unveiled an emphatic shift towards non-sports collectibles, with Pokémon roaring ahead, dwarfing the once-unshakable bulwark of sports cards.
Rub your eyes if you must, but you read that correctly: Pokémon cards have staked their claim as the sovereign rulers of the grading empire, with 97 of PSA’s top 100 most-graded cards belonging to the Pokémon franchise. This trend is a seismic leap that snapped the very foundations of the collectible card market, with trading card games (TCG) and other non-sports cards amassing a colossal 59% share of all grading submissions across the major authentication players in the first half of the year.
Numbers, dear reader, do not lie. A staggering 7.2 million TCG and non-sports cards paraded through graders’ lips from January to June. Compare this with sports card submissions, which tottered along at a modest 5.1 million, showcasing an outright fall from grace—a 9% plummet, no less. Picture this, a 70% spike in year-over-year submissions for TCG and non-sports cards spotlighting a cultural shift of epic proportions.
Leading this colorful cavalcade is none other than Japan’s own Iono’s Wattrel Battle Partners Promo No. 232, capturing imaginations and submissions alike with a mind-bending 45,600 entries. Yet, do not let these numbers eclipse the protagonist of every Pokéfan’s dream—Pikachu. The yellow pocket monster has electrified 2025 with over 345,000 graded replicas. The standout piece, “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat” from the storied Van Gogh Museum collaboration, has nearly nudged its way into 84,000 grading hands, making it PSA’s most-favored Pokémon slip of all time. You could call it the Mona Lisa of the newcomer generation, with some PSA 10 examples commanding princely sums exceeding $900.
The sports card contingent, meanwhile, as expected, has barely tiptoed onto the grading Red Carpet. Mere three submissions scrambled into PSA’s top 100: the 2024 Panini Prizm Jayden Daniels rookie at #347, the 2024 Panini Instant Caitlin Clark WNBA Rookie of the Year card, and another Jayden Daniels offering from Donruss at #389. Each holds a meager 8,800 to 10,500 submissions: numbers an ardent Pokémon collector could muster while sleepwalking.
June’s breakdown solidified this remarkable turn of tides. TCG and non-sports submissions clocked a commanding 63%, with PSA’s 911,000 graded pieces standing in sharp contrast with the 743,000 sports card total churned out by the four grading heavyweights combined.
CGC Cards appears to have caught the right wind in its Pokémon sails, riding this Pikachu-induced wave. With 2.18 million cards appraised so far in 2025, they’ve nearly met their preceding year’s total—and we’re barely halfway past the calendar. Out of these, a whopping 1.8 million were TCG or non-sports ventures.
On the other hand, Beckett, detrimentally conspicuously lukewarm, with a marked plunge ranking it in the fourth position among mainstays, grading only 366,000 cards, of which 214,000 were Pokémon or TCG-related. One might call it a case of taking a Charizard’s fire blast and feebly retaliating with a water pistol.
PSA’s surge owes a tip of the hat to its timely union with GameStop. This dynamic duet has shepherded over 1 million submissions into PSA’s ever-swelling troves since its October inception, fanning the flames of this phenomenon with the intensity of an unbridled Typhlosion.
Retail has not lagged—Pokémon’s grip is ironclad. With new sets evaporating from store shelves faster than a Rare Candy boosts a Gyarados, it’s a marvel of modern consumer culture. Long lines snake outside hobby shops, enthusiasts jostling for their treasure, supplies rationed under limited-per-customer spells.
2025 serves as a testament to Pokémon’s indelible impact. As sports cards stumble for traction, and Pokémon continues to enthrall every child’s spirit (and adult collector’s pride), this juggernaut of vibrantly inked cardboard seems poised to roll ever forward, unyielding, unstoppable, and undeniably compelling.
