In the world of collectibles, 2025 stands as a monumental year for Pokémon trading cards, which have effectively seized the grading throne, casting a shadow over the once-dominant sports card arena. According to a fascinating new report from GemRate, an authority on collectible card data, Pokémon cards now represent a whopping majority of third-party grading submissions, claiming 97 of the top 100 most-graded slots at PSA, the giant of card grading.
To frame this in perspective, the landscape of card submissions has seen a tectonic shift. Trading card games (TCG) and non-sports cards accounted for 59% of all graded submissions across the four ruling authenticators during the first half of the year. That’s an impressive slice of a market traditionally inclined towards sports memorabilia.
You might wonder just how ubiquitous these colorful creatures have become. From January through June, a jaw-dropping 7.2 million TCG and non-sports cards were shuffled off for grading, marking a substantial 70% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, their sporty counterparts were left in the dust, tallying 5.1 million submissions, which is notably down by 9% compared to the previous year.
The Pokémon juggernaut is powered by specific cards that capture the avid collector’s heart. The standout star, as of now, is the Japanese Iono’s Wattrel Battle Partners Promo No. 232, creeping into 45,600 submissions this year alone. Yet, Pikachu still reigns supreme. With more than 345,000 graded specimens surfacing in 2025, it truly is the franchise mascot. Of particular note is the sensational “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat,” an artistic gem from the Van Gogh Museum collaboration. It boasts nearly 84,000 graded entries and continues to excite with PSA 10 examples fetching over $900, despite their prodigious numbers.
By contrast, sports cards find themselves at a modest showing in this grading melee. Only three managed to cut into PSA’s top 100. The 2024 Panini Prizm Jayden Daniels rookie card, the 2024 Panini Instant Caitlin Clark WNBA ROY card, and another Jayden Daniels card from Donruss, each pulled between 8,800 and 10,500 submissions, a far cry from the Pokémon dominion.
A closer look at June’s monthly data underscores this evolving trend. TCG and non-sports cards were the breadwinners, constituting 63% of all submissions, with PSA independently grading 911,000 such cards. Meanwhile, the entire spectrum of sports card submissions across all four major companies stacked up to just 743,000.
The windfalls of this TCG surge are being differently managed by the major grading behemoths. CGC Cards, for instance, has staunchly ridden the Pokémon wave, grading a remarkable 2.18 million cards in 2025, effectively mirroring its whole output from the previous year. Among these, a staggering 1.8 million were TCG or non-sports cards, illustrating where collector fervor currently rests.
In contrast, Beckett’s performance has seen a significant dip. Now trailing in fourth place among the grading giants, it has graded 366,000 cards in 2025, with a fair chunk—214,000 units—being Pokémon or TCG-related.
PSA’s exponential growth this year can partly be chalked up to their strategic alignment with GameStop. This fruitful collaboration since October has generated more than 1 million grading submissions, effectively catalyzing this year’s boom.
As Pokémon’s charm conquers the collector’s world, its ascendancy echoes across the retail landscape too. Store shelves are frequently wiped clean, lines lengthen as fans wait to secure new releases, and retail stores struggle to enforce limited-per-customer restrictions. With enthusiasm coursing at an all-time high, the franchise’s grip on trading card hobbyists shows no signs of abating. This remarkable shift heralds a new era in the collectibles industry, one where chimeric creatures wield the scepter once firmly in the hands of athletic greats.
