In the fantastical realm of trading card games (TCGs), 2025 is shaping up to be nothing short of a coup d’état: Pokémon cards have not only stormed the bastion—sports cards—but have seized the grading world by the pokéball. According to the latest statistical conjuration by GemRate, Pokémon cards have achieved dominance, with 97 of the top 100 most-graded cards at PSA coming from this beloved childhood franchise. The data suggests that TCG and non-sports cards now account for 59% of all graded submissions across the big four authenticators. It’s as if Ash Ketchum himself had just shouted, “I choose you, Pokémon cards!”
In the realm of card grading, 7.2 million TCG and non-sports cards found their way through the meticulous hands of authenticators from January to June, rocketing up by a staggering 70% year-over-year. Comparatively, sports card enthusiasts appear to be in a temporal time-out, with submissions dropping 9% to a humble 5.1 million within the same time frame. Goodbye, rookie cards of the sporting world, the Pokémon TCG leviathan indubitably says hello!
The glistening crown jewel of 2025’s grading avalanche is none other than the Japanese Iono’s Wattrel Battle Partners Promo No. 232, situating itself in the limelight with over 45,600 copies clamoring for grades. Yet, the unrivaled mascot of this cardboard empire, Pikachu, has garnered no less than 345,000 graded examples. At the forefront of this Pikachu parade is the illustrious “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat” from the Van Gogh Museum collaboration, a touch of oils and pastels swirling into 84,000 graded copies. Its PSA 10 rarities astonish collectors with price tags north of $900, proving once more that even in excess, there lies allure.
For those of the sports card domain, an introspective sigh might be in order. Ensconced softly among the top 100 are just three sports cards—the 2024 Panini Prizm Jayden Daniels rookie card (#347), the 2024 Panini Instant Caitlin Clark WNBA ROY card, and another Daniels issue from Donruss (#389), each receiving between a mere 8,800 and 10,500 submissions. It’s as if David meets Goliath, yet this time, Goliath has doubled down on Thunderbolt.
A peek into June’s annals reveals this Poké-centric momentum was no mere mirage. Within this span, TCG and non-sports claimed 63% of the month’s submissions, with PSA shining brilliantly, having graded 911,000 cards in these categories—a number that casually outshines the collective sports card tallies hitting 743,000 within the quartet of grading firms.
Over at CGC Cards, the Pokémon phenomenon unfurls as business gold. The company boasts a tally of 2.18 million graded cards, closing in on their prior year’s total with enamored zeal. A mammoth 1.8 million of these encompass the TCG or non-sports variety, illustrating this cultural zeitgeist’s monopoly in card grading.
In contrast, Beckett, another ceremonious name on any collector’s lips, has recently seen its numbers dwindle, now trailing as the fourth grader. From the 366,000 cards it has cradled in 2025, approximately 214,000 echo the spirit of Pokémon—or TCG-related ventures—yet the landscape speaks of eclipsed shade.
PSA’s feat has also been bolstered by a strategic alliance with GameStop, a partnership that has set sail since October. This collaborative ship has chartered standard grading submissions past the 1 million mark, flaming up this current ember of card enthusiasm.
On the commercial front, the avidity for Pokémon is only rivaled by those nightly news segments about unprecedented online queues. Consumers shuffle in long lines, shelves are barren by day’s end, and purchases are often confined by the dreaded “limited-per-customer” sticker—the retail odyssey of the fervent card collector.
Pokémon’s reign in card grading is all but secure, its grasp unyielding. Much like its core philosophy of “Gotta catch ‘em all,” enthusiasts are rallying to keep pace. While traditional sports cards might catch some sleep under the shadow of this majestic Charizard, Pokémon’s chokehold on this niche shows no signs of subsiding, confirming that in this realm, even our fantasies have a grading scale.