Ah, Pokémon, the colorful crinkly treasures that lured us into their spellbinding allure from the schoolyard days of the ’90s, are back with a vengeance in 2025. Not just the relics of childhood camaraderie, these cards have stormed the ramparts of the collecting world, leaving a thrumming reverberation that echoes louder than a Pikachu’s thunderbolt. This isn’t just nostalgia at play; it’s a full-blown takeover of the grading submissions landscape, long governed by sports cards. As of now, Pokémon isn’t just playing the game—they’re winning it.
According to GemRate, a mystical oracle of card grading statistics, Pokémon cards account for a staggering 97 out of the 100 most-graded cards with PSA. These whimsical, pocket-sized masterpieces have dominated the grading world to an extent that makes this not just a fad, but rather a renaissance. You could say that Pokémon has laid down a challenge and sports cards have dialed back their once-dominant advance.
The sheer volume is bewildering. In the first half of the year alone, 7.2 million TCG and non-sports cards were whispered into the cold, calculating embrace of graders like PSA and others—a crisp 70% uptick from the previous year. Sports cards, feeling a little slighted, have only managed 5.1 million submissions in contrast, marking a 9% slump. Is it the allure of augmented adolescence or simply the soaring tides of collectible culture? Perhaps a combination of both.
Leading the charge is the Japanese Iono’s Wattrel Battle Partners Promo No. 232. It’s a card that’s both a mouthful to name and a spectacle to behold, with more than 45,600 copies submitted for grading. Yet the champion remains precocious Pikachu—the face of this electric revolution, with over 345,000 Pikachu cards graded this year.
Standing atop this mountain of glossy cardboard is the bejeweled “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat,” part of an idiosyncratic collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum. Nearly 84,000 of these cards have nestled into PSA territory, declaring it the most submitted Pokémon card ever. And with PSA 10 examples netting prices over $900, one might say Pikachu’s value is only matched by its cuteness.
And where are the sports cards amidst this frothy chaos of TCG triumph? They are there, albeit with a subdued presence. Only three sports cards managed to reach PSA’s spotlight: a pair of Jayden Daniels rookie cards and a shining example of Caitlin Clark’s WNBA ROY card. Each was submitted about 8,800 to 10,500 times—a whisper in the clamor of Pokémon fever.
June 2025 painted the clearest picture yet—TCG and non-sports cards filled 63% of all submissions, revealing just how much juice is left in Pokémon’s battery. PSA was particularly prodigious, grading 911,000 non-sport and TCG cards, eclipsing the combined total of sports cards graded by the quartet of major grading companies. That’s what we call a landslide.
CGC Cards, hopping on the Pokémon train with the enthusiasm of a well-thrown PokéBall, saw its fortunes soar. In this Pokémon-drenched year, they’ve processed 2.18 million cards, nipping at the heels of all their 2024 outputs combined. Beckett, once a stalwart, appears to have misplaced its mojo, landing fourth on the leaderboard with a paltry 366,000 cards.
PSA’s success is fueled in part by their partnership with GameStop—the retail titan of video games still wielding considerable sway in the realm of card games. Since their October collaboration kickoff, they’ve ushered more than 1 million grading submissions through their doors, setting the stage for Pokémon’s paper empire.
Out in the real world, as palpable as Ash Ketchum’s boundless enthusiasm, is the retail bedlam surrounding the Pokémon card craze. Shelves are swept clean faster than you can say ‘Snorlax,’ lines at stores snake longer than an Onix, and buying limits remind devotees that nothing’s more relentless than a resurgent collectible craze. The demand is palpable, the frenzy real, and Pokémon’s grip on collectors’ hearts seems destined to endure long into the future.
