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Crowded dealer tables on the show floor at Collect-A-Con 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona

ripschart · sourced and dated

The trading card boom, in numbers.

Record sales, grading volumes, card shows and shop openings across the US, Canada and the UK, for Pokémon, Magic, One Piece, Lorcana and the other trading card games, plus sports cards.

record price for a single Pokémon card
$16.49M
cards graded in October 2026
3.87M
card shows on our calendar
16

Collect-A-Con, Scottsdale, May 2026. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0

Record sales

Most valuable Pokémon cards ever sold

Public sale records · checked Nov 12, 2026

  1. 1 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo), PSA 10, as sold for $16,492,000 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo) PSA 10 · Goldin (auction) · Feb 16, 2026 · source $16,492,000
  2. 2 "Raincoat" Pikachu, Art Academy promo by Y. Fujishima (2015 Japanese XY promo), PSA 10, as sold for $8,400,000 "Raincoat" Pikachu, Art Academy promo by Y. Fujishima (2015 Japanese XY promo) PSA 10 · Fanatics Collect (auction) · September 2026 · source $8,400,000
  3. 3 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo), PSA 10, as sold for $5,275,000 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo) PSA 10 · Private sale · Jan 1, 2021 · source $5,275,000
  4. 4 Mudkip, Art Academy promo by Daisuke Ochiai (2015 Japanese XY promo), PSA 10, as sold for $4,880,000 Mudkip, Art Academy promo by Daisuke Ochiai (2015 Japanese XY promo) PSA 10 · Goldin (auction) · Oct 25, 2026 · source $4,880,000
  5. 5 Mudkip, Art Academy promo by Daisuke Ochiai (2015 Japanese XY promo), PSA 10, as sold for $3,720,000 Mudkip, Art Academy promo by Daisuke Ochiai (2015 Japanese XY promo) PSA 10 · Fanatics Collect (auction) · September 2026 · source $3,720,000
  6. 6 "Ivy" Pikachu, CoroCoro Comic glossy marketing variation (1996 Japanese), CGC 8.5, as sold for $3,300,000 "Ivy" Pikachu, CoroCoro Comic glossy marketing variation (1996 Japanese) CGC 8.5 · Private sale · August 2026 · source $3,300,000
  7. 7 Gold 1st Place Trophy Pikachu, 1st Tournament (1997 Japanese promo), PSA 8, as sold for $3,080,500 Gold 1st Place Trophy Pikachu, 1st Tournament (1997 Japanese promo) PSA 8 · Goldin (auction) · Oct 25, 2026 · source $3,080,500
  8. 8 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo), PSA 9, as sold for $2,700,000 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo) PSA 9 · Private sale · Aug 31, 2026 · source $2,700,000
  9. 9 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo), BGS 9, as sold for $2,000,000 Pikachu Illustrator (1998 CoroCoro Comic promo) BGS 9 · Private sale · Jul 22, 2026 · source $2,000,000
  10. 10 Bronze 3rd Place Trophy Pikachu, 3rd Tournament (1998 Japanese promo), PSA 10, as sold for $1,769,000 Bronze 3rd Place Trophy Pikachu, 3rd Tournament (1998 Japanese promo) PSA 10 · Goldin (auction) · May 2026 · source $1,769,000

See the full ranking and how each sale was checked →

Card photos: Guinness World Records; Sports Illustrated; WSB-TV. All credits

The grading boom

3.87 million

cards graded in October 2026 by the main grading companies, against 2.7 million a year earlier.

PSA
2.79M
CGC
966K
SGC
55K
TAG
53K

Source: sportscollectorsdaily.com · checked Nov 12, 2026

Open the grading tracker →

Logos: Collectors Universe, Inc; CGC logo by CGC, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. CGC is a trademark of Certified Collectibles Group; SGC; TAG Grading. All credits

Packed aisles between dealer booths at Collect-A-Con 2026
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0

Card shows coming up

All card shows →

Logos: Dallas Card Show; Collect-A-Con. All credits

Games

Every game, with releases and the numbers behind it

Image credits: Captain Galaxy, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Bandai; John Bowers, CC BY 2.0; Disney / Ravensburger; Yugioh Planet, CC BY 2.0; Konami; Riot Games; Baseball Collection, CC BY 2.0. All credits

All games · Release calendar

Data

Browse the data

All data

Image credits: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0; Tbatb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Daniel Ramirez, CC BY 2.0; Steven Groves, CC BY 2.0. All credits

Hand-painted "Sports Cards" and "Comics" signs on a hobby shop window
Photo: Big City Signs, CC BY 2.0

Directory

Find a card shop

Local game stores and hobby shops, listed by country with the source for each listing.

Chains in the directory include

Run a shop or a show? Get listed free.

Logos: CardVault; Hobbiesville; Travelling Man; Replay Sports Cards. All credits

Why trust the numbers

Every figure has a source and a date. If it isn't published, we say so.

Read the methodology

Months of grading data
32
Record sales ranked
23
Card shows listed
16
Source pages cited
69

How we check a number

  1. 1

    From the record.

    Sale prices come from the auction house's own result page, grading totals from the grading companies' reports, and crime figures from official records or our own public-records requests. Never from forum posts or screenshots.

  2. 2

    Recorded as published.

    Each figure is stored as the source states it, with a link to that page and the date we checked it. Where a source doesn't publish a number, the cell says so.

  3. 3

    Re-checked and corrected.

    Monthly series are updated when the next month is published, and everything else is re-checked at least every quarter. Corrections are noted on the page.

Using our numbers?

Free to cite with a link. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.

Browse the data Send a correction