The year in collectibles: Hottest cards and athletes

As 2025 draws to a close, cllct takes a look back at a record-setting year in the hobby.

We've assembled a panel of the top experts in the industry to recap some of the biggest trends of the past 12 months — both the good and the troubling.

Plus, we'll look into our crystal ball and try to forecast what lies ahead in 2026.

In the fourth installment of our two-week series, we look at the hottest cards and athletes in the hobby.

RELATED STORIES:

• The year in collectibles: What was most surprising trend of 2025?
• The year in collectibles: Did the hobby get better in 2025?
• The year in collectibles: Biggest issues facing the hobby?

(Answers have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. Questions were distributed before Collectors' acquisition of Beckett on Dec. 15.)

What cards or athletes are hot right now that surprise you?

Rob Bigler, CEO, TCGplayer:

When we talk about the increased demand for TCGs, we usually focus on the heavy hitters, including Pokémon and Magic. But what’s really surprised me this year is the massive appetite for new and emerging games.

Riftbound, the new League of Legends trading card game, saw immediate high demand — and we’ll have some fun data to share around that soon.

We also saw the rise of One Piece Card Game, which was the overall third best-selling product line during our four-day Cyber Weekend event.

Brian Dwyer, president, REA:

It’s not necessarily a surprise but more exciting: I’m delighted at the amount of interest there is around female athletes.

The WNBA is a huge driver behind this trend, and it’s resonating into greater attendance at events, increased participation from younger athletes and a fresh new demographic that will be a pillar in the collecting sphere for years to come.

We’re also seeing an uptick in the number of international collectors. Racing and soccer cards and collectibles are a huge driver for this, but other major catalysts are the rise of superstar international athletes such as Shohei Ohtani. Some of the hobby’s largest corporate brands also have made moves to increase accessibility to collectibles in new and emerging markets.

With the Olympics and World Cup on the horizon for 2026, there’s going to be a nice flurry of interest resulting from these major global events, too.

Elizabeth Gruene, GM of pop culture, PSA:

People are obsessed with the Pokémon character Budew, myself included!

Usually when you think of the hottest Pokémon cards, you’d think of Charizard or Pikachu. With Pokémon, though, sometimes the playability of the card has a big impact on the perceived value and popularity.

Budew cards are big in the TCG meta and gameplay. Some say it's the strongest, most powerful card in the game ever. It just is funny because it is a simple little Pokémon that would easily be overlooked.

David Hunt, president, Hunt Auctions:

Rather than one card or one athlete, I am continually surprised about the pricing levels for some of the current athletes versus legacy players.

It is not that it isn’t deserved, but the speed in which their pricing escalates in some cases after only a portion of one great season is hard to understand at times.

Of course, sometimes that plays out, as in the case of Shohei Ohtani, but again with others, it can flame out almost immediately.

Adam Ireland, VP and general manager of global collectibles, eBay:

One of the most fun trends for me has been seeing truly niché sports gain traction. As a darts fan, it has been especially rewarding to watch real demand build for trading cards of professional dart players -- it speaks to how passionate and global collector fandoms have become.

But within the more mainstream collecting world, quarterback cards continue to be incredibly reactive week to week. Through the end of November, the top three most-searched QBs in our collectibles category since the start of the season featured Drake Maye, Jaxson Dart, and Jayden Daniels — an indicator of how quickly the hobby moves when potential new superstars emerge.

It’s so much fun to watch Sundays, knowing we’ll see the impact Monday.

Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions, Heritage Auctions:

What surprises me is not the popularity of any specific athlete or card, it has more to do with the willingness of buyers to participate at the price levels we are seeing for players who are near the beginning of their careers.

Prospecting has always been a part of our hobby, but the difference is collectors used to be able to do so on a relatively limited budget. Today, some cards of players who have banked very little in terms of on-field performance have reached six and even seven figures.

This is all in the hopes of what they might do in the future. Again, this isn’t a new concept, but the level of risk some buyers are willing to take continues to surprise me when there is a world of collectibles featuring more established stars waiting for them in the vintage and modern categories.

David Leiner, president of trading cards, Topps:

There are two — in totally different categories. In terms of athletes, Paul Skenes opened people’s eyes to collecting pitchers in a more significant way. However, now you have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whose cards were always valued — but then went through the roof after the World Series, and deservedly so.

In the entertainment space, I’m going to say SpongeBob. We always look for gaps, and internally we all got behind SpongeBob and thought we’d create something fun. There was an amazing response for the product with cards selling for five and six figures.

Susan Lulgjuraj, senior marketing manager, CGC Cards:

TCG is super hot. While not necessarily surprising, it was the sheer breadth of the impact on the whole TCG market that I found interesting.

Jason Masherah, president, Upper Deck:

Being in the collectibles industry for so long, it takes a lot to surprise me. I’m happy to see a rise in fandom outside of the four major North American sports leagues, as it has generally brought more fans into the hobby.

The PWHL continues to be an incredible success story, and innovative leagues, such as the World Surf League and TGL, are creating new experiences we get to capture through trading cards and memorabilia. That might not be surprising, but it sure is exciting.

Evan Parker, founder, Mantel:

I'm always amused by the NFL hype cycle. Drake Maye, Mac Jones, Caleb Williams and Sam Darnold were previously the cause of a ton of lost money, because people hyped them up before they ever completed a pass.

When they stunk or sat on the bench, their markets crashed. And now that they are playing well, you need to take out a second mortgage to buy any of their rookie cards. Evaluating talent is harder than most collectors realize, I guess.

Matt Quinn, vice president, CGC Cards:

It is interesting to see simple promo cards, such as the Japanese-released "Burgerchu," be so coveted. Great artwork can go along ways in aiding desirability.

Claire Shelton, head of video games, PSA:

We still see a shocking amount of Concord for the PS5. In fact, five years into the console’s existence, it is in our top-five most-graded games for the platform.

The game lives on in infamy, as its collectibility has long exceeded its two-week lifespan in the live-service market.

Nat Turner, CEO, Collectors:

I always go back to the “rule of 25 years” concept, which is go back 25 years and that’s probably what is going to start getting hot, as folks who were kids 25 years ago have now grown up and many of them have disposable income. They will chase that nostalgic feeling of wanting to be a kid again.

For that reason, I think that’s why you see Pokémon as hot as it has been. It came out in the U.S. in 1999, and only in the past couple of years has it gone crazy.

So using that same rule, I am seeing some crazy prices in early 2000s cards, such as the original serial-numbered gold refractors (out of Finest, specifically), and parallels of the Topps Chrome sets from those years such as the same gold refractors (first came out in Topps Chrome in 2003) and black refractors (first in 2001).

I don’t follow soccer cards that closely, but I know from talking to folks in the hobby and also checking Card Ladder that soccer might be the hottest sport on the secondary market.