The top 10 most graded Pokémon of all time
Looking at the most popular pokémon that have gotten graded and what that means for you!
A quick, fun newsletter this week; As I attempt to continue my side hustle that is medical school - lol.
I’ve recently been venturing through a lot of data on PSA grading and pokémon, thanks to pokemetrics EX. There are some fascinating findings from there, which I hope to flesh out at future points. But for now just something interesting and what that means for collectors, but also flippers and investors.
I’ve collated all the data and put it in a nice graph to illustrate the data a bit better. The first thing that stands out, but is no surprise at all, is the amount that Charizard is graded. Almost a million graded cards, almost twice as much as the next most popular Pokémon - Pikachu. Apart from those two, its no surprise to see Blastoise, Venusaur, Gyarados and Rayquaza in that list as well. I was very surprised to see both Mew and Mewtwo in that list, as well as two of the bird trio. They are all first generation, which could just mean that they have had significantly more cards produced than the rest, and more time to gain popularity.
Below is the same list, but in the last 52 weeks.
No major changes, but we see Umbreon finally make an appearance replacing Gyarados. This is definitely in response to the moonbreon released in 2021 and is being graded rampantly. I am very surprised not to see some big names on there like Espeon, Lugia, Gengar etc. It could also mean that those Pokémon have more awesome cards being made, and that skews the results. There haven’t been many amazing alt art Gengar or typhlosion cards yet, so it doesn’t mean those Pokémon are’nt popular. It also could mean that people have jumped into the recent mania and just graded anything they can get there hands on, and given the fact there are so many Pikachu and Charizard cards, these are the ones that just end up being graded.
Does this mean anything for collectors? Not really, financially. Perhaps now you appreciate that you’re not the only one collecting Mew or Moltres cards, there’s a bunch out there! What this means for the flipper or investor is that more often than not, a card that features a Pokémon in the top 10, even top 50 I imagine, is going to be a lot more liquid than one that is not. An important lesson here; even if you can get a card or collection for a great deal, a question you have to ask yourself is how liquid is this? Are the Pokémon sought after enough to create demand? Of course other factors like card artwork and condition play a role, but as a general rule of thumb Pokémon that are more popular will be much easier to sell.