Pop Report: Morant, Mbappe Leap Back into PSA’s Most-Graded Spots

PSA graded 169,548 cards last week for a 1% increase compared to the prior week while Ja Morant and Kylian Mbappe jumped back into the top spot as the most graded card for their category.

Read this week’s Pop Report from GemRate for the latest news and trends on PSA’s grading.

From a category perspective:

• There was very little movement in the big three categories; however, soccer and hockey both saw modest double digit increases.

The mix of the top 50 players (and characters) graded during the period were as follows

26 – Basketball

11 – Baseball

9 – Football

4 – TCG

Below you’ll find a list of the top players graded for each category. 

An important consideration is what to make of this list. In the current situation where fears of junk slabs dominate the hobby, ranking high on this list likely is negatively correlated with price as that signals a meaningful number of slabs could move into the market in the near future. However, under normal circumstances, it could potentially be a leading indicator of positive price correlation as the list more accurately represents forward looking activity (i.e. bets being placed on players) and price potential.

BASKETBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Tyler Herro, Trae Young, Kobe Bryant
• DOWN: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Coby White 
• OUT: Stephen Curry

BASEBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Mike Trout, Juan Soto
• DOWN: Kyle Lewis, Randy Arozarena, Yordan Alvarez, Gavin Lux

FOOTBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Tom Brady, Justin Jefferson, Ceedee Lamb
• DOWN: Patrick Mahomes II, Jordan Love, Kyler Murray 
• OUT: Clyde Edwards-Helaire

SOCCER

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Youssoufa Moukoko, Pedri, Vinicius Junior
• DOWN: Jadon Sancho, Christian Pulisic
• OUT: Kai Havertz, Marcus Rashford

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

HOCKEY

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Mario Lemieux, Sergei Fedorov, Adam Fox
• DOWN:, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes
• OUT: Bobby Orr, Jaromir Jagr, Alexis Lafreniere, Bobby Hull, Steve Yzerman, Kaapo Kakko

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

Data in the Sports Card Investor Pop Report series is provided by GemRate. Follow GemRate on Instagram and Twitter for more on the latest cards graded by PSA.

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