Pop Report: James Jumps to Top Spot During PSA’s Big Week

PSA graded 168,059 cards last week for a 49% increase compared to the prior week.

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

From a category perspective:

• While all major categories increased last week, basketball was the clear story with 74% growth.

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

26 – Basketball

10 – Baseball

8 – Football

6 – 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: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Coby White, RJ Barrett, Stephen Curry 
• DOWN: Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Tyler Herro, Trae Young
• OUT:  Kobe Bryant, Rui Hachimura

BASEBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Kyle Lewis, Randy Arozarena, Yordan Alvarez, Gavin Lux, Juan Soto, Ronald Acuna Jr.
• DOWN: Mike Trout 
• OUT: Jasson Dominguez, Shohei Ohtani

FOOTBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love, Kyler Murray, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
• DOWN: Patrick Mahomes II
• OUT: Mac Jones

SOCCER

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Jadon Sancho, Kylian Mbappe, Christian Pulisic, Jude Bellingham, Marcus Rashford
• DOWN: Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kai Havertz, Youssoufa Moukoko
• OUT: Ansu Fati, Phil Foden, Giovanni Reyna 

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.

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