What collectibles are hot right now?

"Hot" means different things to different people: more searches, more sales, higher prices or record auction results. This page gathers recent, published data from marketplaces, auction houses and grading companies to show which collectible categories are drawing the most attention. The figures mostly cover 2025 and were published between late 2025 and spring 2026. They describe demand, not where prices are going next.

At a glance

Trading cards: grading volume and Pokémon

Trading cards are the clearest growth story. Sports Illustrated, citing GemRate data, reported that the major grading companies certified about 26.8 million cards in 2025. PSA graded 19.26 million, about 72% of the total. CGC was second with 4.92 million, up 121%. The growth came from trading card games, not sports. TCG and non-sports grading rose 97% at PSA and 95% across major graders, with Pokémon cited as a major driver. Sports card grading fell 12% overall.

eBay's 2025 trends report points the same way. A first-edition Shadowless Base Set Charizard graded PSA 10 sold for over $270,000 in August 2025, the highest trading card game sale on eBay that year. Sports cards still produce headline prices: eBay notes that Goldin sold a signed 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card (PSA 9, autograph 10) for $2.7 million in October 2025. StockX's year-end report expects trading cards to keep growing, citing strong release calendars and Pokémon's 30th anniversary.

Comics

At the top end, comic books keep setting records. Heritage Auctions sold a CGC 9.0 copy of Superman #1 for $9.12 million on November 20, 2025, beating the earlier record. Guinness World Records lists that earlier record as the $3.6 million Amazing Fantasy #15 sold in 2021. Among everyday collectors, eBay reported that searches for Invincible rose 50%. Its most-searched series were Amazing Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spawn, and searches for Fantastic Four characters also jumped. See the 2022 key comics retrospective for how first appearances fit in.

Sneakers

Sneaker resale remains a large category, though the brands leading growth have changed. According to StockX's year-end Current Culture Index, as reported by DBusiness, nearly 200 brands set all-time annual sales records on the platform. Nike, Jordan, adidas, New Balance and ASICS were the top sneaker brands for the third year in a row, and average Nike and Jordan prices rose 5% and 6%. The fastest-growing sneaker brands were Mizuno (+124%), Maison Mihara Yasuhiro (+91%), Saucony (+59%) and Salomon (+58%).

Designer toys, blind boxes and Funko

The biggest percentage jumps in 2025 were in blind-box designer toys. eBay reported Labubu searches up more than 2,600% year over year and blind-box sales up more than 470%. Skullpanda, Jellycat, Smiski and Sonny Angel also grew. On StockX, Pop Mart overtook LEGO as the top-traded collectibles brand.

Funko Pop! figures remain a mass-market staple. Wikipedia notes that Funko passed one billion Pop! vinyl figures sold in September 2025. It also cites late-2025 reporting raising concerns about overproduction and weak sales. For collectors, this is a reminder that a huge production volume and steady demand are not the same thing. More on the figures themselves: superhero Funko Pop! lines and what's inside a Pop!.

Vintage toys, manga and memorabilia

Heritage Auctions reported more than $2 billion in sales in 2025, its highest annual total. Its leadership named sports memorabilia, comic books, entertainment artifacts, toys and trading cards as growing categories. Heritage says toy demand has moved toward 1970s, 1980s and 1990s material, while 1950s and 1960s toys were previously the most sought after. It also expects manga and anime collectibles to grow significantly over the next five years. eBay's data shows manga search growth for Solo Leveling (+520%) and The Apothecary Diaries (+125%).

Reading these numbers

Each source measures something different. eBay tracks searches and sales on its marketplace, StockX tracks its own trades, GemRate tracks grading submissions, and auction houses report their own results. Taken together, they point to strong interest in graded TCG cards, blind-box designer toys, top-tier comics and toys from the 1970s through the 1990s. None of them predicts future prices.