The most relevant non-sport trading card franchises

The most relevant non-sport trading card franchises produced some of the biggest single-card sales in the whole collecting hobby this year, not just within their own category. In February 2026, a Pokémon card sold at auction for more than any sports card in history, a result that would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago. Five franchises account for nearly every seven-figure and six-figure sale outside sport: Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, the One Piece Card Game, Star Wars and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Millions of ordinary copies of these cards were printed for pocket money in newsagents, comic shops and supermarkets, and most are still worth next to nothing. What separates a five-pound card from a five-hundred-thousand-pound one is usually a grading population report: a specific print run, a specific championship prize, or a specific PSA Gem Mint 10 label held by only a handful of surviving copies. Of the more than 5,225 graded examples of the 1977 Topps Star Wars Luke Skywalker card, for instance, only nine have ever reached that top grade.

Auction houses have only recently built departments dedicated to this market. Heritage Auctions and Goldin now run non-sport and trading card game sales throughout the year, and totals have grown quickly: Goldin’s Summer TCG Elite Auction alone brought in more than $18 million in August 2026. The five franchises below are the ones setting the pace, with several more close behind them.

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The most relevant non-sport trading card franchises

1. Pokémon Trading Card Game (record: £12.07 million)

Launched in Japan in 1996 as a companion to Nintendo’s video games, the Pokémon Trading Card Game is the benchmark the rest of the hobby is measured against. A PSA Gem Mint 10 “Pikachu Illustrator,” one of a handful issued as an illustration-contest prize rather than sold to the public, sold through Goldin Auctions for $16,492,000 (about £12.07 million) on 16 February 2026, a total that beat every sports card ever sold. The same card had already set the private-sale record when its previous owner, Logan Paul, bought it for $5,275,000 (about £3.86 million) in 2021.

2. Magic: The Gathering (record: £504,300 at auction)

Wizards of the Coast released Magic: The Gathering in 1993, and the game is usually credited with starting the modern trading card game genre. Its most famous card, Black Lotus, appeared only in the earliest print runs and has been banned from competitive play for decades. An autographed Black Lotus Beta Artist Proof, certified by CGC, set the public auction record at $615,000 (about £504,300) through Heritage Auctions in March 2023. A separate Pristine 10 Alpha Black Lotus went further still, changing hands privately for $3 million (about £2.4 million) in April 2024, the highest price ever confirmed for a single Magic card.

3. One Piece Card Game (record: £531,000)

Bandai’s One Piece Card Game launched in Japan in 2022 and reached English-speaking markets the following year, built on Eiichiro Oda’s manga and anime. It is the newest franchise on this list and the fastest growing. A gold-embossed 2024 One Piece Chinese Year One World Championship first-place Monkey D. Luffy trophy card, a one-off prize rather than a retail card, hammered at $713,700 (about £531,000) in Goldin’s Summer TCG Elite Auction, which closed on 10 August 2026, setting the record for the game.

4. Star Wars, 1977 Topps series (record: £515,600)

Topps released the first Star Wars trading cards in 1977, the same year as the film, decades before any of the games above existed. Collectors treat card number one, Luke Skywalker, as the character’s rookie card. A PSA 10 copy, one of only nine graded that high out of more than 5,225 submissions, sold for $687,500 (about £515,600) through Heritage Auctions on 5 May 2026. A PSA 10 Darth Vader from the same set, card number seven, sold for $206,250 (about £154,700) the same month.

5. Yu-Gi-Oh! (record: £39,300)

Konami built Yu-Gi-Oh! from Kazuki Takahashi’s manga, releasing the trading card game in Japan in 1999. It remains one of the three best-selling card games in the world, alongside Magic and Pokémon, though its record sales are far more modest than either. A first edition Blue-Eyes White Dragon, graded PSA 10 and drawn from the opening 2002 English-language set, sold for $43,200 (about £39,300) through Heritage Auctions in September 2022. A factory-sealed first edition Legend of Blue Eyes booster box from the same release sold for $40,800 (about £29,600) at Heritage in March 2021.

Honourable mentions

Several other franchises produce genuine six-figure results without matching the five above. They are worth watching rather than ranking outright.

Garbage Pail Kids

Topps launched this parody of Cabbage Patch dolls in 1985, and it remains the best-known non-TCG entry on this list. A PSA 10 “Adam Bomb,” the series’ most recognised character, in a rare glossy checklist variant, sold for $25,100 (about £18,600) in an eBay auction in January 2022, the highest confirmed price for the card.

Disney

Disney has produced non-sport cards since the 1930s, but modern parallels have driven the biggest recent numbers. A one-of-one 2023 Topps Chrome Disney 100 Superfractor Mickey Mouse, graded PSA 9, sold for $500,000 (about £384,500) through the Alt marketplace on 30 October 2024.

Superhero cards

Marvel and DC have both produced valuable vintage sets. A complete graded set of the 1940 Gum Inc. Superman cards, the first superhero trading card set ever issued, sold for $195,200 (about £153,650) at Heritage Auctions in December 2025. A PSA 9 1966 Topps Batman card, number one in that set, sold for $131,250 (about £103,300) at Heritage the same month.

Wrestling cards

Wrestling cards sit just outside strict non-sport classification but are usually traded alongside entertainment memorabilia rather than sports cards. A PSA 9 1982 Wrestling All-Stars Hulk Hogan card, from what collectors regard as the first American wrestling card set, sold for $132,000 (about £105,600) at Heritage Auctions in December 2024.

Grading, not age, sets the next record

Four of the five results above happened within the same eighteen months, between March 2023 and August 2026, and the newest entrant, the One Piece Card Game, only reached English-speaking collectors in 2023. Grading population, not the calendar, now decides which cards break records: a card printed in 1977 and a card printed in 2024 can both set franchise highs if only a handful of copies exist at the top grade.

The auction houses have adjusted quickly. Goldin ran its first dedicated non-sport sale in 2021, and its August 2026 TCG auction cleared more than $18 million on its own. Whichever franchise breaks the next record, it is unlikely to surprise the specialist auction houses that now track this market year-round.