When it comes to volume, no player is more popular in the hobby right now than Victor Wembanyama — and it’s not particularly close.
Coming out of the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention, Wembanyama takes his place atop this week’s sports card power rankings, while a number of new faces have emerged behind him.
Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 players in sports cards, based on sales volume, price growth, performance and storylines over the last week.
1. Victor Wembanyama
Despite France’s tough loss to Germany on Friday, Wembanyama climbed into the top spot of this week’s Power Rankings with his popularity still unmatched in the sports card hobby.
Market Movers has tracked more than 6,800 sales for Wembanyama over the last seven days — a 7% increase week-over-week — while his grading volume continues to climb at historic levels.
As cllct reported in June, Wembanyama could join the top-10 most graded players of all time by the end of 2024 if his market maintains its current pace.
- Price growth: -0.8%
- Total sales: 6.8k
- Key card: 2023 Prizm Base PSA 10 (172 sales)
2. C.J. Stroud
Stroud’s card prices are down collectively, but that’s not unexpected, and collectors should anticipate prices recovering some as the season starts.
With this level of popularity, expect Stroud’s early performances to be heavily scrutinized by hobbyists who have heavily invested. Young QBs such as Justin Herbert have burned collectors recently, and the pressure is on for Stroud to deliver.
- Price growth: -1.2%
- Total sales: 3.1k
- Key card: 2023 Prizm Base PSA 10 (53 sales)
3. Paul Skenes
Skenes is still awesome, but there might be some collector fatigue setting in. Skenes’ sales volume is down 8.5% week-over-week, with around 1,400 over the last seven days.
Skenes’ pricing is down 1.8% collectively, too, but that shouldn’t be a cause for major concern quite yet. Collectors can easily get burnt out and any minor slip-up or decline in performance can cause hobbyists to lose interest. Skenes is still extremely popular, but his market isn’t invincible.
- Price growth: -1.8%
- Total sales: 1.4k
- Key card: 2023 Bowman Draft Base PSA 10 (43 sales)
4. Elly De La Cruz
A number of collectors are still waiting for De La Cruz to put it all together on the field, but his popularity is undeniable, especially among younger collectors who have been captivated by his speed and base-running.
Collective prices continue to decline, but a 6.4% increase over the last week in sales volume is extremely strong. Shohei Ohtani has dominated the baseball market in recent years, but De La Cruz and Skenes could be changing that narrative some.
- Price growth: -4.4%
- Total sales: 2.4k
- Key card: 2024 Topps Base PSA 10 (42 sales)
5. Jackson Holliday
After a rough start to his MLB career resulted in a demotion, the best prospect in baseball is back with the Orioles, and he has delivered so far. Through 18 at-bats since being recalled, Holliday has hit .389 with two home runs — including a grand slam for homer No. 1 — and seven RBI.
In addition to possibly having the best card released so far in 2024, Holliday’s volume has exploded over the last week with more than 1,400 sales tracked by Market Movers.
The 160% increase week-over-week obviously won’t continue, but it’s enough to get Holliday into this week’s rankings.
- Price growth: +17.7%
- Total sales: 1.4k
- Key card: 2022 Bowman Draft Chrome PSA 10 (42 sales)
6. Caitlin Clark
Clark falls some in this week’s rankings simply because her volume hasn’t kept up with the rest of the group. Clark’s volume is up more than 18% over the last seven days, but 489 sales over that period is low compared to some of her trading card peers.
The major issue for Clark’s market right now is the lack of flagship licensed cards. Most of Clark’s market is made up of either Topps cards from her time at Iowa or Indiana Fever cards from Panini’s Instant program. Expect her market to be ignited once flagship Panini products are released.
- Price growth: +2.7%
- Total sales: 489
- Key card: 2023 Bowman U Now Base PSA 10 (38 sales)
7. Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani changed uniforms this offseason and is running away with the NL MVP in his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. There has been less discussion about his place among the all-time greats this season with Ohtani limited to hitting, but he has mostly maintained his place as one of the hobby’s favorite athletes.
Ohtani’s price growth is negative over the last week, but his volume is up over the last seven days with over 1,400 sales. Ohtani’s volume is something to monitor moving forward as collectors might look to buy his cards to redeem as part of the Topps MVP Buyback program.
- Price growth: -0.9%
- Total sales: 1.4k
- Key card: 2018 Topps Chrome Base PSA 10 (30 sales)
8. LeBron James
Team USA is again poised to compete for gold in Paris, and, as expected, James has been the engine to the team’s success. Another gold might move James’ market some, but the impact shouldn’t be overstated.
James’ market has had a surge in volume lately, but it’s mostly driven by non-rookies such as his 2020 Prizm Base with a photo of his Kobe Bryant tribute dunk. His 2003 Topps Base rookie has seen some solid movement with 16 sales over the last seven days, but collectors are clearly just snagging interesting or attractive cards.
James deserves to be here, but he won’t move up much until high grades of his 2003 Topps Base and 2003 Topps Chrome Base start moving with volume again.
- Price growth: +0.1%
- Total sales: 1.5k
- Key card: 2003 Topps Base PSA 9 (14 sales)
9. Katie Ledecky
Ledecky lands here because of some movement on her high-end cards over the last week. She has been unbelievable in the pool again, and collectors have targeted a number of her top cards from the 2024 Topps Chrome Dynasty Olympic release.
Her 2013 SI for Kids cards are too cheap in raw or low-grade condition to get her here on a regular basis — she also just doesn’t have the volume needed — but multiple sales of cards for $2,000-plus earns this spot. She’ll fall back out once the Olympics wrap up, but Ledecky deserves her place here for now.
- Price growth: +10.4%
- Total sales: 40
- Key card: 2013 Sports Illustrated for Kids Base PSA 6 (5 sales)
10. Anthony Richardson
Outside of Stroud, it has become clear Richardson is the hobby’s favorite football target this offseason. Richardson showed flashes last year of his potential, but an injury-shortened rookie campaign stalled his card market.
While Stroud provides steady value as a pocket passer, Richardson has provided collectors some excitement and volatility, and his 1,800-plus sales over the last week are evidence. There’s no doubt Richardson could become one of the most dynamic players in the NFL, but he’ll have to show collectors he can stay on the field to keep up this volume. For now, collectors are happy to gamble.
- Price growth: -3.4%
- Total sales: 1.8k
- Key card: 2023 Prizm Base PSA 10 (25 sales)
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.