Pokémon fans across the UK are rushing to get their hands on the special edition 30th anniversary celebration trading card set. A new study by Trading Card Pricing Experts CardTrack reveals that searches for Pokémon cards skyrocketed between July 2025 and June 2026.
Across the UK, monthly searches for cards grew by 75.3%, rising from 112,960 searches between July and September 2025 to 198,070 between April and June 2026.
CardTrack analysed Google search data from July 2025 – June 2026 to track card interest across various UK cities. For each character, researchers combined four search terms: name, name Pokémon, name card, and name shiny. For names that doubled as common words or frequent misspellings, such as Ditto, Persian, or Flamigo, the single name term was removed, and the name Pokémon term was doubled to balance the data.
UK Cities with the highest growth in Pokémon card searches
While national card searches rose 75.3% overall, specific cities saw major percentage gains between the first and final three months of the study period.
| Rank | Area | Card searches July-September 2025 | Card searches April-June 2026 | Change in card searches |
| 1 | Liverpool | 2,580 | 3,910 | +51.6% |
| 2 | Edinburgh | 2,650 | 3,820 | +44.2% |
| 3 | London | 15,960 | 22,790 | +42.8% |
| 4 | Plymouth | 2,580 | 3,640 | +41.1% |
| 5 | Manchester | 4,160 | 5,710 | +37.3% |
| 6 | Glasgow | 3,620 | 4,850 | +34.0% |
| 7 | Birmingham | 5,200 | 6,720 | +29.2% |
| 8 | Bristol | 3,570 | 4,610 | +29.1% |
| 9 | Leeds | 3,580 | 4,550 | +27.1% |
| 10 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 2,900 | 3,440 | +18.6% |
| Total | UK | 112,960 | 198,070 | +75.3% |
Top 10 most searched Pokémon in the UK
Pikachu led as the UK’s favourite character, ranking first in every area studied and featuring heavily in the anniversary set. Charizard followed as the second overall favourite and held the top spot specifically for card searches, averaging 4,400 monthly queries for “Charizard card”.
| Rank | Pokémon | Average monthly searches |
| 1 | Pikachu | 143,200 |
| 2 | Charizard | 73,900 |
| 3 | Squirtle | 55,180 |
| 4 | Bulbasaur | 54,020 |
| 5 | Gengar | 52,000 |
| 6 | Eevee | 45,620 |
| 7 | Mewtwo | 45,600 |
| 8 | Snorlax | 45,380 |
| 9 | Charmander | 44,420 |
| 10 | Grafaiai | 40,860 |
Expert insights on the 30th anniversary hype
Josh Lingenfelter, CEO of CardTrack, commented on the findings: “The latest set of Pokémon cards is one of the most anticipated in years. The 30th anniversary celebration set is a limited run that includes 30th anniversary versions of some of the trading card game’s classic cards, like a base set Charizard.”
“This hype is reflected in the search data, which shows that in every single area we studied, search levels for Pokémon cards skyrocketed from the start of the study period to the end, while base Pokémon searches fell. In the UK, card searches rose 75.3% while searches for the Pokémon themselves fell 23.7% over the same periods. This shows that while the 30th anniversary celebrations have no doubt helped boost Pokémon in the cultural zeitgeist, the biggest driver of interest in the franchise over the past few months has been Pokémon cards.”
“Nostalgia clearly rules when it comes to the UK’s favourite Pokémon. Every single one of the top 9 is from the original 151 Pokémon, and it’s not until Grafaiai in 10th that you get to a Pokémon outside of the first generation. Grafaiai was introduced in Generation 9 in 2022, and has become the face of its generation after featuring in many Pokémon videos and shorts over the past few years.”