Published on: 30/12/2022

Yuga Labs tops NFT sales chart in 2022, earns more than $3.75B

Yuga Labs topped the NFT sales chart in 2022, amassing more than $3.75 billion from its top three NFT collections. The figure does not even take into account sales from Cryptopunks and Meebits, which Yuga Labs acquired from Larva Labs this March.

According to Cryptoslam.io, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ranked first by recording 611,734 ETH (around $1.42 billion) in transaction volume for only 6,320 transactions. In 2021, BAYC posted slightly over $1 billion in sales despite being launched in April.

Mutant Ape Yacht Club is the second largest contributor to Yuga Labs’ sales with $1.067 billion, followed by Otherdeed, which pulled in $1.047 billion after launching an oversubscribed auction back in April.

Data showed that no other NFT collection exceeded the $1 billion mark in sales this year. The fourth place on the list was Chiru Labs’ Azuki, which gained $828 million. Moonbirds by Kevin Rose took over the No. 5 by garnering $599 million in sales.

Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Kennel Club and Meebits also got to the top ten in terms of sales this year, posting $219 million and $164 million, respectively. Other collections in the top ten were Doodles with $360 million, Beanz with $229 million and Nike’s CloneX with $547 million.

NFT Worlds placed 15th in terms of sales this year because sales went down after Minecraft banned crypto and NFT integrations from its platform. The collection recorded 46,161 ETH (around $129.6 million) in transaction volume.

Otherdeed records highest mint volume

Otherdeed posted the highest mint volume in 2022, selling 55,000 of its NFTs throughout the year. The collection’s land sale in April boosted the ETH mint total Data showed that Otherdeed raised almost $320 million from primary sales.

Following Otherdeed was Azuki, which rode its 2021 bullish trend into the beginning of the year. Azuki’s mint on January 12, 2022, was sold out just in four minutes, generating $30 million. Its momentum continued until the end of the year.

Kevin Rose’s Proof took over the third place by raising almost $66 million from its sold-out Moonbirds NFT collection. The collection maintained its growth throughout the year and it posted $599 million for collections minted in 2022.

Beanz and Hape-Prime made it to the top five for their mint-selling, recording $229.6 million and $160.6 million, respectively. Karafuru — a collaboration between Indonesia’s Toy Museum and NFT artist WD. Willy — raked 133 million.

Other notable NFT projects in terms of mint volume this year were Invisible Friends with $123.9, Pixelmon with $119.8 million and Cool Pets with $106.5 million. World-of-Women Galaxy and Goblintown were in the top 20, although the sales did not exceed $100 million.

According to analysts, the impact of crypto winter on NFT became visible in May. NFT collections minted after that month were able to generate enough sales to get into the top 20 in terms of transaction volume.

Collections minted in January dominated the top 20 ranks, although analysts said it could be because they had more time to generate sales. Azuki, Hape-Prime and Cryptopunks — which its original creator, Larva Labs, said was inauthentic — topped the sales chart in January. In total, collections minted in January this year have garnered more than $1.38 billion in transaction volume.

Despite the extended crypto winter, NFT players believed the NFT industry could grow in 2023. OpenSea co-founder and CEO David Finzer said consumers would keep purchasing digital images for their intrinsic values.

“It is not necessarily the case that NFTs will always be bought and sold denominated in cryptocurrency as they are today,” Finzer said.

“There are a variety of reasons why that makes sense in the current ecosystem, but as we get broader and more accessible, there is no reason that NFTs could not at least be denominated in U.S. dollars.”