Star Wars is the number one fandom of all time, at least according to related merchandise sales on eBay.
The auction site recently released new sales data that shows which fandoms are the most popular, at least according to merchandise sold on the site over the last 10 years. Star Wars easily trounces its competition, with a total of $593,765,974 of money made on the franchise. Batman comes in at a distant second with $216,670,864 in sales.
The top 15 most popular fandoms hold a lot of surprises, too: The Legend of Zelda is the eighth top-selling franchise on eBay, with The Walking Dead following at #9. The Lord of the Rings continues to make a lot of money and comes in 10th place. BBC import Doctor Who is at a respectable #13, with South Park landing at #15.
Here is the full list of the top sellers in fandom and pop culture for eBay:
With San Diego Comic-Con now underway, eBay also ran some numbers to determine what this year's most popular fandoms would cover. TV shows like Mr. Robot and Preacher have seen major increases in popularity over the past year, along with the upcoming movie Suicide Squad. Older franchises, though, still remain interesting to fans and include Deadpool, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter.
Thanks to the release of Pokémon GO, Pokémon has also seen a rise in popularity, and it's likely that it will become a hot topic at this year's San Diego Comic-Con: the panel about the franchise moved from a smaller room at the event to the larger Hall H. Pokémon GO players will also spend a lot of time roaming the halls of Comic-Con searching for rare creatures, PokéStops and gyms. The game recently took the world by storm, with some players doing a lot of crazy things to collect Pokémon or take funny photos of them in the real world.
However, it's still the Star Wars fandom that reigns supreme: eBay sells one Star Wars item every 14 seconds, with Pokémon right behind that at one item every 28 seconds. Batman merchandise flies off the site with one item selling every 37 seconds, with Transformers selling one item every 60 seconds. Superman comes in next with one item sold every 72 seconds, followed by Harry Potter with one item every 75 seconds.
