5 best performing NFT collections in 2022

by James · January 6, 2023

Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, saw an astronomical increase in 2021. As people invested more in cryptocurrencies, NFTs also increased in price and popularity. As a result, several NFT pools emerged, many of which have led the market to date.

However, the crypto market experienced a negative run in 2022. Several cryptocurrencies lost the profits they accumulated last year, and billions of dollars were wiped out of the market. Similarly, NFTs and NFT pools saw a drop in price as people started holding onto their money.

Despite all the chaos of 2022, some NFT collections still managed to perform positively this year. While many of these collections represent legacy assets, some have recently arrived on the Web3 site.

In this article, we will go through a list of the best NFT collections in 2022. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

What are NFT Collections?

It is important to clarify what NFT collections are, especially for users who are new to the NFT ecosystem. NFTs are a class of digital assets stored on the blockchain. Due to the nature of blockchain technology, they enjoy specific properties such as immutability and permanence.

As the meaning suggests, NFTs are unique and cannot be replicated. Only one piece can exist at a time. This does not mean that only the owner can use it. In the case of NFT images, people can still share the copies of the image online, but at the end of the day, one person still owns the image.

NFT collections can be described as a collection of several NFTs. In most cases, NFTs within the same collection share certain characteristics that link them together. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, for example, are all monkeys with distinctive characteristics. As a result, anyone who comes across any of the BAYC NFTs can easily identify it.

There is no fixed number of NFTs that can be in a collection. BAYC, for example, contains 10,000 NFTs. Some NFT collections include fewer, and some have more. Ultimately, what the creators decide to do determines the number of NFTs in a collection.

Now let’s look at the best NFT collections of 2022.

Bored Ape Yacht Club – $1.57 billion

Bored Ape Yacht Club is already an established project in the NFT space and larger Web3 ecosystem. As a result, the project has emerged as arguably the most popular NFT collection in the industry. While the collection offers its holders exclusive benefits, its adoption among celebrities is one of the reasons it has garnered so much hype.

Like several other NFT collections, BAYC 2022 started strong, coming off a strong run in 2021. The collection became the first to pass the $1 billion mark and became popular with brands for product launches and promotions.

However, the crypto winter eventually caught up with the collection, leading to a reduction in the price of the NFTs. Nevertheless, the hype surrounding the project and the exclusive benefits enjoyed by its holders helped sustain it through the darkest periods of 2022.

According to data from CryptoSlam, BAYC recorded trades worth $1.5 billion in 2022. The successful releases of ApeCoin and Otherside by Yuga Labs, the maker of BAYC, also helped to increase the trading volume and price of BAYC NFTs.

The collection remains a top blue chip collection and is a popular choice among celebrities. Despite the problems in 2022, the NFT rally finished strong as it heads into 2023.

Mutant Ape Yacht Club – $1.14 billion

Yuga Labs, the creators of BAYC, released the Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT Collection as an expansion of the BAYC NFT Collection. There are many similarities between the two collections, but the biggest difference is that MAYC NFTs are mutated versions of BAYC.

For many, MAYC was a cheaper way to enter the Yugaverse and access the exclusive offers its holders enjoy. It’s no surprise that MAYC quickly rose to stardom, crossing $1 billion in trading volume.

Due to the reduced costs, MAYC NFTs are traded and exchanged more frequently than their BAYC counterparts. This year, the collection recorded over $1.1 billion in sales, $400 million less than the BAYC trade volume. MAYC enjoyed increased trading volume during the launch of ApeCoin and Otherside and increased mainstream adoption.

Other – $1.1 billion

The third entry on this list proves why Yuga Labs is at the forefront of the Web3 industry. Otherside is another project from the forward-thinking company, and represents the NFT collection with the third highest trading volume in 2022.

Unlike BAYC and MAYC, Otherside is a metaverse, which are virtual worlds where people can own virtual lands, bring their NFT avatars to life, or even replicate real-life infrastructure. As for the Otherside, NFTs within the collection of plots are referred to as Otherdeeds. Users who successfully create the NFTs will have access to plots in the Otherside, which Yuga Labs has designated as its upcoming game world.

Otherside launched this year in one of the largest entries seen in the NFT ecosystem. Due to the anticipation and hype surrounding the metaverse, the launch generated over $561 million within 24 hours and crashed the Ethereum network.

The trading frenzy spread further to secondary NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, where users who were able to create the NFT quickly resold to buyers. The Otherside launch remains responsible for the largest secondary market single-day trading volume ever recorded on OpenSea.

Otherside continued to generate buzz in the crypto space months after its launch. In August, Yuga Labs conducted the first interactive demo for the metaverse. During the demo, users were able to bring their NFTs to life and get a feel for what the future holds.

Azuki – $849.9 million

Azuki is one of the largest NFT collections in the world, and many will struggle to believe that it dropped earlier this year. It is the first NFT collection not from Yuga Labs and without ties to an already established NFT collection. Exciting, that’s the word.

The anime-inspired NFT collection, which dropped earlier in January, managed to maintain a positive performance throughout 2022. The collection has amassed over $850 million in trading volume and cemented itself as a significant player in the ecosystem.

Moonbirds – $613.4 million

Last on the list is Moonbirds, a utility-based NFT collection that launched in 2022. The NFT collection is built on the Ethereum blockchain and is on the verge of blue-chip status. The collection had a positive development in 2022, despite the sharp decline in trading volume and activities in the NFT ecosystem.

One of the benefits of owning Moonbirds is access to an exclusive discord community where information about upcoming airdrops, community events and so on. In addition, there is a private club membership, and other benefits arise the longer a user has NFT.

Conclusion

The collapse of several crypto institutions made the public look at NFTs with more sentiment. While it reduced trading volumes, it helped to filter good projects with solid cases from NFT projects that did not bring anything to the holders. In a way, 2022 is a year of correction and standardization of the NFT space.

Compared to 2021, when people jumped on NFTs based on hype, people are more aware of their decisions regarding the NFTs they buy and invest in. This attitude is expected to continue into 2022. As more NFT projects with good consumer goods are introduced to the market, then trade volumes will also increase.

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*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to research all products before making any type of investment.

A blockchain maximalist who believes that technology is necessary for the future we are heading towards. An avid researcher and author who uses his writings to inform the outlook in the blockchain space.