Solana ended the year with a peak month of NFT activity. Solana NFT sales peaked above $102 million in December, as the Pudgy Penguins collection reached record activity levels.
Solana reached the peak of NFT activity in December, with more than $102 million in digital items sold. The main driver of the NFT expansion was the Magic Eden airdrop, which boosted activity in hopes of acquiring more ME tokens.
For most of December, Solana’s daily active addresses were in the 5 to 6 million range, further boosting all types of activity.
In the short term, the new ME token was pressured by selling and fell from its peak above $3.02 to $2.76. However, ME is not the perfect proxy for NFT, as collections had their own paths to success.
However, Magic Eden revealed that Solana dominated in terms of NFT salesalbeit at a slightly lower value than Bitcoin or Ethereum-based NFT. Solana was also the most accessible chain with the largest number buyers.
Additional hype came from the Pudgy Penguins collection, which was not directly responsible, but influenced the Solana market. Pudgy Penguins is based on Ethereum, but the PENGU token chose Solana and ranked as one of the top meme tokens.
December’s NFT results mean more buyers and a higher average item price
In December, Solana NFT sales briefly spiked and reached bull market levels from March to April. Solana arrived relatively late to the NFT space after most of the top collections launched on Ethereum. However, lower rates and more accessible collections contributed to its acceptance.
The Solana blue chip NFT index started recovering from its local lows in November 2024. The rise in SOL valuations also helped boost the index in dollar terms. Average sales of top collections recovered from 7 SOL to 10 SOL in early 2025.
The Solana blue chip index rose to an average of over 10 SOL in December for sales of top NFT collections. | Source: Step Analytics
Solana’s NFT trading also shows a more limited share of wash trading than Ethereum. On the Ethereum chain, more than 43% of all transactions showed signs of wash transactions, while for Solana the share was 0.20% daily based on Cryptoslam. facts.
In December, Solana had fewer buyers but achieved higher NFT valuations. April saw a surge of interest among NFT buyers, with 487,046 wallets collecting the digital items. Over the past twelve months, buyers outpaced sellers, leading to robust daily sales of $3.4 million.
Average sales in December were $79.93 per item, the highest level for the second half of 2024. NFTs have different price points, although Solana has gone the route of more accessible collectibles instead of expensive collections.
Solana still has its share of blue-chip NFT assets, although it starts at a lower entry point compared to Ethereum. Most of the top Solana collections are native and not copies of the leading Ethereum entries: Punks, Pudgy Penguins and Bored Apes.
Will Solana NFT Grow in 2025?
Solana has proven to be a powerful network for creating communities. Meme tokens took on the role of NFT in community building, mainly due to their lower barrier to entry.
One of the potential vectors for recovery is the repurchase of former top collections. Some of the earlier NFTs, which sold for hundreds of SOLs, may become popular again.
As of January, Mad Lads was Solana’s top NFT collection, with a minimum price of 78.24 SOL. The collection has recovered over the past three months, but is still far from its peak price of 186 SOL.
Top collections also try to use the branding of some of the more successful Solana cults. The Retardio Cousins collection is awaiting recovery with a price floor of 13.15 SOL. Other NFT collections follow the AI agent trend, with NFT for Tensorians, AI16Z Partners, and Zereborn.
Solana NFT offers meme-based art with a simpler aesthetic and operates a different set of communities than Ethereum. However, the crossover to memes and AI agents could increase participation and sales. The AI story is putting pressure on all other activities as the NFT market struggles to adapt and choose between restoring old collections or launching new AI-themed NFT.
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