Global online sales of the art and antiques market 2013-2022

Total online sales in the art and antiques market worldwide decreased by roughly 17 percent in 2022 over the previous year. Despite the decline, the value of online transactions in the global art and antiques market remained significantly higher compared to the figures reported prior to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, totaling around 11 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

The NFT art market

The figures on the online transactions in the global art and antiques market do not include the sales value of art and collectible NFTs worldwide. While global sales revenue of NFT collectibles rose in 2022 over the previous year, the sales value generated by art-related non-fungible tokens nearly halved over the same period. When focusing on the NFT art segment, Art Blocks was the non-fungible token art collection with the highest market cap as of January 2023.

Global art sales during the COVID-19 pandemic

After shrinking in the first year of the health crisis, sales in the global art market recovered quickly, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in 2021. The positive trend continued in 2022, with global art market revenue reaching the second-highest figure in the last 15 years. On the other hand, the volume of transactions in the art market worldwide did not catch up yet with pre-pandemic levels, despite experiencing an annual increase in 2022.