On each graph, points are on the Y-axis, and squadron position on the leaderboard is on the X-axis. Both scales are logarithmic. The light grey line (diamond marker) is the numbers for the previous measured season. As in previous seasons, the approximate power-law distribution continues allowing estimates of total activity to be made without spending too long reading the boards. Results are based on late measures of the current season boards due to known bugs with the "last season" boards, and so may not reflect final outcomes exactly.
(Political is excluded, because there are well-known exploits to allow very high scores, and because it's not clear even without the exploits what it's supposed to be measuring: the in-game description of "large and happy faction" is clearly wrong - possibly this will change if they ever implement BGS happiness properly)
Anti Xeno (ish) (378 pages)
Winners: Swords of Makhai, Contrail, Anti Xeno Initiative
The totals continue to fall, though the page count strangely rises ... because the "Powerplay CZ" CG gave out Pilots Federation Combat Bonds to its participants, which score on this board. The addition of around 130 billion extra bonds that way cannot save the board from falling to the lowest level yet, and possibly lower than some pre-war seasons.
Combat (1046 pages)
Winners: Ritter der Tischkanten, Swords of Mahkai, Aislings Angels
Total page count rises above the 1000 line again, though total activity is down slightly. A new name on the leaderboards goes straight into the top spot.
CQC (23 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll, Starfighter Corps Interstellar, Sidewinder Syndicate
CQC remains unaffected by the wider variations.
Exploration (1118 pages)
Winners: Intergalactic Astronomical Union, Stellanebula Project, The Stellar Cartographers Guild
Page count rises again slightly as three familiar names get the trophies.
Powerplay (270 pages)
Winners: Federal Liberal Command, Torval Space Agency, Aislings Angels
Interestingly, despite Frontier putting significant reductions in merit earnings on Reinforcement (which is most of Powerplay activity), the totals on the leaderboard (which is denominated in merits, not control points) generally go up, as does the page count. Nothing can stop the Relics.
Trade (1139 pages)
Winners: Ritter der Tischkanten, Pilots Faction Network Squadron, Stellanebula Project
A long-running high-profit trade CG, the Panther Clipper, and other factors combine to push the trade board to its highest ever validated amount, beating last season's record by over 50%. Even allowing for the reporting bugs not known about back then it probably doesn't beat the LTD rush back in Season 11, though.
It also, impressively, pushes the Trade board's participation count above the Exploration board's count.
Other comments
Board activity generally rises - on headcount if not on totals - if not quite to the highs of the Trailblazers release, and high-profit hauling continues to rake in the money.
But ... this is it. Vanguards will release on Tuesday, all being well, and Frontier have said it will include some significant changes to the leaderboards. Season 45 will therefore last just five days, and whatever comes next probably won't be directly comparable.
(Will there be reporting on the new Vanguards leaderboards? I've not yet decided, it'll depend what information is provided there and how easy it is to extract.)