| Artist | Song/Album Name | Cost (either sold, purchased or estimated) | Information |
|---|
| Wu-Tang Clan | Once Upon a Time in Shaolin | $4,000,000 | Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin CD (of which only one copy was produced) was sold through Paddle8 on November 24, 2015, for $2,000,000, according to Record Collector 449. [1] On December 9, 2015, Bloomberg Businessweek identified the buyer as hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli. [2] On September 10, 2021 the Wu-Tang Clan broke their own record when the United States Department of Justice, which had seized the album from Martin Shkreli as part of a forfeiture, sold the album for $4,000,000 to crypto collective PleasrDAO, according to The New York Times . [3] |
| Bob Dylan | Blowin' in the Wind' | $1,800,000 | A one-off recording of Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind' sold for $1.8 million at auction in 2022, according to multiple sources, including Rolling Stone. [4] |
| The Beatles | The Beatles (the "White Album") | $790,000 | The Beatles (the "White Album") (Parlophone UK album, 1968) – Ringo Starr's personal copy (No. 0000001) was sold for $790,000 in December 2015, according to Rolling Stone . This is the highest price ever paid for an album that has been commercially released. |
| Elvis Presley | My Happiness | $300,000 | Elvis Presley's "My Happiness" acetate was purchased by Jack White for $300,000 in January 2015. [5] It was then re-released on Record Store Day 2015 by Third Man Records. |
| The Beatles | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | $290,500 | A fully signed copy of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP sold for $290,500 (£190,000) in 2013. [6] |
| John Lennon and Yoko Ono | Double Fantasy | $150,000 | A copy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy (Geffen US album, 1980), autographed by Lennon five hours before his murder. This sold in 1999 for $150,000. [7] [8] |
| Frank Wilson | "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" | $133,818.00 | One of two known copies of this Northern soul classic (SOUL*35019, US 7-inch 45 rpm in plain sleeve, 1966), fetched over £100,000 in 2020, according to the Harborough Mail. Northern soul is a highly collectible area, based around obscure American soul singles. |
| The Beatles | Yesterday and Today | $125,000 | Yesterday and Today (Capitol, US album in ‘butcher’ sleeve, 1966). A sealed mint "first state" stereo copy sold for US$125,000 in February 2016, [9] unsealed mint copies of this pressing have regularly sold for well over $15,000. Other pressings and states are also available, in both mono and stereo with prices ranging from $150 to $10,000. [10] |
| The Quarrymen | Untitled | $105,047.13 | A tape of The Quarrymen performing live sold for £78,500 [11] |
| The Silver Beatles | Untitled | $46,826.67 | The Silver Beatles' Decca audition tape fetched £35,000 at auction [12] |
| John Lennon | Untitled | $30,000 | A recording of John Lennon singing at a party in 1973 sold for $30,000 at Bonhams in 2008 [13] |
| The Beatles | Till There Was You | $103,685.70 | 10-inch acetate sold in March 2016 for £77,500, according to Record Collector 453. |
| Mick Jagger and Keith Richards | Untitled | $67,230.98 | The earliest known tape of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards rehearsing fetched £50,250 at auction. [11] |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience | Untitled | $64,287.54 | 1968 Woburn Music Festival performance sold for £48,050 at Christie's. [14] |
| David Bowie (with The Konrads) | Untitled | $52,660.14 | Omega sold David Bowie's first demo tape (with The Konrads) for £39,360 in 2018 (Record Collector 485). |
| Michael Jackson | What More Can I Give | $50,000 | A Michael Jackson "What More Can I Give" studio reference CD sold on eBay for $50,000 in 2015 [15] |
| Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hull | Original Stack O’Lee Blues | $50,000 | "Original Stack O’Lee Blues" (Black Patti, US 78 rpm in plain sleeve, 1927). $50,000 offered to Joe Bussard, according to Amanda Petrusich's Do Not Sell At Any Price. |
| Scaramanga Silk | Choose Your Weapon | $41,095 | Sold for $41,095 on Discogs. [16] |
| Aphex Twin | Caustic Window | $46,300 | A test pressing of Aphex Twin's Caustic Window album sold for $46,300 on eBay in 2014, with the buyer being Markus Persson, the creator of Minecraft. [17] |
| Dark | Dark Round the Edges | $36,123.57 | A highly limited colour gatefold copy of Dark's Round The Edges prog LP sold for £27,000, according to Pete Bonner from Psychotron, in Record Collector 517. |
| Tommy Johnson | Alcohol and Jake Blues | $37,100 | A copy of Tommy Johnson's "Alcohol and Jake Blues" 78 rpm sold for $37,100 on eBay in 2013 [18] |
| The Beatles | Please Please Me (Parlophone stereo version with the black and gold label) | $29,864.83 | A copy of The Beatles' Please Please Me LP (the Parlophone stereo version with the black and gold label, which regularly sells for over £1,000) sold in 2009 for £22,322. [19] |
| Bob Dylan | The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan | $35,000 | The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (CBS, US album, stereo 1963, featuring four tracks deleted from subsequent releases), a copy belonging to Dylan's one-time girlfriend Suze Rotolo with hand-written notes on the track-listing, was auctioned by Christie's in New York for a reported $35,000. [20] [10] |
| Jean-Michel Jarre | Music for Supermarkets | $45,048.17 | Music for Supermarkets (Disques Dreyfus, France, FDM 18113), Only one copy of this LP exists. It was auctioned for 36,000FR (approx. $14,000 at the time, or about $33,563 in 2016) in Paris in 1983. |
| Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers | My Bonnie | $30,000 | A copy of Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers' (The Beatles) 'My Bonnie' 7" (Decca stock copy, 1962) was sold for $30,000 by Heritage Auctions, according to Record Collector 539. |
| The Beatles | Can't Buy Me Love | $27,500 | A copy of the Beatles' 'Can't Buy Me Love' 7" (Capitol, black & yellow vinyl) was sold for $27,500 by Heritage Auctions, according to Record Collector 539. |
| Prince | The Black Album (Prince album) | $27,500 | A copy of Prince's untitled "black album" sold on Discogs for $27,500 in June 2018. |
