List of the Most Expensive Vinyl Records Ever Sold in the Market

Gathering vinyl records has been an enthusiasm and a hobby for some individuals for quite a long time. Some collectors have spent so much that they now own the world’s most expensive records. Today, a single roll of vinyl typically costs around $20, with limited editions like colored vinyl costing slightly more. In any case, purchasing old works of art, particularly first pressings, can cost impressively more. That’s why vinyl collecting is so exciting and fun. It’s a collectible item as well as a music format.

With the ascent of web-based features, for example, Spotify and Deezer, vinyl took a downturn. That is, until recently when vinyl saw its highest revenue in three decades in 2020. In the vinyl wilderness; settled in a record store, a shed, anyplace, could be a very important gatherer thing. At times they’ve been one-off pressings, similarly as with the world’s most costly vinyl deal: Wu Tang Family’s Some time ago In Shaolin.

List of the World’s Heftiest Vinyl Record Sales

Here we have compiled a list of the Vinyl Records that sold for hefty prices and are top most expensive ones to exist till now.

Wu-Tang Clan – Once Upon A Time In Shaolin

This album is not only the most costly one ever sold, but it’s also possibly the most contentious one for different reasons. Many Wu-Tang fans got upset when this record was announced, and nearly everyone was priced out. Many others were also eager to hear it, but since it’s unique to this one and only pressing, it’s doubtful that we will ever have the chance.

The fact that the buyer, Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, was also in charge of the purchase of an anti-HIV medication and the ensuing 500% price increase, only served to fuel the debate. Fans of Wu-Tang were furious. Actually, the fact that he was the owner irritated everyone on the planet. Martin Shkreli was sentenced to jail time for fraud and the record “Once Upon A Time In Shaolin” is now in government custody. The contract includes a humorous provision allowing Wu-Tang Clan members or Bill Murray to try to steal it back after 88 years. Read more about the expensive TV albums that ever made.

Bob Dylan – ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’

Bob Dylan was making a statement about art in the age of mass production by producing a limited-edition physical record that wasn’t intended for public release. His efforts also smashed records set by auction houses.

In 2022, Dylan recorded an updated version of his 1962 folk hit “Blowin‘ in the Wind.” One of the few individuals who had ever heard of it was a prospective bidder who paid the equivalent of $1,769,508 at Christie’s in London in July. Dylan recorded on “a newly invented kind of acetate recording… with reportedly greater quality and a coating that is said to make it nearly impermeable to normal wear-and-tear,” according to Variety. Read more about the most expensive music videos in the world.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono: ‘Double Fantasy’

A recording that has earned fame for its high price and graphic history was auctioned off by Goldin Auctions in 2020. Mark David Chapman asked The Beatles singer to sign a CD of “Double Fantasy,” which he had recorded with his wife, Yoko Ono, outside Lennon’s New York City apartment five hours before he killed him on December 8, 1980. That night, Chapman would come back and shoot Lennon in the back twice.

Police crime scene markings and actual notes from an investigating detective—who could not have known that the piece of evidence he was carrying would one day be worth roughly $1 million—are included on the album cover along with Lennon’s autograph in blue ink.

The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album)

It was long known that The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr owned the original copy of the band’s 1968 double album of the same name. I’m ecstatic as a record collector since the serial number is 0000001. Ultimately, this record sold for $790,000 to an undisclosed buyer at Julien’s auction in the United States in December 2015. Ringo’s renowned Ludwig drum set went up for auction; Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, bought it for a shocking $2.2 million. Read more about the most expensive artists that will surprise you.

The Quarrymen: ‘That’ll Be the Day’/’In Spite of All the Danger’

The Quarrymen, which included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and two men most people have never heard of, John “Duff” Lowe and Colin Hanlon, existed prior to The Beatles. But in 2012, Record Collector rated a 1958 Quarrymen recording as the rarest record in Britain, and Lowe ended up owning that record. The record’s estimated worth was put at 200,000 pounds by the newspaper. In 2012, 200,000 pounds was equal to almost $318,000 at current exchange rates. After accounting for inflation, that would be $423,461 in 2023 currency.

Elvis Presley – My Happiness

Elvis Presley’s debut recording, “My Happiness,” marked the beginning of The King’s career. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Presley, then eighteen, spent $4 for the recording at Sun Records in Memphis in 1953. When the $4 went up for sale in 2015 at Elvis Presley’s former Graceland estate, it would have brought in around $35.50, but Elvis surpassed inflation.

Jack White, a well-known record collector and enthusiast, bought the King’s test pressing of My Happiness at an auction back in 2015. Subsequently, White released the limited edition album on his own label, Third Man Records, complete with a brown paper bag cover. According to White, Elvis would have walked like out of Sun Records with”.

The Beatles – Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (signed by all four Beatles)

If all four of The Beatles sign this record, it will become extremely valuable (signatures will need to be authenticated). The first printing of this album will go for a respectable sum at any auction.  This is especially true if the pressing is the mono version with the black Parlophone label. When this copy went up for auction in 2013 and was purchased by an American from the Midwest, the auctioneers had projected a sale of about $30,000; they were shocked when the item sold for almost ten times that amount, bringing in an incredible $290,000 (roughly £227,000) and shattering the record for a copy of their 1967 album. Read more about the most expensive web series in the world.

The Beatles – Yesterday & Today

Indeed, another Beatles album—what more could you ask for? This rare album in the collection is a 1966 compilation that was first issued exclusively in North America and subsequently in Japan—it was not distributed in the UK or the EU. The record is rare because it has the controversial “butcher” cover, which shows all of the band members clutching severed doll heads and coated in flesh. It actually looks kind of creepy if you ask me. It was quickly removed and replaced with a cover that was considerably more conducive to work. Beatles collectors still have a strong demand for the original. When a mint edition sealed copy sold for $125,000 at an auction in 2013, it became the most expensive record in history at that particular moment. 

Frank Wilson: ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’

In 2020, a guy by the name of Lee Jeffries had a remarkable shopping spree. In the course of two weeks, the multimillionaire British man got married, bought a Ferrari, and spent six figures on one of the rarest recordings in existence. He paid 100,000 pounds, or more than $112,000, according to the Harborough Mail, for a seven-inch 45, which was the sole Frank Wilson single ever released by Motown Records, a division of Soul. Do I Love You is regarded as the most valuable Motown album in the world, and Wilson is still regarded as a hero in the UK’s northern soul movement.

The Beatles: ‘Till There Was You’

George Martin managed to convince to sign The Beatles by the album “Until There Was You.” The original vinyl demo album was purchased for 77,500 pounds by an unknown British collector, according to an AFP article from 2016. The 10-inch 78 rpm acetate record, which is regarded as the “holy grail” of rock music, has the single “Hello Little Girl” on one side and the eponymous single on the other. With the average pound-to-dollar conversion rate of $1.36 in 2016, the collector made a payment of about $105,400.