The 10 Most Expensive Vinyl Records Ever Sold

TUESDAY TRIVIA

What gives goods value? When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's first Tweet sold as an NFT for $2.9 million dollars, that was an eye-popping event. That it was auctioned off as a way of raising money for charity helped build the kitty, for sure. I recall Eric Clapton auctioning an assortment of guitars he owned and played for $6 million a decade or two ago. And original lyrics by major songwriters have fetched a pretty penny or two. Dylan's handwritten lyrics for "Like a Rolling Stone" garnered two million big ones in 2014, surpassing "A Day in the Life" by more than a million. And, I believe it's now been surpassed. 

Which brings us to today's diversion. Can you name the 10 most expensive vinyl records ever sold? 

It's apparent than vinyl has made a comeback in recent years. There's nothing quite like the fidelity of a clean album on a primo stereo system. Analog is warmer, richer and more real. 

That being said, we return to value propositions. It's not just the fact that they are vinyl that gives these 10 records value. If I perfectly reproduced 100 copies of Dylan's lyrics for "Like a Rolling Stone" you will not see any of them fetch the price the original captured. As much was we love the song, the lyrics, and the memories it evokes, it's not going to be what generates stratospheric value.

The operative word in this game is rare. Hence, the album that captured the #10 slot on this list is one in which only 250 vinyls were produced, and of these 245 were destroyed in a fire. Five exist and one of these sold in Britain for 25,742 pounds.

The article we're using as our "final authority" here was published at hmv.com in 2019, so it may be possible that the leaderboard has been penetrated by a newcomer or two. If this is so, leave a comment and link below in the comments so we can become the trivia know-it-alls that we deserve to be in this esoteric space.

One more caveat. I am not going to share the full list here. That might diminish your motivation to go check out the details of each entry that the editor of hmv.com worked so hard to assemble. Instead, I will talk briefly about the five Beatles-related discs on this list. 

Yes, four of the top ten are Beatles vinyls and one other is the John Lennon/Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy, probably the last one he signed before he was shot and killed outside the Dakota in New York Upper West Side. This album came in #5 on this list of most expensive vinyls and sold for $150,000. I've written elsewhere about how I was in Mexico City that day on December 8, 1980 when he was shot. This album was signed that same day, a few hours earlier.

The three Beatles albums on the list are The Beatles: Yesterday & Today, Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band signed by all four ($290K), and the first pressed Beatles White Album, which Ringo had owned and auctioned off for $790K. #7 on the list was not an album, but rather a rare acetate of the beautiful crooner  "Till There Was You".

What's striking to me about the album pictured to your right here is that someone actually decided that this would make a good album cover. It shows The Beatles with beheaded dolls and slabs of meat. The album was a compilation of hits that had been released in North America only, but was quickly withdrawn. 

There's more to the story, though. When The Beatles White Album, which featured an all white cover with nothing else but the name embossed on it, the effect generated all kinds of rumors, including a rumor that there was a photo of The Beatles with dismembered babies on it, and if you soak it in water the image will appear. I vividly recall hearing that, but did not proceed to dunk my album in water to see if an image would appear in the manner of invisible ink. I did, however, play Revolution #9 backwards numerous times to find clues about the death of Paul.  

A mint condition sealed original of the "Beatles as Butchers" cover fetched $125,000 at auction, which placed it at #6 on most expensive vinyls ever sold as of 2019. Instead, the album cover we ended up with on our store shelves was this one pictured to the left.  

#4 on the Top Ten Most Expensive list forever seems to appear as one of the "greatest albums" of all time on Rolling Stone's lists, as well as one of the coolest album covers of all time. We're talking about Sgt. Pepper here, of course. The reason this one sold for $290K is because it was signed by all four of The Beatles. 

It was the original acetate for "Till There Was You" that placed it on this list. If acetates are worthy of being included with the albums, I'm curious what some of the Dylan acetates in Bill Pagel's archives are worth.  

If you're into music and nostalgia, then head over to the website and see what other rare gems are there. You'll see an Elvis's first test pressing at #3 on the list. Can you guess the song? And the #1 has a story behind it that you will think, "What? Huh?" Yet it sold for a cool two million. It is neither British nor American. That's your last clue.

Meantime life goes on...  Listen to the music.

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