Tuesday, March 19, 2019 4:38:06 PM
>>> These 28 Vinyl Records Are Worth a Combined $1.9 Million
By Eli Ellison, updated on
March 14, 2019
https://www.workandmoney.com/s/most-valuable-vinyl-records-d199c54aee464079?utm_campaign=vinylrecords-7d10051bbc8f4fb7&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=out&utm_term=MSN+US+%28MSN+US%29
John Cusack's music-obsessed character in "High Fidelity" would drool over the vinyl records in this list.
Once the bastion of hard-core record hounds, nostalgic coots and too-cool hipsters, vinyl record culture has come back from near extinction to a Nielsen-estimated 14.3-million vinyl record sales in 2018.
While that's a fraction of the world's estimated $16-billion recording-industry revenue (most from cheap digital downloads and streams), some fans are still willing to pop a bit extra for a physical, quality copy of their favorite music that won't vanish when their iPhone melts down.
A healthy chunk of those sales comes from reissues of classic albums by everyone from the Doors to Dylan. However, collectors know the real vinyl money lies in original pressings. And so, we've compiled a list of fascinating, famously expensive records that'd make the crew from "High Fidelity" drool.
Here's a quick record glossary:
RPM: Stands for “revolutions per minute." This is the speed at which a phonograph turntable revolves a record.
Vinyl: A synthetic plastic polymer, usually the color black, used to make a phonograph record.
Acetate: A metal, lacquer-coated disc that's produced on specialized equipment, often on the fly, for a demonstration recording of a master tape.
Shellac: A record made from a brittle wax between the 1890s and 1950s, often for a disc that plays at 78 rpm.
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The Beatles, "The Beatles" (aka "White Album")
The Beatles
Year: 1968
Format: 12-inch double vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Songs you should know: "Revolution 1," "Helter Skelter," "Blackbird"
In 2015, Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr unloaded more than 800 items from his personal collection of musical instruments and memorabilia in a Julien's auction to benefit his Lotus Foundation charity. Among the gems was Starr's original U.K. mono copy of the Beatles' "White Album." Stamped with serial number A0000001, it's the bonafide first copy to come off the factory production line.
It was known the Fab Four themselves received the first four copies of the album. But it had always been assumed John Lennon nabbed the very first pressing, when in fact it was Starr who had copy No. 1, stored in a bank vault for 35 years. Prior, he had the album in his home and actually played it. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Starr said "Whoever gets it, it will have my fingerprints on it."
Pre-auction estimates pegged the album's sale price at $200,000. But never discount the fervor and deep pockets of Beatles maniacs. Ringo's "White Album" ultimately fetched $790,000 in green, making it the most expensive record(s) ever sold.
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Elvis Presley, "My Happiness"/"That's When Your Heartache Begins"
This is a Sun Records/Third Man Records reissue of the Elvis Presley single.
Sun Records
Year: 1953
Format: 10-inch acetate, 78 rpm
Jack White's lo-fi obsession borders on insufferable. But at least the man has good taste. In 2015, he shelled out a headline-grabbing $300,000 for a one-of-a-kind acetate recorded by an 18-year-old Presley at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service studio for $4.
"The King" gave the record to his friend Ed Leek, who cherished the disc for more than 60 years until he passed and his daughter sold it to White. Shortly after, White's own Third Man Records label did Elvis fans a solid by reproducing the acetate for a limited-edition 2015 Record Store Day release.
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Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen"/”No Feeling”
A&M Records
Year: 1977
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Only six days after signing to A&M Records, the label abruptly dropped the band after it terrorized the company offices. Bassist Sid Vicious reportedly demolished the office toilet. Meanwhile, lead singer Johnny Rotten is said to have cursed out the A&M brass, and later issued them a death threat. Bad behavior doesn't get any more punk rock than that.
The label had already manufactured 25,000 copies of the Pistols' debut single, and quickly ordered them destroyed. But a handful of discs found their way into circulation. Today, less than ten copies with the A&M label are known to exist, and have fetched up to $17,000.
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Bob Dylan, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"
The first pressing of Bob Dylan's classic album was recalled, creating a market for the early copies of his masterpiece that got into circulation.
Columbia Records
Year: 1963
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Songs you should know: "Blowin' in the Wind," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
One of rock's most iconic and romantic album covers features Dylan and his lady love walking a wintery New York City street. Were you lucky enough to bag a first pressing of "Freewheelin'," which mistakenly included four songs not intended for release, you've got a hot record on your hands.
Before Columbia Records promptly recalled the erroneous discs, a small number got out. Today, a mono copy is worth about $15,000. And should you unearth a first-pressing stereo version (only two copies are known to exist), bank on at least $30,000.
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The Velvet Underground, "The Velvet Underground & Nico"
Only two acetate test pressings (not pictured) of this classic album by The Velvet Underground are known to exist.
Verve
Year: 1966
Format: 12-inch acetate, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Heroin"
It's rare a flea-market find turns out to be a gold mine, but that's precisely what happened in 2002 when Canadian record collector Warren Hill paid 75 cents for a copy of the Velvets’ debut album at a street sale in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. Only this wasn't a common reprint of the album featuring Andy Warhol's famed "banana sticker" cover. The disc had handwritten labels and came in a plain brown sleeve.
What Hill held in his hands was an acetate test pressing containing early versions and mixes of songs that in different forms would ultimately appear on the finished album. How scarce is this disc? The only other known copy belongs to the band's drummer, Moe Tucker. Naturally, Hill auctioned his $.75 platter on eBay and wound up collecting $25,200 — a none too shabby ROI.
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The Rolling Stones, "Street Fighting Man"/"No Expectations"
London/Bonhams
Year: 1968
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Topping the list of pricey Stones' wax is the original 1968 U.S. picture-sleeve version of this feisty single. The front and rear covers feature black-and-white photos of heavy handed police tactics deployed at demonstration riots that broke out in the U.S. that year.
Normally, this might not be a problem for the bad-boy Stones, but the month of the single's August 1968 release also saw the ugly, infamous riot at the Chicago Democratic National Convention. Record company execs got cold feet over photos that could be deemed offensive and ordered all copies destroyed. But not before as many as eighteen copies escaped into the world. In 2011, one sold at a Bonhams auction for $17,000.
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Nirvana, "Bleach"
Sub Pop
Year: 1989
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "About a Girl"
Gen Xers, your cherished wax copy of Nirvana's landmark 1991 album "Nevermind" may have big sentimental value, but unless you've got a first pressing in mint condition (unlikely), it ain't worth much.
The Nirvana record that collectors lust after is the band's '89 debut album, "Bleach," on Seattle's grunge-pioneering label, Sub Pop. The priciest editions are the third pressing on red-and-white marbled vinyl and limited to 500 copies (about $1,100 in cherry condition); and the original 1,000-copy issue on white vinyl, sold for as much as $2,500.
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Madonna, "Erotica"
Warner Bros./Discogs
Year: 1992
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Madonna vinyl doesn't usually command big bucks, unless it's this U.K.-pressed picture-disc single featuring an image of the Material Girl sucking on supermodel Naomi Campbell's big toe.
Upon the record's impending release, British royal Sarah, Duchess of York (aka "Fergie"), was embroiled in a tabloid scandal involving a photo of her toes being sucked by an extramarital lover.
Warner Bros. Records' honchos, not wanting to appear as if they were cashing in on a foot-fetish controversy, withdrew the single. Yet more than 100 copies went unaccounted for. Depending on condition, today they sell on eBay for $3,000 to $4,000.
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Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull — Down Home Boys, "Original Stack O' Lee Blues"/"Mama You Don't Know How"
Black Patti/Discogs
Year: 1927
Format: 10-inch shellac, 78 rpm
Old-timey jazz and blues aficionados are perhaps the record-collecting world's most fanatical, and none more so than Maryland's legendary 78 rpm junkie Joe Bussard. Searching for a mega-rare Charlie Patton record that Steve Buscemi's character in the movie "Ghost World" would sever his right arm for? Bussard's got it.
He also possesses what may be the world's most valuable blues slab — the only known copy of obscure artist Reed's version of "Stack O' Lee" on the short-lived Black Patti label. With a one-of-a-kind item, there's no price precedent, yet Bussard has reportedly turned down an offer as high as $70,000.
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The Beatles, "Yesterday and Today"
Capitol
Year: 1966
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Songs you should know: "Yesterday," "Day Tripper"
The Beatles' ninth album on their U.S. label, Capitol Records, is beloved by collectors thanks to its infamous "butcher cover" showing the band dressed in white smocks, surrounded by decapitated baby dolls and hunks of raw, bloody meat.
Paul McCartney suggested the controversial image was a comment on the Vietnam War, but squeamish record store dealers were hearing none of it. Capitol immediately caved and recalled the album a day after its release. Yet many copies made it into the public's hands and nowadays command anywhere from $12,000 to $125,000, depending on condition and whether it's a mono or much-scarcer stereo version.
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Aphex Twin, "Caustic Window"
Wikipedia
Year: 1994
Format: 12-inch double vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Fingry"
In the early '90s, Grammy Award-winning EDM pioneer Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) abandoned his in-the-works album "Caustic Window" — leaving behind only four test pressings on vinyl. When a copy appeared on eBay in 2014, "Minecraft" video game creator and billionaire Markus "Notch" Persson pounced. Give the album a spin and decide for yourself if these techno beats are worth $46,300.
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Frank Wilson, "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)"/"Sweeter As the Days Go By"
This is a reissue of the Frank Wilson single that won a huge cult following in England in 1965.
Amazon
Year: 1965
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Though Wilson wrote Motown hits for the Supremes, Temptations and Marvin Gaye, as a recording artist he only ever performed on this "Northern soul" single that won a huge cult following in England.
A couple hundred copies were pressed. But Motown chief Berry Gordy wasn't keen on one of his prized writer/producers becoming a star in his own right, so Gordy ordered the records destroyed. Only two guaranteed legit copies (and perhaps as many as five total) are known to survive — one of them selling in a 2009 auction for nearly $34,000.
Slip on your dancing shoes and bust a move to the most expensive soul record ever sold.
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Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"
Columbia/Amazon
Year: 1959
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "So What"
While it's not this list's priciest record, nothing will knock out your jazz-cat friends like casually tossing an original 1959 pressing of this platter on the turntable. What you want is Davis' hard-bop classic on Columbia Records' so called "6-eye label," which sells for about $1,000 on eBay. Cool, baby, cool.
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Prince, "The Black Album" (aka "The Funk Bible")
This is a reissue of the "Black Album." Prince's recall of the original record caused early vinyl pressings to skyrocket in value.
Warner Bros/Amazon
Year: 1987
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Superfunkycalifragisexy"
Typically it's record companies that cancel albums and singles at the eleventh hour. But in this case it was the late, great Prince himself who reportedly had a bad experience on MDMA, suddenly decided his own record was "evil" and paid Warner Bros. to recall the entire 500,000-copy run.
By that point, many promo copies were already in circulation. The LP was widely bootlegged. And eventually, in '94, Prince officially released "The Black Album" on CD. But that doesn't matter to rare-record hounds. In 2018, an original Canadian vinyl pressing sold for $27,500, while a still-factory-sealed American copy fetched $42,300.
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Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin"
Atlantic Records
Year: 1969
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Dazed and Confused"
The only thing cooler than having Zep's thunderous debut album in your crate of old vinyl is discovering it's a first U.K. pressing of the record.
How can you tell? On the album cover, set against the iconic picture of the Hindenburg disaster, the "Led Zeppelin" lettering and Atlantic Records logo are the color turquoise rather than the orange color found on all later editions. What's it worth? In nice condition, an easy $1,000.
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Tommy Johnson, "Alcohol And Jake Blues"/"Ridin' Horse"
Paramount Records/Discogs
Year: 1930
Format: 10-inch shellac, 78 rpm
In 2013, this record by legendary Delta bluesman Johnson fetched the highest price ever paid for a 78 slab on eBay. The seller, a South Carolina collector, acquired the record years earlier at an estate sale, but had no idea of its extreme rarity until seeing bids skyrocket on his eBay auction.
The winning bid was $37,100, happily paid by well-known blues collector John Tefteller, who also happened to own the only other copy known to exist. However, according to Tefteller, his record was "in hammered condition," while this new disc is "beautiful." That's a ton of cash to shell out for less crackle and pop.
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Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), "Xanadu"
MCA Records/Discogs
Year: 1980
Format: 10-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
The title track from Olivia Newton-John's 1980 roller-disco musical/fantasy train wreck of a movie, "Xanadu," was pressed on promotional 10-inch picture discs, of which an estimated twenty to thirty copies ever saw the light of day. Why? It's rumored ONJ didn't like the picture of herself and asked MCA Records to stop the presses. In recent years, copies have sold on eBay for up to $9,100. Shame on you for doubting Olivia's collectability.
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Misfits, "Legacy of Brutality"
Caroline Records
Year: 1986
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Where Eagles Dare"
If you like your horror punk rock pressed on limited-edition, pink-colored vinyl, this compilation album by Glenn Danzig and the gang is for you. Only sixteen copies of this second-pressing pink platter were made. Depending on whether the record was kept in cherry condition or accidently stomped during a living-room mosh pit session, expect to pay between $2,000 and $5,000.
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Max Steiner, "The Caine Mutiny"
RCA Victor/Discogs
Year: 1954
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
The world's rarest movie soundtrack LP is for this classic World War II drama starring Humphrey Bogart, and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. On the first pressing of the album, side one features composer Steiner's film score, while side two contains the complete dialogue from the movie's climactic courtroom scene.
A furious Wouk saw the latter as infringement on his intellectual property and threatened to forbid Columbia Pictures from ever making another movie based on his work unless the album was canceled. The studio obliged, but not before an estimated dozen copies landed in the hands of employees. In 2007, a copy in less-than stellar condition sold on eBay for $6,700.
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Depeche Mode, "Music for the Masses"
The original U.K. cover sleeve for Depeche Mode's "Music for the Masses."
Mute/Discogs
Year: 1987
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Strangelove"
Every 1980s new waver worth their Flock of Seagulls hairdo had this DM album back in the day. Yet precious few possess the record in its original U.K. cover sleeve featuring an orange-and-white megaphone.
The band withdrew the cover at the last minute, but a dozen copies survived. In the '90s, they were accidentally shipped to record stores as samples of a planned reissue of the album that was eventually scrapped.
In 2011, former band member Alan Wilder auctioned his personal copy for $4,600. A few others have surfaced on eBay and commanded prices in the same ballpark.
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Century Symphony Orchestra, "Waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr."
RCA Camden
Year: 1956
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Before Andy Warhol created iconic "pop art" album covers for the likes of the Rolling Stones and Velvet Underground, he was a 1950s' artist-for-hire inking cover illustrations for jazz and classical records. Among those gigs was the cover art for this ultra-rare EP. Of the seven extant copies, one is displayed in Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum, while another sold on eBay in 2012 for nearly $5,500.
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The Who, "The Who Sell Out"
Track
Year: 1967
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "I Can See for Miles"
Prior to more famous Who concept albums like "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" there was this LP, presented as a 1960s' British "pirate radio" broadcast filled with songs, fake commercials and mock public service announcements. The cover art — featuring Pete Townshend wielding a super-size stick of deodorant and Roger Daltrey in a bathtub full of Heinz baked beans — is worth the price of admission alone.
Released on the Track label, the first 1000 U.K. pressings of the album (500 in mono, 500 in stereo) included a folded "psychedelic poster" of a colorful butterfly — a perfect addition to your hippie crash-pad decor. Should you trip upon a copy (with the all-important poster), it’ll sell on eBay for about $1,100.
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Quarrymen, "In Spite of All the Danger"/"That'll Be The Day"
Phillips Sound Recording Service/Wikipedia
Year: 1958
Format: 10-inch acetate, 78 rpm
Behold what some collectors guess might be the world's most valuable record — an acetate grooved with the first songs ever recorded by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. In '58, before the Beatles, the band was named the Quarrymen. Along with pre-Ringo drummer Colin Hanton and pianist John Lowe, they laid down these two tracks (an original tune, plus a Buddy Holly cover) in a Liverpool studio.
After the songs were pressed to a single disc, the studio master tape was erased. Pianist Lowe was in possession of the record until 1981 when he tried to auction it. But not before McCartney swooped in, bought it for an undisclosed sum, and later had an estimated 50 copies made to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends. Record Collector magazine values the reproductions at $13,000, and conservatively pegs Macca's singular original disc at $260,000.
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Bruce Springsteen, "Last American Hero From Asbury Park N.J."
CBS/Sony
Year: 1978
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Born to Run"
Among the most sought-after Boss records, this LP sampler was exclusive to Japan and contains a compilation of ten tracks to help promote the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album. Fortunately for collectors, the problem is none of the included cuts are from said album, but rather plucked from Springsteen's first three LPs. It's believed less than 100 copies were released, and today sell for as high as $2,400.
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David Bowie and Dana Gillespie, "Bowpromo"
The 2017 Record Store Day reproduction of the rare "Bowpromo" release.
Record Store Day
Year: 1971
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Oh! You Pretty Things"
In '71, David Bowie's manager had 500 promo records pressed to help his client and fellow artist Dana Gillespie secure a new deal with RCA Records. Side one included tracks that'd later appear on Bowie's landmark album "Hunky Dory," while the flip side featured Gillespie's songs.
Since the record was solely intended for industry execs, it had a blank white label and came in a plain sleeve. Nowadays, the only way collectors can verify a copy as the real McCoy is by the matrix number "BOWPROMO 1A-1/1B-1" stamped on the record itself, hence the nickname "Bowpromo."
If you can't spare $5,000 to $6,000 for an original, 5,000 reproductions were pressed for a 2017 Record Store Day release that goes for about $30 on eBay.
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The White Stripes, "Lafayette Blues"/"Sugar Never Tasted So Good"
Italy Records/Discogs
Year: 1998
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Jack White makes his second appearance on this list, though this time not as a rare-record buyer (see Elvis Presley's "My Happiness"). In '98, the up-and-coming White Stripes had fifteen numbered copies of this single pressed on red-and-white vinyl to sell for $6 at one of their Detroit club gigs. Italy Records founder Dave Buick hand painted the cover-sleeve artwork for each copy, one of which sold in 2012 on eBay for $12,700.
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The Five Sharps, "Stormy Weather"/"Sleepy Cowboy"
Pawn Stars/YouTube
Year: 1952
Format: 10-inch vinyl, 78 rpm
This super-duper rare doo-wop platter attracted mainstream attention in 2016 when it was featured on the reality TV show "Pawn Stars." The seller asked $25,000, but his record was in poor, damaged shape and no deal was made. On the flip side, a choice specimen sold in 2003 for a confirmed price of $19,000.
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Elvis Presley, "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky"
A clear vinyl reissue of Elvis Presley's "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky" single.
Sun/Discogs
Year: 1954
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Some Presley aficionados argue that The King's first commercially released single, recorded at Memphis' Sun Studio, was also the first rock 'n' roll genre record ever made. Whether you agree or not, there's no denying an original pressing (with Sun catalog number "209" on the label) can be worth a bundle. Copies in good shape average around $1,000, while records in exceptionally clean condition can net up to $4,000.
<<<
By Eli Ellison, updated on
March 14, 2019
https://www.workandmoney.com/s/most-valuable-vinyl-records-d199c54aee464079?utm_campaign=vinylrecords-7d10051bbc8f4fb7&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=out&utm_term=MSN+US+%28MSN+US%29
John Cusack's music-obsessed character in "High Fidelity" would drool over the vinyl records in this list.
Once the bastion of hard-core record hounds, nostalgic coots and too-cool hipsters, vinyl record culture has come back from near extinction to a Nielsen-estimated 14.3-million vinyl record sales in 2018.
While that's a fraction of the world's estimated $16-billion recording-industry revenue (most from cheap digital downloads and streams), some fans are still willing to pop a bit extra for a physical, quality copy of their favorite music that won't vanish when their iPhone melts down.
A healthy chunk of those sales comes from reissues of classic albums by everyone from the Doors to Dylan. However, collectors know the real vinyl money lies in original pressings. And so, we've compiled a list of fascinating, famously expensive records that'd make the crew from "High Fidelity" drool.
Here's a quick record glossary:
RPM: Stands for “revolutions per minute." This is the speed at which a phonograph turntable revolves a record.
Vinyl: A synthetic plastic polymer, usually the color black, used to make a phonograph record.
Acetate: A metal, lacquer-coated disc that's produced on specialized equipment, often on the fly, for a demonstration recording of a master tape.
Shellac: A record made from a brittle wax between the 1890s and 1950s, often for a disc that plays at 78 rpm.
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The Beatles, "The Beatles" (aka "White Album")
The Beatles
Year: 1968
Format: 12-inch double vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Songs you should know: "Revolution 1," "Helter Skelter," "Blackbird"
In 2015, Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr unloaded more than 800 items from his personal collection of musical instruments and memorabilia in a Julien's auction to benefit his Lotus Foundation charity. Among the gems was Starr's original U.K. mono copy of the Beatles' "White Album." Stamped with serial number A0000001, it's the bonafide first copy to come off the factory production line.
It was known the Fab Four themselves received the first four copies of the album. But it had always been assumed John Lennon nabbed the very first pressing, when in fact it was Starr who had copy No. 1, stored in a bank vault for 35 years. Prior, he had the album in his home and actually played it. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Starr said "Whoever gets it, it will have my fingerprints on it."
Pre-auction estimates pegged the album's sale price at $200,000. But never discount the fervor and deep pockets of Beatles maniacs. Ringo's "White Album" ultimately fetched $790,000 in green, making it the most expensive record(s) ever sold.
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Elvis Presley, "My Happiness"/"That's When Your Heartache Begins"
This is a Sun Records/Third Man Records reissue of the Elvis Presley single.
Sun Records
Year: 1953
Format: 10-inch acetate, 78 rpm
Jack White's lo-fi obsession borders on insufferable. But at least the man has good taste. In 2015, he shelled out a headline-grabbing $300,000 for a one-of-a-kind acetate recorded by an 18-year-old Presley at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service studio for $4.
"The King" gave the record to his friend Ed Leek, who cherished the disc for more than 60 years until he passed and his daughter sold it to White. Shortly after, White's own Third Man Records label did Elvis fans a solid by reproducing the acetate for a limited-edition 2015 Record Store Day release.
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Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen"/”No Feeling”
A&M Records
Year: 1977
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Only six days after signing to A&M Records, the label abruptly dropped the band after it terrorized the company offices. Bassist Sid Vicious reportedly demolished the office toilet. Meanwhile, lead singer Johnny Rotten is said to have cursed out the A&M brass, and later issued them a death threat. Bad behavior doesn't get any more punk rock than that.
The label had already manufactured 25,000 copies of the Pistols' debut single, and quickly ordered them destroyed. But a handful of discs found their way into circulation. Today, less than ten copies with the A&M label are known to exist, and have fetched up to $17,000.
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Bob Dylan, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"
The first pressing of Bob Dylan's classic album was recalled, creating a market for the early copies of his masterpiece that got into circulation.
Columbia Records
Year: 1963
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Songs you should know: "Blowin' in the Wind," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
One of rock's most iconic and romantic album covers features Dylan and his lady love walking a wintery New York City street. Were you lucky enough to bag a first pressing of "Freewheelin'," which mistakenly included four songs not intended for release, you've got a hot record on your hands.
Before Columbia Records promptly recalled the erroneous discs, a small number got out. Today, a mono copy is worth about $15,000. And should you unearth a first-pressing stereo version (only two copies are known to exist), bank on at least $30,000.
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The Velvet Underground, "The Velvet Underground & Nico"
Only two acetate test pressings (not pictured) of this classic album by The Velvet Underground are known to exist.
Verve
Year: 1966
Format: 12-inch acetate, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Heroin"
It's rare a flea-market find turns out to be a gold mine, but that's precisely what happened in 2002 when Canadian record collector Warren Hill paid 75 cents for a copy of the Velvets’ debut album at a street sale in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. Only this wasn't a common reprint of the album featuring Andy Warhol's famed "banana sticker" cover. The disc had handwritten labels and came in a plain brown sleeve.
What Hill held in his hands was an acetate test pressing containing early versions and mixes of songs that in different forms would ultimately appear on the finished album. How scarce is this disc? The only other known copy belongs to the band's drummer, Moe Tucker. Naturally, Hill auctioned his $.75 platter on eBay and wound up collecting $25,200 — a none too shabby ROI.
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The Rolling Stones, "Street Fighting Man"/"No Expectations"
London/Bonhams
Year: 1968
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Topping the list of pricey Stones' wax is the original 1968 U.S. picture-sleeve version of this feisty single. The front and rear covers feature black-and-white photos of heavy handed police tactics deployed at demonstration riots that broke out in the U.S. that year.
Normally, this might not be a problem for the bad-boy Stones, but the month of the single's August 1968 release also saw the ugly, infamous riot at the Chicago Democratic National Convention. Record company execs got cold feet over photos that could be deemed offensive and ordered all copies destroyed. But not before as many as eighteen copies escaped into the world. In 2011, one sold at a Bonhams auction for $17,000.
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Nirvana, "Bleach"
Sub Pop
Year: 1989
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "About a Girl"
Gen Xers, your cherished wax copy of Nirvana's landmark 1991 album "Nevermind" may have big sentimental value, but unless you've got a first pressing in mint condition (unlikely), it ain't worth much.
The Nirvana record that collectors lust after is the band's '89 debut album, "Bleach," on Seattle's grunge-pioneering label, Sub Pop. The priciest editions are the third pressing on red-and-white marbled vinyl and limited to 500 copies (about $1,100 in cherry condition); and the original 1,000-copy issue on white vinyl, sold for as much as $2,500.
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Madonna, "Erotica"
Warner Bros./Discogs
Year: 1992
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Madonna vinyl doesn't usually command big bucks, unless it's this U.K.-pressed picture-disc single featuring an image of the Material Girl sucking on supermodel Naomi Campbell's big toe.
Upon the record's impending release, British royal Sarah, Duchess of York (aka "Fergie"), was embroiled in a tabloid scandal involving a photo of her toes being sucked by an extramarital lover.
Warner Bros. Records' honchos, not wanting to appear as if they were cashing in on a foot-fetish controversy, withdrew the single. Yet more than 100 copies went unaccounted for. Depending on condition, today they sell on eBay for $3,000 to $4,000.
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Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull — Down Home Boys, "Original Stack O' Lee Blues"/"Mama You Don't Know How"
Black Patti/Discogs
Year: 1927
Format: 10-inch shellac, 78 rpm
Old-timey jazz and blues aficionados are perhaps the record-collecting world's most fanatical, and none more so than Maryland's legendary 78 rpm junkie Joe Bussard. Searching for a mega-rare Charlie Patton record that Steve Buscemi's character in the movie "Ghost World" would sever his right arm for? Bussard's got it.
He also possesses what may be the world's most valuable blues slab — the only known copy of obscure artist Reed's version of "Stack O' Lee" on the short-lived Black Patti label. With a one-of-a-kind item, there's no price precedent, yet Bussard has reportedly turned down an offer as high as $70,000.
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The Beatles, "Yesterday and Today"
Capitol
Year: 1966
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Songs you should know: "Yesterday," "Day Tripper"
The Beatles' ninth album on their U.S. label, Capitol Records, is beloved by collectors thanks to its infamous "butcher cover" showing the band dressed in white smocks, surrounded by decapitated baby dolls and hunks of raw, bloody meat.
Paul McCartney suggested the controversial image was a comment on the Vietnam War, but squeamish record store dealers were hearing none of it. Capitol immediately caved and recalled the album a day after its release. Yet many copies made it into the public's hands and nowadays command anywhere from $12,000 to $125,000, depending on condition and whether it's a mono or much-scarcer stereo version.
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Aphex Twin, "Caustic Window"
Wikipedia
Year: 1994
Format: 12-inch double vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Fingry"
In the early '90s, Grammy Award-winning EDM pioneer Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) abandoned his in-the-works album "Caustic Window" — leaving behind only four test pressings on vinyl. When a copy appeared on eBay in 2014, "Minecraft" video game creator and billionaire Markus "Notch" Persson pounced. Give the album a spin and decide for yourself if these techno beats are worth $46,300.
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Frank Wilson, "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)"/"Sweeter As the Days Go By"
This is a reissue of the Frank Wilson single that won a huge cult following in England in 1965.
Amazon
Year: 1965
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Though Wilson wrote Motown hits for the Supremes, Temptations and Marvin Gaye, as a recording artist he only ever performed on this "Northern soul" single that won a huge cult following in England.
A couple hundred copies were pressed. But Motown chief Berry Gordy wasn't keen on one of his prized writer/producers becoming a star in his own right, so Gordy ordered the records destroyed. Only two guaranteed legit copies (and perhaps as many as five total) are known to survive — one of them selling in a 2009 auction for nearly $34,000.
Slip on your dancing shoes and bust a move to the most expensive soul record ever sold.
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Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"
Columbia/Amazon
Year: 1959
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "So What"
While it's not this list's priciest record, nothing will knock out your jazz-cat friends like casually tossing an original 1959 pressing of this platter on the turntable. What you want is Davis' hard-bop classic on Columbia Records' so called "6-eye label," which sells for about $1,000 on eBay. Cool, baby, cool.
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Prince, "The Black Album" (aka "The Funk Bible")
This is a reissue of the "Black Album." Prince's recall of the original record caused early vinyl pressings to skyrocket in value.
Warner Bros/Amazon
Year: 1987
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Superfunkycalifragisexy"
Typically it's record companies that cancel albums and singles at the eleventh hour. But in this case it was the late, great Prince himself who reportedly had a bad experience on MDMA, suddenly decided his own record was "evil" and paid Warner Bros. to recall the entire 500,000-copy run.
By that point, many promo copies were already in circulation. The LP was widely bootlegged. And eventually, in '94, Prince officially released "The Black Album" on CD. But that doesn't matter to rare-record hounds. In 2018, an original Canadian vinyl pressing sold for $27,500, while a still-factory-sealed American copy fetched $42,300.
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Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin"
Atlantic Records
Year: 1969
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Dazed and Confused"
The only thing cooler than having Zep's thunderous debut album in your crate of old vinyl is discovering it's a first U.K. pressing of the record.
How can you tell? On the album cover, set against the iconic picture of the Hindenburg disaster, the "Led Zeppelin" lettering and Atlantic Records logo are the color turquoise rather than the orange color found on all later editions. What's it worth? In nice condition, an easy $1,000.
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Tommy Johnson, "Alcohol And Jake Blues"/"Ridin' Horse"
Paramount Records/Discogs
Year: 1930
Format: 10-inch shellac, 78 rpm
In 2013, this record by legendary Delta bluesman Johnson fetched the highest price ever paid for a 78 slab on eBay. The seller, a South Carolina collector, acquired the record years earlier at an estate sale, but had no idea of its extreme rarity until seeing bids skyrocket on his eBay auction.
The winning bid was $37,100, happily paid by well-known blues collector John Tefteller, who also happened to own the only other copy known to exist. However, according to Tefteller, his record was "in hammered condition," while this new disc is "beautiful." That's a ton of cash to shell out for less crackle and pop.
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Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), "Xanadu"
MCA Records/Discogs
Year: 1980
Format: 10-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
The title track from Olivia Newton-John's 1980 roller-disco musical/fantasy train wreck of a movie, "Xanadu," was pressed on promotional 10-inch picture discs, of which an estimated twenty to thirty copies ever saw the light of day. Why? It's rumored ONJ didn't like the picture of herself and asked MCA Records to stop the presses. In recent years, copies have sold on eBay for up to $9,100. Shame on you for doubting Olivia's collectability.
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Misfits, "Legacy of Brutality"
Caroline Records
Year: 1986
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Where Eagles Dare"
If you like your horror punk rock pressed on limited-edition, pink-colored vinyl, this compilation album by Glenn Danzig and the gang is for you. Only sixteen copies of this second-pressing pink platter were made. Depending on whether the record was kept in cherry condition or accidently stomped during a living-room mosh pit session, expect to pay between $2,000 and $5,000.
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Max Steiner, "The Caine Mutiny"
RCA Victor/Discogs
Year: 1954
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
The world's rarest movie soundtrack LP is for this classic World War II drama starring Humphrey Bogart, and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. On the first pressing of the album, side one features composer Steiner's film score, while side two contains the complete dialogue from the movie's climactic courtroom scene.
A furious Wouk saw the latter as infringement on his intellectual property and threatened to forbid Columbia Pictures from ever making another movie based on his work unless the album was canceled. The studio obliged, but not before an estimated dozen copies landed in the hands of employees. In 2007, a copy in less-than stellar condition sold on eBay for $6,700.
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Depeche Mode, "Music for the Masses"
The original U.K. cover sleeve for Depeche Mode's "Music for the Masses."
Mute/Discogs
Year: 1987
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Strangelove"
Every 1980s new waver worth their Flock of Seagulls hairdo had this DM album back in the day. Yet precious few possess the record in its original U.K. cover sleeve featuring an orange-and-white megaphone.
The band withdrew the cover at the last minute, but a dozen copies survived. In the '90s, they were accidentally shipped to record stores as samples of a planned reissue of the album that was eventually scrapped.
In 2011, former band member Alan Wilder auctioned his personal copy for $4,600. A few others have surfaced on eBay and commanded prices in the same ballpark.
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Century Symphony Orchestra, "Waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr."
RCA Camden
Year: 1956
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Before Andy Warhol created iconic "pop art" album covers for the likes of the Rolling Stones and Velvet Underground, he was a 1950s' artist-for-hire inking cover illustrations for jazz and classical records. Among those gigs was the cover art for this ultra-rare EP. Of the seven extant copies, one is displayed in Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum, while another sold on eBay in 2012 for nearly $5,500.
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The Who, "The Who Sell Out"
Track
Year: 1967
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "I Can See for Miles"
Prior to more famous Who concept albums like "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" there was this LP, presented as a 1960s' British "pirate radio" broadcast filled with songs, fake commercials and mock public service announcements. The cover art — featuring Pete Townshend wielding a super-size stick of deodorant and Roger Daltrey in a bathtub full of Heinz baked beans — is worth the price of admission alone.
Released on the Track label, the first 1000 U.K. pressings of the album (500 in mono, 500 in stereo) included a folded "psychedelic poster" of a colorful butterfly — a perfect addition to your hippie crash-pad decor. Should you trip upon a copy (with the all-important poster), it’ll sell on eBay for about $1,100.
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Quarrymen, "In Spite of All the Danger"/"That'll Be The Day"
Phillips Sound Recording Service/Wikipedia
Year: 1958
Format: 10-inch acetate, 78 rpm
Behold what some collectors guess might be the world's most valuable record — an acetate grooved with the first songs ever recorded by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. In '58, before the Beatles, the band was named the Quarrymen. Along with pre-Ringo drummer Colin Hanton and pianist John Lowe, they laid down these two tracks (an original tune, plus a Buddy Holly cover) in a Liverpool studio.
After the songs were pressed to a single disc, the studio master tape was erased. Pianist Lowe was in possession of the record until 1981 when he tried to auction it. But not before McCartney swooped in, bought it for an undisclosed sum, and later had an estimated 50 copies made to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends. Record Collector magazine values the reproductions at $13,000, and conservatively pegs Macca's singular original disc at $260,000.
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Bruce Springsteen, "Last American Hero From Asbury Park N.J."
CBS/Sony
Year: 1978
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Born to Run"
Among the most sought-after Boss records, this LP sampler was exclusive to Japan and contains a compilation of ten tracks to help promote the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album. Fortunately for collectors, the problem is none of the included cuts are from said album, but rather plucked from Springsteen's first three LPs. It's believed less than 100 copies were released, and today sell for as high as $2,400.
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David Bowie and Dana Gillespie, "Bowpromo"
The 2017 Record Store Day reproduction of the rare "Bowpromo" release.
Record Store Day
Year: 1971
Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm
Song you should know: "Oh! You Pretty Things"
In '71, David Bowie's manager had 500 promo records pressed to help his client and fellow artist Dana Gillespie secure a new deal with RCA Records. Side one included tracks that'd later appear on Bowie's landmark album "Hunky Dory," while the flip side featured Gillespie's songs.
Since the record was solely intended for industry execs, it had a blank white label and came in a plain sleeve. Nowadays, the only way collectors can verify a copy as the real McCoy is by the matrix number "BOWPROMO 1A-1/1B-1" stamped on the record itself, hence the nickname "Bowpromo."
If you can't spare $5,000 to $6,000 for an original, 5,000 reproductions were pressed for a 2017 Record Store Day release that goes for about $30 on eBay.
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The White Stripes, "Lafayette Blues"/"Sugar Never Tasted So Good"
Italy Records/Discogs
Year: 1998
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Jack White makes his second appearance on this list, though this time not as a rare-record buyer (see Elvis Presley's "My Happiness"). In '98, the up-and-coming White Stripes had fifteen numbered copies of this single pressed on red-and-white vinyl to sell for $6 at one of their Detroit club gigs. Italy Records founder Dave Buick hand painted the cover-sleeve artwork for each copy, one of which sold in 2012 on eBay for $12,700.
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The Five Sharps, "Stormy Weather"/"Sleepy Cowboy"
Pawn Stars/YouTube
Year: 1952
Format: 10-inch vinyl, 78 rpm
This super-duper rare doo-wop platter attracted mainstream attention in 2016 when it was featured on the reality TV show "Pawn Stars." The seller asked $25,000, but his record was in poor, damaged shape and no deal was made. On the flip side, a choice specimen sold in 2003 for a confirmed price of $19,000.
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Elvis Presley, "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky"
A clear vinyl reissue of Elvis Presley's "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky" single.
Sun/Discogs
Year: 1954
Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm
Some Presley aficionados argue that The King's first commercially released single, recorded at Memphis' Sun Studio, was also the first rock 'n' roll genre record ever made. Whether you agree or not, there's no denying an original pressing (with Sun catalog number "209" on the label) can be worth a bundle. Copies in good shape average around $1,000, while records in exceptionally clean condition can net up to $4,000.
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