The NFT market may have taken a huge plunge since its peak, but in its heyday, there was serious money to be made in non-fungible tokens. Here are the most expensive NFTs ever.
After an explosion of popularity in 2021 and 2022, the art-focused NFTs concept has seen a serious slowdown in 2023. Major NFT sales from the past few years are now worth mere dollars, rather than millions.
We’ve also seen multiple scams surrounding NFT and cryptocurrency projects, with influencers like Logan Paul coming under scrutiny after a documentary by Coffeezilla.
However, we’ve seen collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks become some of the most expensive pieces of art money could buy, with artists such as Beeple and Pak selling their pieces for tens of millions of dollars.
But which ones have been the most expensive NFTs ever? Let’s take a look.
15. All Time High in the City – $6.2m
XCOPY is the defining artist of the crypto revolutionToday, the signature artwork of our revolution, 'All Time High in the City', takes its spot in The Medici Collection pic.twitter.com/k64XiJ0F2i
— Cozomo de’ Medici (@CozomoMedici) April 12, 2024
The first, but definitely not the last piece by London-based artist, XCOPY to feature on this list. XCOPY’s ‘All Time High in the City’ sold back in January 2022 for 1,630 ETH, which translates to a whopping $6.2million.
This NFT was actually minted in 2018, years before it sold for the impressive $6 million figure. However, back then it was worth just 1,000 ETC according to Cryptotimes, approximately $ 3 million. In a short amount of time, the value of the NFT doubled.
14. Crossroad – $6.6m
A first Beeple NFT for the list, but very much not the last. This NFT sold for $.6.6 million at Nifty Gateway, an online cryptocurrency marketplace in February 2021.
At the time, this piece was created as a response to the 2020 presidential election. This is why it features a representation of Trump, laying on the grass, covered in graffiti. At the time, two videos for this piece were created, one of reach outcomes of the election.
13. CryptoPunk #8857 – $6.63m
The “Zombi” CryptoPunk #8857 NFT sold for $6.63 million back on September 11, 2021.
At the time, this made it the fourth most expensive Punk NFT sold. The NFT was considered unique due to only 88 Zombie Punks existing in total. Its wild hair and 3D glasses added another layer of rarity, as wild hair and 3D glasses are only available on 447 and 286 punks respectively.
12. Right-click and Save As guy – $7m
💎 Right-click and Save As guy 💎✨ Artwork by @XCOPYART💰 Sold to @CozomoMedici for 1600.0 ETH ($7,022,000.00)https://t.co/Lxbn5pev9K$RARE #CryptoArt #NFT pic.twitter.com/ZQf2qxYHdo
— SuperRare Bot 💎 (@SuperRareBot) December 9, 2021
The ‘Right-click and Save As Guy’ NFT was originally created as a meme by artist XCOPY. According to the Cryptotimes, the London-based artist created the NFT to mock those who “did not believe in the worth of internet art” like crypto art.Despite its meme origins, this NFT still managed to sell for over $7 million back on December 9 2021 to the one and only Snoop Dogg, while using the handle “Cozmo de’ Medici.”
11. CryptoPunk #3100 — $7.51m
On March 11, 2021, just one day after #7804 sold, #3100 became even more expensive than its brethren.
Another Alien punk, but this time sporting just a headband, #3100 is the seventh most rare CryptoPunk out there.
10. CryptoPunk #7804 – $7.56m
This NFT, featuring another alien punk but with a beret, sunglasses, and smoking a pipe, was sold by the CEO of Figma, Dylan Field, for a staggering $7.65 million worth of Ethereum back in March 2021.
Field sold the CryptoPunk to an anonymous investor, sharing with Forbes that he was motivated to sell “by the desire to spread the gospel of crypto art.”
At the time, this set a record for the CryptoPunks NFTs and was sold just hours before Beeple set an NFT record of his own with one of the most celebrated pieces. (One that’ll feature further down the list.)
9. CryptoPunk #5577 — $7.7m
Another Ape CryptoPunk, this one was sold in February 2022 for a huge 2501 ETH — equal to $7.7m at the time.
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8. CryptoPunk #4156 — $10.35m
In a list largely dominated by the ever-popular CryptoPunks, #4156 ranks as the third most expensive Punk of all time. It was bought on December 9, 2021, just 10 months after a $1.25m sale. That’s a pretty solid return on investment!
7. TPunk #3442 — $10.5m
The ‘Joker’ TPunk, which is a collection similar to the CryptoPunks, bares several features resembling the iconic Batman character. Unlike most of the biggest NFTs, this was sold on the Tron network for a whopping 120 million TRX.
6. CryptoPunk #7523 — $11.75m
Blowing all of its CryptoPunk fellows out of the water, #7523 is the third rarest in the collection, and it’s got the price tag to match.
The question now becomes, with two more rare CryptoPunks than #7523, how much more can they really be sold for?
5. CryptoPunk #5822 — $23.7m
Continuing in the trend of super-expensive ‘alien’ style CryptoPunks, 5822 shattered all expectations when it sold for over $23m on February 12, 2022.
At double the cost of the next highest CryptoPunk, 5822 might have just sent the entire collection even further into the stratosphere.
4. Beeple’s Human One — $28.985m
Beeple has sold some of the most expensive NFTs of all time, with three pieces in the top 10.
HUMAN ONE sold on November 9, 2021 for a fee just shy of $30m, closely linked to his previous piece ‘Everydays’ according to an interview with Christie’s.
3. Clock — $52.7m
‘Clock’ is a piece created by Pak and Julian Assange, and almost acts literally as a clock, counting the days that WikiLeaks founder Assange has been imprisoned.
The goal of the NFT was to raise funds for Assange’s legal defense and was ultimately purchased by AssangeDAO — a collection of over 10,000 people pooling their money to purchase the NFT and support Assange.
2. Everydays: the First 5000 Days — $69.3m
Another Beeple piece and the most expensive NFT ever sold to one sole owner — and there’s a good reason for it.
Beeple’s artwork is so high-tier and highly respected within the community, and this piece is essentially a collage of 5000 pieces of his work. Starting from 2007, he pledged to create one piece of art every day, and this is the result. Needless to say, it was worth the effort.
1. Pak’s ‘The Merge’ — $91.8m
Another Pak piece, The Merge officially became the most expensive NFT ever sold on December 2, 2021, with almost 30,000 collectors pitching together for a total cost of $91.8m.
This is the only NFT on this top 10 list to have multiple owners, besides Clock, and it shows in the crazy price tag on it.
There’s no doubt that NFTs have become far less popular now than they were at their peak, but that’s not to say they can’t blow up once again down the line.
If you mint into the right projects and show a bit of patience, you might be sitting on a nice little fortune down the line. On the other hand, you also risk losing it all.