Top 10 Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold

Can you believe that people are ready to pay several millions of dollars for digital objects? Well, at this point in blockchain technology development, it’s not a question of assumption or believing — we have bare facts. Prices on the most expensive NFTs are absolutely mind-blowing (and these are results of real trade transactions)!

Why so? As we wrote in our article about NFT investment, the background of a Non-Fungible Token is the key factor in making it expensive. The artist’s personality, story of the project, unusual technologies in use, or some interesting extra features are all ingredients for “cooking” a potential best seller.

And now, it’s time to list NFTs that have already succeeded. Please, relax and enjoy the ride through the top 10 most expensive Non-Fungible Tokens.

1. The Merge by Pak – $91.8 Million

If you asked “What is the most expensive NFT right now?” — here is the answer. The Merge was sold in December 2021 for $91.8M, and no other token could even come close to this price.

The NFT is more than just a digital image. It consists of three planet-like objects, masses, that become bigger with more people purchasing their units. 28,893 investors paid parts of the total sum to share one Non-Fungible Token with 312,686 units of a mass.

Not only is The Merge the most expensive NFT ever sold, but also, it’s a very interesting showcase of the technology capabilities.

2. Everydays: the First 5000 Days by Beeple – $69.3 Million

It’s one of the most famous NFT items — a lot thanks to the amount of work the artist put into it. Beeple created one image per day over 5000 days (which is absolutely impressive). And then, he combined all 5000 pics into one collage. The whole thing might seem to be rather chaotic, but look closer and you will see many decent artworks.

Everydays: the First 5000 Days was sold for $69.3M in March 2021.

3. Clock by Pak – $52.7 Million

The background of this NFT is very controversial. In short, it counts the days of Julian Assange being imprisoned. This guy created the website WikiLeaks, which reportedly published some top-secret info. The digital artist Pak created this token, and 10,000 people raised money to purchase it (totalling $52.7m in February 2022) and support Assange. The contributors now own small parts of the NFT.

4. HUMAN ONE by Beeple – $28.9 Million

Here we have another very interesting artwork by Beeple. The artist steps beyond the traditional limitations of paintings or even animated digital works. HUMAN ONE is a physical sculpture put in a digital environment. A human (an astronaut) walks through various landscapes. The surroundings change over time. The artist can get involved in the process and affect what the viewers see on his work.

HUMAN ONE was sold in November 2021 for $28,958,000 at Christie’s. After that, it was exhibited in various museums.

It seems like Beeple’s example is perfect to illustrate one of the methods from our article with top 10 strategies — the guy creates and sells his artworks. Pay attention to how unique his approach is. Such creativity effectively supports hype around his existing and future tokens.

5. CryptoPunk #5822 – $23.7 Million

For CryptoPunks, this avatar has become a perfect combination of rareness and artistic style. #5822 is an Alien (there are only 9 punks of this type), it wears a Bandana (one of 481 such CryptoPunks). Consider this recipe when you ask yourself “What is the most expensive NFT?” — interesting ideas behind a project and uniqueness of a token might be good ingredients.

At the same time, don’t forget the luck factor. CryptoPunk #5822 was sold for $23.7m in February 2022.

6. CryptoPunk #7523 – $11.75 Million

This CryptoPunk was sold in June 2021 at Sotheby’s auction Natively Digital. It’s one of the 9 Alien avatars, and the only attribute is Medical Mask (175 avatars have it).

Not only does the avatar have a rare type and attribute, but also, its Mask was quite in trend during the trade period — due to Covid. CryptoPunk #7523 was the most expensive NFT at the moment of selling.

7. CryptoPunk #4156 – $10.26 Million

Here we have another Ape avatar with only one attribute — 481 CryptoPunks in total wear a Bandana.

CryptoPunk #4156 was sold for $10.26m in December 2021. This NFT changed hands a lot after minting; it’s one of the most tradeable tokens.

8. CryptoPunk #5577 – $7.7 Million

All CryptoPunks can be sorted by their “type”. It’s the most basic attribute used for the random generation during their creation. The fewer avatars of a specific “type”, the more expensive they potentially become — rarity of additional attributes also plays a role.

It’s an Ape CryptoPunk wearing a Cowboy Hat. The project has generated only 24 NFT Apes. And only 142 punks have the same Hat. One attribute was generated for 333 avatars.

CryptoPunk #5577 is as interesting as the other most expensive NFTs from our list — and especially CryptoPunks. The transaction date is February 2022 while most other trades are from 2021, the “golden era” of NFT. The industry is alive!

9. CryptoPunk #3100 – $7.58 Million

CryptoPunks is one of the most interesting and significant projects in the NFT industry. It’s pretty innovative technically, effectively using the Ethereum blockchain and the standard ERC-721. And also, the creators used the technology of randomly generated images to get those 10,000 unique avatars.

The artistic approach inspired many other similar NFT avatar projects — random combinations of the appearance elements. It’s not your traditional art, but this style has become a powerful trend in NFT culture.

CryptoPunk #3100 was sold in March 2021 for $7.58m. It’s one of only 9 Alien CryptoPunks, which is an impressive rareness. It has only one attribute, and that can be said about 333 avatars; and it wears the Headband, like 406 punks in total do.Have you noticed? We have five CryptoPunks in our list of top ten best-selling NFTs!

10. Crossroad by Beeple – $6.6 Million

This animation was created by the digital artist Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple. Artistically, the thing is quite unusual — it looks a lot like a game scene. But the significance of this work is based on its political and social meaning.

You clearly can see a figure that looks a lot like Donald Trump (the “tattoos” have his name). A bird sits down on the figure and demonstrates a clown emoji. Do we need to remind you about the fuss over the 2020 US presidential election? An interesting fact is that the animation would change if the election result was different.

In February 2021, Crossroad was resold for $6.6 million (which was the most expensive NFT at that time).

It’s worth noting that the NFT industry is still at its settling stage. The artists explore what they can do with the technology. The investors experiment with what is worth collecting and what can make more money for them. We all can expect to see even bigger prices and a bigger variety of tokens in the future.

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