The 10 Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold: Exploring the Priciest Digital Art Pieces

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, surged in popularity during the crypto boom of 2021, a period marked by skyrocketing prices for cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH. As many crypto investors amassed significant wealth, some turned to NFTs as a way to diversify their holdings.

Borrowing the term "blue chip" from traditional stock markets, NFT enthusiasts began using it to describe high-profile collections such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club. While "safe" and "reliable" might not be the words most people associate with NFTs, these collections gained a reputation for their enduring appeal. Even as the crypto market crashed in 2022, sending the value of many NFT collections plummeting, dedicated collectors remained active, continuing to add NFTs to their portfolios.

While it remains to be seen if NFTs will pan out as long-term investments, there’s no shortage of investors who are willing to spend millions of dollars on these digital artworks. In this article, we’ll take a look at the most expensive NFTs ever sold. Were the buyers of these NFTs early adopters of an extremely lucrative sector or did they waste millions of dollars on a speculative bubble?

What are the most expensive NFTs ever sold?

Below, you’ll find the list of the 15 most expensive NFTs of all time and some context as to why these NFTs were so expensive. Can you guess how much the most expensive NFT ever sold for?

1. "The Merge" by Pak – $91.8 million

Pak is a top NFT artist known for his high-quality digital art. While Pak has been creating digital art for over 20 years, he rose to prominence in 202, when he sold his first NFT, "Cloud Monument Dark". He is also the artist credited with introducing Beeple, another prominent NFT artist to the world of NFTs.

His most famous work, "The Merge," was sold for an astonishing $91.8 million on Nifty Gateway during a 48-hour sale on December 2, 2021. The artwork was made to commemorate the Ethereum Merge, which was a historical event in Ethereum's long past. This NFT is unique, as it isn't owned by just one individual. Instead, buyers were able to purchase "mass units", which made up their piece of "The Merge"—The more masses someone bought, the larger their piece of "The Merge" became. This NFT collection even surpassed the previous most expensive work of art, which is a sculpture titled "Rabbit" by Jeff Koons, which sold for $91.1 million.

We go into more detail in our overview of The Merge NFT.

2. “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” by Beeple – $69.3 million

Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, is an acclaimed digital artist who rose to prominence with his “Everydays” series of artworks. Beeple has been creating and releasing a piece of art for the Everydays series every single day since May 2007. The artist auctioned off a collage of the first 5,000 artworks in this series as an NFT piece called “The First Five Thousand Days”. 

The piece fetched an incredible $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction, which at the time made it the most expensive piece of digital art ever sold. It also holds the record as the most expensive NFT ever sold. The piece was purchased by Singapore-based programmer and cryptocurrency investor Vignesh Sundaresan.

3. “Clock” by Pak – $52.7 million

Another NFT by the digital artist Pak, their “Clock” NFT sold for over $52 million. Clock is an artwork that changes over time to reflect the number of days WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been in prison. The artwork was purchased by AssangeDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that’s raising funds for Julian Assange’s legal campaign. All of the proceeds of the sale of Clock went to the Wau Holland Foundation, an organization that’s supporting Julian Assange’s defence.  

4. “Human One” by Beeple – $28.9 million

Beeple, who we’ve already covered in this list, auctioned off his Human One video sculpture and accompanying NFT for close to $29 million through the Christie’s auction house. The physical object consists of four screens, which create a 3D effect. The artwork features an astronaut walking through various landscapes. The piece is designed to be periodically updated by Beeple with new visuals, so it will be interesting to see how it evolves over time.

5. CryptoPunk #5822 – $23.7 million

CryptoPunks is an NFT collection released by Larva Labs in June of 2017, when NFTs were barely on anyone’s radar. Interested users were able to mint CryptoPunks for free, with the only expense being transaction costs charged by the Ethereum network. The collection consists of 10,000 unique pixelated avatars which were generated from a pool of traits with varying rarities.

The collection has been highly influential, as most profile picture or “PFP” NFT collections borrow heavily from CryptoPunks. One such example is Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has actually managed to surpass CryptoPunks in terms of its price floor. Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, bought the intellectual property related to CryptoPunks from Larva Labs in 2022.

However, top-end CryptoPunks still reign supreme when it comes to PFP NFT collections and are a coveted status symbol in the crypto community. CryptoPunk #5822, which has the 8th rarest combination of traits in the collection, sold for a whopping $23.7 million in February 2022. The buyer of the most expensive CryptoPunk was Deepak Thapliyal, who is the CEO of the Chain blockchain project. There are 6 other CrypoPunks that sold for over $7 million, which we won't cover on this list, even if they technically earned their place here.

6. “Right-click and Save As guy” by XCOPY – $7.1 million

“Right-click and Save As guy” is an animated artwork from XCOPY, one of the most prominent NFT artists. The piece was bought by NFT collector “Cozomo de Medici” for $7.1 million. 

The artwork’s title, as well as its description, which reads “Why would I buy it when I can right click and save as?” are clearly poking fun at NFT critics. People who aren’t too enthused about NFTs often deride NFTs by saying that they can simply “right click and save” any NFT they wish, no matter how valuable or rare it’s supposed to be.

It’s pretty clear that NFT collectors don’t think this argument holds water, as evidenced by the $7.1M price tag fetched by this ironic NFT.

7. Ringers #109 – $6.9 million

“Ringers” is an NFT collection created by Dmitri Cherniak on the Art Blocks generative art platform. 

On Art Blocks, artists publish code that produces generative art. Users that are interested in the project can pay with crypto to have the code generate a unique artwork which is then minted as an NFT. 

The Ringers collection, which consists of 1,000 unique pieces, is one of the most famous examples of generative art represented by NFTs. The collection’s most expensive piece is #109, which sold for $6.9 million in October 2021. The piece was purchased by an unknown collector who owns several pieces from notable Art Blocks collections. 

8. “Crossroad” by Beeple – $6.6 million

Beeple embraced NFTs starting in 2020, and quickly found a lot of success in the space. His “Crossroad” animation, which features a grotesque depiction of former U.S. president Donald Trump, sold for $6.6 million. This artwork was also supposed to change, depending on whether or not Trump would win the election.

9. "All Time high in the City" by XCOPY – $6.2 million

Another famous work by the artist XCOPY, this animated NFT portrays the ferryman of the underworld carrying a man across the river Styx. It sold in January 2022 for $6.2 million to rarecollector3000. Its flickering and glitching elements give it a rough-edged feel, and it's the exact style XCOPY is known for. 

10. "FreeRoss" by Ross Ulbricht – $6.1 million

Ross Ulbricht's debut NFT, titled "FreeRoss", sold for an impressive $6.12 million in December 2021 after a six-day auction. The NFT was part of the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection, with proceeds directed towards two significant causes. A portion of the funds supported Ulbricht’s ongoing legal defense, while the rest was used to establish Art4Giving, a donor-advised fund focused on helping incarcerated individuals and their families. The initiative aims to alleviate the hardships faced by those impacted by the criminal justice system.

11. "Ocean Front" by Beeple – $6 million

Beeple’s NFT "Ocean Front" delivers a powerful message about climate change, depicted through its striking imagery of oily water, evoking the catastrophic impact of oil spills. This work of art was purchased for $6 million by the TRON founder, Justin Sun. All of the sale's profits were donated to the Open Earth Foundation, which is a non-profit organization fighting against global warming and climate change.

12. "A Coin for the Ferryman" by XCOPY – $6 million 

Another animated work by XCOPY, this NFT sold for a sum of $6 million on SuperRare by jpeggy, who also bought "EVADER", another XCOPY piece. Originally selling for $139 in 2018, it sold for $6 million in November 2021 just one day before ETH reached its all-time high.

13. World Wide Web Source Code – $5.4 million

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee auctioned off an NFT representing the original source code for the World Wide Web. The NFT was sold through an auction held by Sotheby’s, and fetched a price of $5.4 million. 

Of course, the NFT doesn’t represent ownership of the World Wide Web itself. It’s a symbolic token commemorating an important event in the history of the internet. The NFT represents 9,555 lines of code, as well as a visual animation of the code. 

14. “Stay Free” by Edward Snowden – $5.2 million

Stay Free is an NFT by whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information regarding the U.S. National Security Agency’s global surveillance programs. Snowden is currently living in exile in Russia, and is wanted in the United States on charges of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property.

The artwork features a portrait of Snowden on top of a court decision ruling that the NSA violated the law with its mass surveillance. The entire proceeds of the sale went to the Freedom of the Press foundation. 

The NFT was purchased by PleasrDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that purchases notable NFTs and often engages in charitable activities.

15. Bored Ape Yacht Club #8817 – $3.4 million

BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) is one of the most successful NFT collections of all time, and still commands a significant floor price. At the moment, the cheapest BAYC NFT available for sale will set you back a whopping 76 ETH (about $92,000 at the time of writing). 

The BAYC collection follows the blueprint created by CryptoPunks, in which an algorithm generates thousands of unique avatars and adorns them with traits of varying rarities. 

However, the BAYC project went the extra mile, and gave holders of NFTs from the collection access to exclusive spaces and perks. There is also a cryptocurrency called ApeCoin which is designed to serve as a currency in the BAYC ecosystem. This helped make BAYC one of the most popular NFTs and proved so successful that most of the NFT projects coming out today are also looking to provide additional perks to holders.

The most expensive BAYC NFT ever sold fetched a price of $3.4 million. The sale happened on the Sotheby’s Metaverse marketplace in October 2021. According to rarity.tools, a platform that measures NFT rarity, #8817’s combination of traits makes it the 16th rarest NFT in the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. 

16. Jack Dorsey’s first tweet - $2.9 million

The first tweet ever made, which was published by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, was packaged into an NFT that fetched a price of $2.9 million. The tweet was sold through a platform called “Valuables”, which allows authors of tweets to mint them as NFTs and digitally sign them. Dorsey donated the entire proceeds of the sale to charity.

just setting up my twttr — jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

The tweet was purchased in March of 2021 by Sina Estavi, a controversial crypto entrepreneur who was arrested just a few months later by Iranian authorities on charges of “disrupting the economic system”. Estavi was in a bidding war with TRON founder Justin Sun, who stopped bidding at $2 million. Estavi then submitted a $2.5 million bid, which was enough to win the auction. By the time the auction was over, the bid was worth $2.9 million because of an increase in the price of ETH.

As it turns out, spending $2.9 million on the NFT of the first ever tweet was a terrible decision. Estavi attempted to offload it through an auction, but there wasn’t much interest—the highest bid was only about $6,800. In addition, the fact that Twitter now has a new owner in Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey is no longer the company’s CEO probably doesn’t bode well for this particular NFT.

The bottom line

Just like what we see in the traditional art world, the artist behind the piece is a significant driver of value. Works from artists such as Pak, Beeple, and XCOPY are sure to grab a lot of attention just due to their authors’ reputation alone, which makes it easier for them to fetch high prices in sales and auctions. A positive trend that we’d like to highlight is that many of the most expensive NFT sales have seen their proceeds go to charity.

In addition, it’s clear that NFT collectors are willing to spend a lot of money to obtain rare pieces from the most popular NFT collections such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club. These NFTs, which are typically used as profile pictures on online platforms such as Twitter, are seen as status symbols.

If you’d like to get your hands on some NFTs, check out our article on how to get free NFT drops. You can check out our article explaining the differences between NFTs vs SFTs.