15 Vinyl Records That Are Worth a Fortune Today

Vinyl records are making a roaring comeback, but some—dating back almost 70 years—are worth a tremendous amount of money today. First pressings of albums from The Beatles and Elvis Presley sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, so if you happen to come across a rare vinyl in an estate sale or your grandmother's attic, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. Here are 16 vinyl records that are worth a fortune today.

Contract pressings of The Beatles' Abbey Road are worth $850 each, according to Goldmine Magazine. The export copies are worth $1,700. "Export copy with yellow-and-black labels but also a contract pressing farmed out to Decca due to the EMI pressing plants being too busy," the magazine says.

Ringo Starr's copy of The Beatles/The White Album sold for $790,000 in 2015. "The LP was re-discovered after a television show named Find a Fortune was discussing rare records and the owner contacted the TV program and expressed his interest in selling the album. The program then contacted Mike Vandenbosch of More Than Music who purchased the historic piece," according to the auction house.

Elvis Presley recorded My Happiness for his mother in 1953. Musician Jack White bought the acetate for $300,000 in 2015.

A copy of the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen sold for almost $17,000 in 2019. "It's a holy grail item… and as far as I can tell it's never been played," Martin Hughes, of Wessex Auction Rooms near Chippenham, told the BBC.

A copy of Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson sold for £25,742. The buyer remained anonymous.

The Beatles' Til There Was You sold for £77,500 in March 2016 in the UK. "[The record] was recorded and pressed at none other than 363 Oxford Street, home of our store in London's west end. How's that for a piece of vinyl history?" says HMV.

A copy of John Lennon & Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy sold for $150,000 in 1999. It was one of the last records ever signed by Lennon hours before his death on December 8th, 1980.

A copy of The Beatles' Yesterday & Today sold for $125,000 at auction in 2013. It was a mint condition sealed copy from 1966, never released in the UK or Europe.

A copy of Rammellzee vs K-Rob's Beat Bop sold for $126,000 at auction in 2020. The single was released in 1983, one of 500 copies worldwide.

Copies of Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan with withdrawn tracks (1963) sold for $35,000 on auction. The album was released in both stereo and mono.

A copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico (1966) sold for $22,000 in 2017. This version does not have the song Sunday Morning.

A copy of Tommy Johnson's Alcohol and Jake Blues sold for $37,100. Oregon-based record collector John Tefteller bought the rare vinyl in 2013.

A buyer snapped up a signed 1967 pressing of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for $290,000 at auction. "With my being thoroughly immersed in Beatles collectibles for over 30 years, it takes something extraordinarily special to excite me, but I consider this to be one of the top two items of Beatles memorabilia I've ever seen – the other being a signed copy of Meet The Beatles," Beatles expert Perry Cox told the Hollywood Reporter.

Minecraft inventor Markus 'Notch' Persson bought a test pressing of Aphex Twin's Caustic Window for $46,300 in 2014. Apparently he is a big fan and wanted something special (he got it).

A signed copy of The Beatles' Meet the Beatles (1964) sold for $115,000 at auction. The record was a present for George Harrison's sister from the band, who inscribed thoughtful wishes on the cover.