Top 10 Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold

#1 The Merge — $91.8M

The Merge is a computer artwork produced by Pak, a pseudonym for an anonymous digital artist. It was auctioned for $91.8 million on the NFT decentralised marketplace Nifty Gateway on December 6, 2021. The piece, however, was fractionalized into 312,686 pieces and sold to 28,983 people. The catch is that The Merge was a single work of art made up of a series of "masses" that customers could purchase. These parts could be stored and sold on the secondary market as a larger mass. The entire amount spent on the transaction was $91.8 million, making it the most costly NFT ever sold.

#2 The First 5000 Days

Everydays: The First 5000 Days is an NFT artwork by Michael Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, a digital artist. Traditional buyers placed an initial bid of around $100 on the artwork, which was auctioned at Christie's. Crypto aficionados, on the other hand, made the higher offers quickly. Beeple was well-known in the crypto art scene for six-figure sales like Crossroads, thus it only took an hour for the piece to reach more than $1 million, with the final outcome being $69 million for the piece finished on February 21st, 2021. The First 5000 Days is a significant work in the NFT community because it was one of the first works to introduce mainstream audiences about on-fungible assets.

#3 Beeple, Human One — $29.98M

Beeple developed The Human One, a dynamic, life-generative sculpture. It features an astronaut roaming through various locations, and it can alter depending on the artist – Beeple has committed to "upgrade" the Human One throughout his lifespan, ensuring that the art will never be stagnant. At Christie's, the concept drew a lot of interest, but it was crypto billionaire Ryan Zurrer who bought it for $29,985,000 on December 9, 2021.

#4 Larva Labs, CryptoPunk #7523 — $11.75M

The CryptoPunks are an NFT collection based on the Ethereum blockchain that consists of randomly produced characters. CryptoPunk #7523, popularly known as "Covid Alien," was sold for $11.75 million at Sotheby's in London in June 2021, making it the most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold. The NFT was one of nine "Alien Punks," a group of extremely unusual aliens.

#5 Larva Labs, CryptoPunk #3100 — $7.58M

CryptoPunk #3100 is part of the 9 Alien Punks series, and it ranks only behind CryptoPunk #7804 as the most costly Alien Punk ever sold. #3100 is a blue and white Alien with a headband. Only 406 of the 10,000 CryptoPunks wear a headband, which is worth noticing. It was first released in 2017 and gained popularity after a $2 million offer in March 2021, when it eventually sold for $7.58 million in the same month. The NFT is now on the market for 35000 ETH, or over $100 million at the time of writing.

#6 Xcopy: Right-Click and Save As Guy — 7.09M

Right-click and Save As Guy is an NFT image sold for 1,600 ETH worth $7.09 million on the decentralised marketplace Superrare on December 10 to Comozo de Medici.

Surprisingly, the buyer's alias belongs to none other than Snoop Dogg, hip hop legend and global renown.

#7 Art Blocks, Ringers #109 — $6.93M

The Art Blocks collection's Ringers #109 is a generative art collectible. There are 99,000 Art Block NFTs in total. According to Dappradar, Ringers #109 was sold for 2,100 ETH, or $6.93 million, in October 2021.

#8 Beeple, Crossroad — $6.6M

Mike Winkelmann, better known by his creative name Beeple, created the animated NFT crossroad. It depicts Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, lying in a field while onlookers pass him by.

It was sold on the secondary market for $6.6 million in February 2021 on Nifty Gateway.

#9 This Changed Everything — $5.4M

This Changed Everything is a NFT of the source code for one of the first iterations of the World Wide Web. It was sold for $5.4 million to an anonymous user on June 30, 2021, through Sotheby's. The NFT comes with a letter from Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, an English computer scientist and the inventor of the internet, as well as a digital poster of the code he wrote and time-stamped documents documenting the history of the internet in its early days.

#10 Save Thousands of Lives — $4.5

Save Thousands of Lives is a non-profit organisation founded by Noora Health, which helps at-risk patients in South Asia. In May 2021, the artwork was sold for 1337 ETH ($4.5 million). Instead, the profits went to the organization's effort to save the lives of babies.