It should come as no surprise that NFTs have exploded into mainstream pop culture these days, with celebrities and rappers like Jimmy Falon and Post Malone making purchases of blue chip NFT collections.
With big names entering the space, they’ve brought large price tags along with them.
Let’s take a look at some of the most expensive NFT art pieces ever sold.
Beeple’s ‘Everydays – The First 5,000 Days’ Collection
Coming in at a staggering sale price of $69.3 million USD, Beeple’s “Everydays – The First 5,000 Days” collection marks the most expensive NFT artwork sold to date.
The piece sold at a Christie’s auction on March 11, 2021, and marked the first NFT artwork ever sold by a major auction house.
In a later statement to The New York Times, the buyer, crypto investor Vignesh Sundaresan, said the purchase price was a “steal”. This sale is credited by many in the NFT space as the initial catalyst for the NFT bull run of 2021.
Human One
Another piece by popular NFT artist Beeple, “Human One” sold at Christie’s auction for $28.9 million USD. However, unlike his “Everydays – The First 5,000 Days” piece, Human One is a hybrid physical and digital piece.
CryptoPunk #5822
One of the earliest NFT projects in the space, CryptoPunks have become extremely hot collectibles over the last few years. Developed by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs, or ‘punks’ as they’re affectionately referred to as. People in the NFT space often credit CryptoPunks for being the ‘original’ NFT collection, as many future projects adopted their 10,000 item collection strategy.
The most expensive sale of a CryptoPunk occurred on February 13, 2022 when CryptoPunk #5822 sold for a staggering 8000 ETH, or roughly $23.7 million at the time of sale.
However, this isn’t the only major sale for the project; another huge sale occurred back in June of 2021, when CryptoPunk #7523 sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $11.75 million USD. It was later revealed that the NFT was purchased by Shalom Meckenzie, the largest shareholder of sports betting company DraftKings.
Right Click and Save As Guy
“Right Click and Save Guy” is an animated, dystopian image of a hoodie-wearing man in sunglasses, created by pseudonymous London-based artist Xcopy to poke fun at the people who think NFTs have no real value.
The piece sold on NFT marketplace SuperRare in December of 2021 for a sum of $7.08 million USD. Many in the NFT space have speculated that the purchaser, who’s online name is ‘Cozomo de Medici’, could potentially be American rapper Snoop Dogg. While this has not been independently verified, the rapper has taken credit for the account.
Ringers #109
“Ringers” is a collection created by Art Blocks, a project that consists of algorithmically generated images of multiple loops and pegs. Ringers #109 is considered one of the most rare NFTs of the project due to its red peg, which is a trait featured in only 0.3% of the items in the entire collection.
Ringers #109 sold for $6.9 million USD in October 2021.
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