The Top 10 Most Expensive NFTs of All Time (2024)

The hype over non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that overtook news cycles and crypto markets in 2021 has died down. Despite 2023's cooler market, NFTs continue to generate billions of dollars in trading volume. Sales of certain NFTs are still breaking the million-dollar mark, such as in February when Yuga Labs' “Golden Key” netted $1.6 million. This year also includes the $1.4 million sale of CryptoPunk 5066 and the $1.3 million purchase of a Bored Ape. In 2022 the highest sale of an NFT, CryptoPunk 5822, was for 800 ETH, at the time worth a whopping $23.7 million.

In some rankings you’ll see The Merge by Pak leading the list, but for our methodology we decided to limit the all-time list of most expensive NFTs to sales of single-edition NFTs rather than sales of open-edition NFTs. The Merge is a collection of 312,686 NFTs that were sold to 28,983 collectors over a few days in December 2021 for a total of $91.8 million. Pak also would have made the list for another open edition called “The Fungible” collection, which netted $16.8 million in sales over three days in April 2021. Don’t feel bad for Pak, though. The artist still made the list and holds the No. 2 spot.

Will any sales break into the top 10 most expensive NFTs? Here’s where the competition stacks up:

The 10 Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold:

Here’s more information about each of these pricey digital artworks:

The NFT is a digital collage made up of 5,000 individual images that Beeple created every day (hence the title “Everydays”) for over 13 years. It was sold at Christie's auction house for $69.3 million in March 2021, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold.

This NFT is a clock that tracks the number of days that WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has been imprisoned and raised funds towards Assange’s legal defense. Clock was sold for $52.7 million in November 2021 to AssangeDAO, who collectively raised the money to buy the piece.

Beeple returns for the No. 3 spot on our list with Human One. This piece is unique in that it has both a physical side and a digital component that changes according to Beeple’s input, and will continue to change throughout the artist’s life. Human One was sold for $28.9 million in November 2021.

The profile pic (PFP) NFT is one of 10,000 unique characters that were created in 2017. CryptoPunk 5822 is a rare "alien" punk, a trait which only nine CryptoPunks share. It was sold for $23.7 million in February 2022.

Another rare CryptoPunk that netted a hefty price is another avatar with the "alien" trait that sold for $11.75 million in June 2021 in an auction run by Sotheby’s.

CryptoPunks continues to make the list with this "ape" PFP. CryptoPunk 4156 was sold for $10.26 million in December 2021 and made headlines not only for its price, but also because it was the avatar for the investor then known as Punk4156, who changed their name to simply 4156 after.

Yep, CrypoPunks again. This one also has the rare "ape" trait as well as a cowboy hat and sold for $7.7 million in February 2022.

This CryptoPunk is another with rare “alien” traits like the other high-priced CryptoPunks on the list, selling for $7.58 million in March 2021.

If you haven’t caught on yet, CryptoPunks with the “alien” trait are the most coveted, and this final entry on the list has it as well. It sold for $7.57 million in March 2021.

An AI contributed to writing this article, which was edited and fact-checked by our editorial staff.