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The 15 Most Expensive NFT Art Pieces Ever Sold

By: Kat Bein By: Kat Bein | September 3, 2024 | Lifestyle, culture,

beeple 5000 days

Beeple’s "5000 Days” artwork sold for more than $69 million at Christie’s auction

If you thought NFTs were just a craze, think again.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are blockchain-minted artworks with unique encryption codes which allow for verified authenticity and ownership. An NFT can be anything from a digital art piece to a song or whole album. Even fashion designers are getting in on the NFT craze.

More than 509,000 NFT artworks were sold in March 2021 alone, totaling more than $85 million in sales. It's kind of a big deal.

See also: The 20 Top-Selling NFT Artists to Collect Right Now

How much can an individual NFT sell for? Well, the market is always changing, but Cryptoart.io keeps a handy running list, ranking artists by total value sold, listing the highest-selling pieces so far, and more. The data is pulled from a variety of digital platforms, including Nifty Gateway, SuperRare, Foundation, MakersPlace, KnownOrigin and Async Art.

While the data is constantly changing, we compiled a list of the 15 most-expensive NFT art pieces ever sold—so far.

*Disclaimer: This list was last edited on Sept. 3, 2024. This list is quite volatile as Total Artwork Value is calculated by the current conversion between USD and ETH. Check out Cryptoart.io for the most up-to-date info and standings.

EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS

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A post shared by beeple (@beeple_crap)

Artist: Beeple / Price Sold: $69,346,250.00

Since May 1, 2007, Mike Winkelmann has created a digital art piece daily. On Jan. 7, 2021, he created his 5,000th image and compiled those first 5,000 images into an NFT known as Everydays: The First 5000 Days. That NFT sold for over $69 million at a Christie’s auction, and NFTs were immediately sent into the mainstream. Winkelmann, known by his artist name of Beeple, continues making art daily and posting them to his Instagram account.

CLOCK

Artist: Pak / Price Sold: $40,855,263.39

The anonymous digital artist, who goes by the name of Pak, is ranked as one of the highest-grossing NFT artists to date. His highest-selling NFT Clock sold for 16,593.059 ETH. The NFT may not look like a clock, but it’s a digital counter of the number of days WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been locked up in London’s Belmarsh Prison. Pak and Assange collaborated to create this NFT to help fund Assange’s legal defense.

HUMAN ONE

Artist: Beeple / Price Sold: $28,985,000.00

Another one of Beeple’s works, Human One is a generative sculpture that mixes physical and digital art. This piece features an astronaut suit walking continuously forward, enduring different weather and biomes. Beeple maintains remote access to the piece and plans to evolve its content for the rest of his life. Human One was sold via another Christie's auction on Nov. 10, 2021.

CROSSROAD

Artist: Beeple / Price Sold: $6,600,000.00

Beeple’s Crossroad is a bit different from his usual style. The NFT is a 10-second loop that features a large man lying face-first in the background. Words are painted all over him, and people are walking in the foreground who don't acknowledge the figure on the ground. A bluebird settles on the man’s large body, tweets the signature Twitter whistle, and creates a speech bubble with a clown emoji inside. Beeple created this piece before the 2020 election between Trump and Biden, so the buyer who purchased this piece did so with the uncertainty of the outcome. The man lying in the background turned out to be former President Donald Trump, and this piece symbolizes his loss in the election. It was sold on Feb. 25, 2021, through Nifty Gateway.

OCEAN FRONT (beeple)

Artist: Beeple / Price Sold: $6,000,000.00

Beeple is not shy with his messaging. From politics to global warming, Beeple depicts harsh mirrors of our reality. For this piece, he raises awareness of climate change. The NFT shows minivans and trailers balanced on scaffolding, and at the very top rests a tree. This art piece tries to depict the precarious nature of our society. Part of his Everyday collection, Ocean Front, was sold on March 20, 2021, through Nifty Giveaway.

Stay Free (Edward Snowden, 2021)

Artist: Snowden / Price Sold: $5,475,910.56

Stay Free is the only known NFT created by famous whistleblower Edward Snowden. The piece features the entirety of a landmark court decision that ruled against the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance techniques, stating that these violated existing security laws. The NFT includes a picture of the whistleblower by famed British portrait photographer Platon. Snowden leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency back in 2013, which led to this historic ruling. The auction was held on behalf of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and the piece was sold on April 16, 2021.

REPLICATOR

Artist: MadDogJones / Price Sold: $4,144,000.00

Micah Dowback, a.k.a. MadDogJones, is a digital artist whose works feature a mixture of cyberpunk themes with a hint of dystopia. In his 50-second loop video Replicator, an office copier sits in a dark room in a big city. The copier turns itself on, along with a lamp, and begins copying and printing an assignment. Then, it shuts itself off. Replicator was meant to serve as a metaphor for how technology continuously evolves, showing how something that is not that old, such as the copier, seems outdated. The animated NFT was purchased on April 23, 2021. This was the first of its generation.

All Time High in the City

Artist: XCopy / Price Sold: $4,013,369.70

XCopy, a London-based digital artist and crypto enthusiast, presents art pieces with a dark and dystopian atmosphere, often paired with flashing images and epilepsy trigger warnings. Known for depicting death, XCopy’s All Time High in the City is no exception. It goes as far as to visualize Death, the figure, literally. The animated NFT features the ferryman of the Underworld, presumably Charon, taking a man in a suit across the river Styx. This foreboding image flashes red and black, giving the viewer a feeling of unease. All Time High in the City was bought at this record price on Jan. 2, 2022, but was created in 2018.

Right-click and Save As guy

Artist: XCopy / Price Sold: $3,939,504.00

Many people are still unsure about why people buy NFTs when they can save the image and claim it as their own. XCopy turned this doubt into an NFT, selling it for 1,600 ETH. XCopy’s Right-click and Save As guy contains flashing, animated images in darker colors. The description states, “Why would I buy it when I can right-click and save as?” Despite the amusing comment, Right-click and Save As guy was bought on Dec. 9, 2021, by someone who decided not just to right-click and save the image.

Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection

Artist: FreeRoss / Price Sold: $3,560,326.74

Ross Ulbricht is currently facing a double life sentence with an additional 40 years in prison for charges brought against him as the creator and founder of the darknet marketplace called Silk Road. Recently, he's turned art he has created behind bars into NFTs. His image Perspective, a part of his Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection, features a graphite pencil drawing of an eye with smaller eyes within. The idea is to give “perspective” on “consciousness.” Sold on Dec. 9, 2021, proceeds were donated by the buyer to help the incarcerated and their families while also fighting to free Ulbricht from prison.

A Coin for the Ferryman

Artist: XCopy / Price Sold: $3,274,712.70

This NFT definitely needs a flash warning because XCopy went above and beyond. A Coin for the Ferryman depicts a man wearing a suit and tie in the foreground. The background flashes every color from the rainbow while the man, who seems to have his mouth open and eyes sloped down, glitches repeatedly. XCopy posts “#banker” with the NFT on Twitter. The ominous NFT was bought on Nov. 4, 2021, through SuperRare.

Some Asshole

Artist: XCopy / Price Sold: $3,200,847.00

Although this NFT does feature flashes of color and glitching effects, Some Asshole may be one of XCopy’s less intense NFTs. The art piece presents the silhouette of a human in the foreground with a background of flickering black and red. The silhouette is hard to make out since no face or detail gives any identity. The foreground does not move or change in any way, something out of the norm from XCopy’s previous works. Initially created in 2018, Some Asshole sold for this handsome sum on Sept. 27, 2021, through SuperRare.

Nice to Meet You, I’m Mr. MiSUNDERSTOOD

Artist: Fewocious / Price Sold: $2,838,640.00

At 19-years-old, pop surrealist and digital artist Fewocious is one of the best-selling NFT artists on the market. Nice to Meet You, I’m Mr. MiSUNDERSTOOD is a sculpture-turned-NFT that depicts a sobbing character seemingly lifted from a children’s show with colorful swatches surrounding its body. The piece symbolizes how growing up and changing can be both exciting and terrifying. The bright colors show desperation for change, but the blue shows fear in doing so. The NFT was sold through Sotheby’s Auction House on Oct. 15, 2021.

Self Portrait #1

Artist: DmitriCherniak / Price Sold: $2,682,000.00

Unlike other self-portraits, Dmitri Cherniak’s Self Portrait #1 features no face. Cherniak’s art piece is filled only with circles and curves, with splashes of color dispersed throughout. Rather than follow the norm, Cherniak goes for a playful and imaginative piece. He experimented with shapes and colors, and the NFT sold on Oct. 26, 2021 through SuperRare.

Death Dip

Artist: Xcopy / Price Sold: $2,462,190.00

Sold on March 24 of 2021, this erratic piece shows the mysterious figure of death emerging from green, blue and white glitches.

Looking to make an investment in the NFT space but want to learn even more before pulling the crypto trigger? Check our list of the top-selling NFT artists to start collecting right now.


Tags: Zoe Searle

Photography by: Beeple

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