If you're serious about collecting vinyl, you're probably aware of Discogs.
The website has become the internet's main resource for not only collating your record collection (in great detail) but also buying and selling secondhand vinyl.
And often, those records can be very rare and very expensive.
Whether it's a first pressing or a limited edition, a hard-to-find track or a deleted album, all sorts of details can make a specific release more valuable than the next. At least to someone.
The month of May was no different with ten records selling for more than $3000 (around £2200) and the most expensive vinyl making a tidy $6690 for one lucky seller.
Let's have a look in more detail at last month's most expensive records on Discogs.
1. Please Please Me by The Beatles
Sold for $6690 (£4926)
Who else?
The Fab Four are collected like no other band and have the discography to match, with stereo and mono pressings, UK and US releases, re-releases, re-masters, you name it. Oh, and lots of counterfeit records to avoid ("If George casts no shadow, it's a counterfeit.")
This month's big seller was a second pressing of the band's debut album, notable for the label crediting the songs to Northern Songs Ltd., the publishing company formed to manage John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s compositions, rather than Dick James Music Co. It is suggested only 900 such copies exist.
Beatles fans are also adamant that this is an excellent sounding stereo pressing (of course most of the Beatles catalogue was mixed and released in mono).
Just don't tell the person who sold their copy for £25 back in 2014...
2. Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood by Misfits
Sold for $6500 (around £4778)
This release is a fine example of the level of insight you can expect from Discogs.
Head to the release page and you'll see users have logged 67 different versions of this hardcore punk release, thanks to variations in sleeve and vinyl colour, errors, new matrix numbers, a change in pressing plants... and on and on.
Released in 1983, it's the second and last record to feature founding member Glenn Danzig on vocals, and this particularly expensive copy is the purple version (sometimes listed as magenta, unhelpfully). Number of copies pressed? Unknown...
3. How To Make Lemonade by Beyoncé
Sold for $5680 (around £4175)
It doesn't have to be old to be expensive – but being a limited edition certainly helps. And that's the case here with this vinyl box set, which was limited to 2500, and reached its highest ever sold price last month.
Proving it's not just about the music, this release features two yellow vinyl records but also a 600-page coffee table book, behind the scenes photos, poetry and more.
Crucially, this particular release is 'sealed' – so it hasn't been opened let alone played or indeed read, let alone covered in greasy fingerprints.
Previous versions have been selling for under £1000, so it just goes to show the value, to some people, of a sealed copy...
4. She Likes To Dance by Dudley Birch
Sold for $5681 (around £4172)
This is classic Discogs: a 1980s soul record that only six (!) people have logged in their collections.
And with only two videos on YouTube, one of which is deliberately cut short, and no sign of the track on streaming, you effectively need to own the record to even hear the music.
This is the first time the record has been sold on the site, and it sold within days for a hefty sum. No wonder the only comment on the release page is, "Anyone have a copy they are willing to sell?"
5. You Laugh E.P. by No For An Answer
Sold for $5568 (around £4089)
The appeal of this particular record is pretty clear: only 36 copies were ever released. The live photo sleeve sets it apart from the more common versions.
It's the first time this has ever been sold on Discogs, as the seller noted in the listing, writing: “You and me will never see this again.”
6. Growers of Mushroom by Leaf Hound
Sold for $5135 (around £3771)
Not the psychedelic album you might expect from the name and cover, but rather a slice of 1970s hard rock that has gone from obscure to incredibly sought after since the turn of the century.
The band's eponymously titled first album was released on Telefunken in Germany before this Growers of Mushroom release came on Decca and featured all of the first album's tracks, plus a couple of extra songs for good measure.
Various reissues have appeared in the 2000s but this expensive item is of course the original release.
Missed this one? Fear not, there's another one on sale at the time of writing for £12,000...
7. Milkcow Blues Boogie / You’re A Heartbreaker by Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore And Bill Black
Sold for $4500 (around £3306)
This list is all about the most expensive vinyl (even though Discogs does cover CDs and cassette tapes) but this release is actually on shellac. Also known as 78s, they're made from resin shellac rather than vinyl and were a heavier and more fragile, earlier incarnation of the record.
No great surprise on the high price considering this was released in 1955 and is one of the first times Elvis Presley was recorded. This is also the first time this exact version has been sold on Discogs. A rare record, then!
8. Mosaics by Michael Rabin With Leon Pommers
Sold for $3920 (around £2880)
Another early stereo recording, this time from classical prodigy Michael Rabin.
Captured in the famous "Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo", the album has become highly sought after as an example of Rabin at the height of his powers, despite still being in his early 20s at the time of the recording. He sadly died at just 35.
9. Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
Sold for $3410 (around £2506)
"I'm all about Beatles records, but you have to be an absolute nutcase to spend thousands of dollars on an Odeon pressing of Yellow Submarine," says one cheery commenter on Discogs...
Can we explain this one? Well, as always there are many many versions of this record, but this one is an 'export' version for Europe, which might suggest a completist is completing their collection, and there were likely a relatively limited number released. And don't forget the gold Odeon sticker...
10. So Much (For) Stardust by Fall Out Boy
Sold for $3250 (around £2389)
We're dragged back into the 21st century by Fall Out Boy, delivering a real collector's item. This isn't a vinyl record or even a shellac, it's in fact a "CRYNYL". And what is that?
Well, it was marketed as the first ever album to feature the artist’s (Pete Wentz) actual tears diluted into a specially-made solution and then sealed into the record. Limited to 50 hand-numbered copies, packaging includes a built-in tissue dispenser. Yes, really.
The record certainly looks stunning, so who are we to argue?
Elsewhere in the top 25 most valuable records sold last month were albums from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and Dr. Dre.
Head over to Discogs to see the list in full.
MORE:
16 of the best-sounding vinyl records
Old is gold: why I massively prefer buying old vinyl to new
The best turntables we've reviewed
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