I've noticed that recently, the crypto community has been constantly discussing record-breaking prices for NFTs — and indeed, the numbers are just crazy. Let's analyze which digital artworks have actually become the most expensive in the history of this market.

Let's start with the top record holder. The Merge by Pak is truly a phenomenon. Sold in December 2021 for $91.8 million, and there's an interesting point: this isn't the only copy purchased by a single collector. In fact, 28,893 people bought parts of this piece, each for $575. A total of 312,686 copies were purchased. This unusual sales format made The Merge the most expensive NFT ever listed on the market.

Second place is held by Beeple with his work Everydays: The First 5000 Days. Sold at Christie's auction in March 2021 for $69.3 million. It all started with a $100 starting bid, but demand was so high that bids skyrocketed. This collage consists of 5,000 individual works that the artist created every day over nearly 14 years. Quite an impressive piece.

Next is Clock — cryptographic art created by Pak in collaboration with Julian Assange. This is a dynamic NFT with a timer counting down the days of Assange's imprisonment. In February 2022, it was sold for $52.7 million by the AssangeDAO group. The proceeds went toward his legal defense. An interesting example of how the most expensive NFT can be not just art, but also a political manifesto.

Beeple is again on the list with Human One — a kinetic sculpture over 7 feet tall with a 16K display. Sold for $29 million at the same Christie's in November 2021. The key point is that this is a living artwork: Beeple can remotely update the content, changing images on the display over time.

CryptoPunk #5822 — an alien punk with blue skin, one of only nine Alien Punks in the series. Sold for $23 million. CryptoPunks in general have shown that the most expensive NFT collections can be created as early as 2017 and still remain top in value.

A few more Punk's on the list: #7523 (11,75M), #4156 ($10.26M), #5577 (7,7M), #3100 ($7.67M), #7804 (7,57M), #8857 ($6.63M) — all of them feature rare attributes like medical masks, alien themes, or unique accessories.

TPunk #3442 is an interesting case. Tron CEO Justin Sun bought it in August 2021 for 120 million TRX (about $10.5 million). Known as "Joker" due to its resemblance to the Batman villain.

XCOPY's work Right-click and Save As Guy sold for $7 million. The title itself is a joke about those who think NFTs can just be downloaded with a right-click.

Ringers #109 by Dmitry Chernyak is generative art on Art Blocks, sold for $6.93 million. The entire series consists of 1,000 NFTs, and even the cheapest now costs around $88,000.

Crossroads by Beeple is a 10-second film created before the 2020 US elections. Sold for $6.6 million in February 2021. It was a moment when NFTs were not yet mainstream, but prices were already soaring.

In terms of trading volume, the leading collections are Axie Infinity ($4.27 billion) and Bored Ape Yacht Club ($3.16 billion). This shows that even if individual NFTs don't break records, entire projects can generate huge sums.

What’s interesting is that the market is extremely volatile. As of early 2026, the total market capitalization of NFTs is estimated at about $2.6 billion. At the same time, 95% of NFTs are practically worthless. Success depends on rarity, creator reputation, and cultural significance.

If you follow the NFT market, you know that the most expensive NFTs are usually created by well-known artists with a strong community. The market is constantly evolving, new projects appear, but classic collections like CryptoPunks remain the benchmark.

For those interested in this topic, I recommend following the OpenSea marketplace and auction houses like Sotheby's. On Gate, you can track prices of major NFT projects and monitor market movements. It’s quite possible that new records will emerge in the coming months, surpassing current highs.