The Most Expensive Classical Records Ever Sold on Discogs

Discogs regularly compiles the priciest items sold each month in the Marketplace. These lists mostly feature classic rock vinyl, CD box sets, and other limited releases — but we’re taking a deeper dive into a specific genre: classical.

While the term “classical” can be used to describe art music and its practice across many regions and time periods, it more specifically refers to music rooted in Western culture during the 1700s and 1800s. The records below are representative of the Classical era as defined by European composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. You’ll see their names alongside modern musicians who’ve performed and further popularized their work, including Leonid Kogan and Annlies Schmidt. However, some of the pieces reach into tangential eras under the classical music umbrella, such as Johannes Brahms from the Romantic period and Johann Sebastian Bach from the Baroque.

The format can be divided into two categories: older vinyl and recent box sets, some of which include CDs and DVDs. You’ll notice a lot of repeats of the same titles because multiple copies of the same release sold with similarly high price tags. And, since many of the releases on this list are compilations, this ranking of the most expensive classical records can easily be considered an essential listening playlist for the style.