Most Valuable Vinyl Records From the 1960s

These five valuable vinyl records from the 1960s each raked in more than $25,000 in recent years.

Yes, vinyl records are back in a big way, with Americans purchasing 49.61 million vinyl albums in 2023 (up more than 14 percent from 2022), according to Forbes.

And which artists are contributing to this explosion? Well, Taylor Swift alone accounted for 7 percent of those sales. Needless to say, any Swiftie buying an album right now should hold onto it because it could very well be worth a fortune someday.

These five albums from the 1960s each raked in more than $25,000 in recent years. Of course, like with all collectibles, the more pristine the item, the more money you’ll earn.

5. The Velvet Underground, ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’

Amazon

Value: $25,200

Year released: 1967

Format: 12-inch acetate, 33-1/3 rpm

Hit songs: “Sunday Morning,” “Femme Fatale,” “I’ll Be Your Mirror”

Bottom line: Valuable street-sale finds make the best treasure-hunting stories, and this one is no different. Canadian record collector Warren Hill bought this debut album for a mere 75 cents in 2002 at a Chelsea neighborhood street sale in New York City. What looked like a common reprint of the vinyl with Andy Warhol’s “banana sticker” cover was actually a record with handwritten labels.

It was in fact an acetate test pressing that had early mixes and versions of songs in various forms that eventually appeared on the finished album. The record is so rare that the only other known copy belongs to Moe Tucker, the band’s drummer. An auction on eBay earned Hill a whopping $25,200. Not bad for a day’s thrifting work!

4. Bob Dylan, ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’

Amazon

Value: $30,000

Year released: 1963

Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm

Hit songs: “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Blowin’ in the Wind”

Bottom line: Bob Dylan’s second studio album also happens to feature one of the most iconic album covers with Dylan and his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, walking the wintery streets of New York City. What makes this variation of the famous record valuable is that it’s a first pressing that accidentally included four songs that weren’t intended for release. A small number of the discs got out before Columbia Records was able to recall them.

A mono copy will earn you about $15,000, while a first-pressing stereo version — one of only two copies known to exist — could fetch at least $30,000.

3. Frank Wilson, ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ / ‘Sweeter as the Days Go By’

Discogs

Value: $34,000

Year released: 1965

Format: 7-inch vinyl, 45 rpm

Bottom line: Frank Wilson wrote several Motown hits for The Temptations, The Supremes and Marvin Gaye, but he only ever performed on this “Northern Soul” single, which earned a major cult following in England.

A few hundred copies were pressed, but Motown Chief Berry Gordy ordered them to be destroyed, as he didn’t like the idea of his top writer/producer becoming a star in his own right. As such, only two guaranteed legit copies are known to have survived, and one ended up selling for almost $34,000 in a 2009 auction.

2. The Beatles, ‘Yesterday and Today’

BeatlesButcherShop / Etsy

Value: $234,000

Year released: 1966

Format: 12-inch vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm

Hit songs: “Yesterday,” “Day Tripper”

Bottom line: Now, we’re getting into some serious money. “Yesterday and Today” was The Beatles’ ninth album on their U.S. label, Capitol Records, and it has two versions. The more sought-after is the controversial “butcher cover,” which pictured the band in white smocks and surrounded by hunks of raw meat and baby doll parts.

The genius behind the idea was none other than Paul McCartney who suggested it as commentary on the Vietnam War, but music store owners didn’t like the idea. As a result, Capitol recalled the album a day after its release after several had already been purchased. Depending on the condition of the vinyl and whether or not it’s a mono or much rarer stereo version, it can fetch anywhere between $12,000 to $125,000.

This one that earned $234,000 at a Liverpool auction in 2019 was John Lennon’s personal copy of the album and was autographed by Lennon, McCartney and Ringo Starr.

1. The Beatles, ‘The Beatles’ (aka ‘White Album’ )

Amazon

Value: $790,000

Year released: 1968

Format: 12-inch double vinyl, 33-1/3 rpm

Hit songs: “Back in the U.S.S.R., “Dear Prudence,” “Blackbird”

Bottom line: Beatles drummer Ringo Starr auctioned off more than 800 items from his personal collection in 2014 to benefit his Lotus Foundation charity. One of the big sellers was his original U.K. mono copy of the Beatles’ “White Album.” It’s even stamped with the serial No. A0000001, showing that it was indeed the first copy to come off the factory production line.

While the Fab Four always received the first four copies of their albums, it was always assumed that John Lennon owned this first pressing. Starr stored it in a bank vault for 35 years, but he actually did play it, which means his fingerprints are also on it for those true Beatles maniacs.

For more of the most valuable albums in history, check out “Most Valuable Vinyl Records Worth Money.”