As more music fans turn the tables in the vinyl revival…  here’s the ten most valuable records in the world

With interest in vinyl records on the rise, the long-standing market for collectible records is being given a new lease of life. Is there a rare gem lurking in your collection – and what are the most valuable vinyl records? We take a look.

The resurrection of the charts follows a surge in demand for the format and is a further stage in the vinyl revival. The renewed interest will prompt many to question whether the records clogging up attics, boot fairs or lounge are worth anything

Turning the tables on download revolution

The renaissance for analogue records has been triggered, ironically, by the digital download revolution.

As music fans have moved from CD to MP3 over the past ten years, their vast collections of discs have become largely redundant.

As technology improved, vast collections could be stored on hand-held devices like smartphones while services such as Spotify meant an almost infinite store of music from any era was available instantly.

But however convenient these new formats for music are, they can’t satisfy the urge of many music fans to collect a more permanent record of their listening habits.

Others just want something more tangible for their money to go alongside a computer file and see vinyl as a more interesting alternative to CD.

The composition of last week’s vinyl album chart gives an insight to this new type of music buyer.

Top of the pops is The Holy Bible, the third album from The Manics Street Preachers. Released in 1994, the album’s presence in the chart perhaps hints at the demand driving the vinyl market – older music fans looking to build a core collection of their very favourite music on the format.

The top 10 also features Happy Monday’s 1990 album Thrills, Pills and Bellyaches and The Sex Pistols 1977 debut Nevermind the Bollocks. The Prodigy, Van Morrison and Nirvana also feature in the top 20.

What’s lurking in your collection? 

Record Collector is a magazine dedicated to vinyl that publishes a Rare Record Price Guide. While, as out list below shows, the world’s most valuable vinyl records are all incredibly rare, even well-known albums can grow in value.

According to Ian McCann, editor of Record Collector, there are opportunities for music lovers to find vinyl gems.

‘The key is condition: if you are the sort of person who treated these albums like they were made of glass and didn’t take them to parties, or rarely played them, they will be worth more today’, he said.

McCann adds: ‘You require all the original material that came with the album – lyric inserts, posters, sleeves – to also be in great shape to get top dollar.

World’s most valuable records 

The team at Record Collector has provided us with a list the top 10 records to keep an eye out, and let’s put it this way – you only need to look for a few names.

10. Please Please Me

+5

If you have a version of this 33rpm, and it credits the Dick James Music Company rather than the more familiar Northern Songs, you could be in the money.

It’s also interesting to see the relevant writing accreditations noted as McCartney-Lennon, rather than the other way round. At £6,000, this is surely a bargain.

9. Anarchy in the UK/No Fun

At 4.1 minutes, this acetate disk is the longer version of the Sex Pistols classic. It has the tag, EMI 401, and only three are known to exist. A snitch at £7,000.

8. God Save The Queen/No Feelings

Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? No? Well, John Lydon did, when he asked this ironic question after years of abuse from the likes of Malcolm McLaren and EMI?

During the dying days of the Sex Pistols they released this 7 inch, only for it to be swiftly withdrawn in the summer of 1977. Expect to pay £7,500 for a copy – if it still has its original brown envelope.

7. The Beatles (White Album)

A first pressing of the Beatles only double album, with serial numbers lower than 0000010, could be worth £8,000. Your ‘White Album’ must be in good nick, of course, and can be mono or stereo.

6. God Save The Queen/No Feelings

If you have this Sex Pistols single from 1977 in its brown envelope and with the accompanying press release, you can expect to sell it for a princely £8,000.

5. God Save The Queen/No Feelings

Do not adjust your screen, as the Pistols have yet another version of their ersatz tribute to the monarch in the top 10. This version was used by boss Malcolm McLaren to promote the band at gigs and record companies. It has no record label or category number and is worth £10,000.

4. That’ll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger

This isn’t a Buddy Holly recording, but the Quarrymen, a late ‘50s band led by John Lennon, and supported by, among others, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. There are only 25 copies of this 1981 version of the 1958 single in existence, which explains the £10,000 price tag

3. That’ll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger 

No, you are not seeing double. The boys released a 78rpm of this single, and again there were only 25 pressings, making a version of this disc worth around £10,000.

2. ‘Test’

It doesn’t even have a title, but any copies of this incredibly rare 78rpm from 1965, by David A Stewart, are worth around £30,000.

1. That’ll Be The Day/In Spite Of All The Danger

What is it with these scousers? As if we didn’t know. Number 1 goes to the 1958 original 78 rpm single, of which there is only one known disc – and that is owned by Sir Paul McCartney.

If you hanker after this beauty expect to hand over an estimated £200,000. But let’s face is, Macca doesn’t need the money so don’t expect him to feel obliged to put it on the market anytime soon.

Just so you know, the A side was written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty, while the B side was the only McCartney and Harrison composition to make it to vinyl.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-3047329/As-music-fans-turn-tables-vinyl-revival-s-ten-valuable-records-world.html#ixzz3YcChmD9i
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