The 10 Most Expensive Albums Ever Recorded

We constantly hear figures of how many copies a record has sold or how much it money it has earned, but very little about how much it actually cost to record the album. This information is more free and open in the film industry, and this helps give you a better idea of how profitable a film is. As it turns out, there are a handful of very famous albums which cost an absolute fortune to make. Sometimes this overrun is caused by chasing perfection, but often it just comes down to the tumultuous nature of being in a rock and roll band.

10. Fleetwood Mac – Tusk

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac released their twelfth album, Tusk, and it would be one that, at the time, was the most expensive rock album ever recorded. It was reported in the press to have cost $1 million, but years later it was revealed to have cost $1.4 million. With the success of Rumours, Mick Fleetwood offered to buy a studio to record the album, but the label refused. Instead, the band constructed their own studio, Studio D, which is where most of the album’s lofty price tag comes from. One famous story to emerge from the recording is that on the first recording night, the band decided to celebrate Mick buying a $70,000 sports car with copious amounts of cocaine. By the time the session ended at 6 a.m., nothing had been recorded, and Mick received a phone call which informed him that the uninsured car had been broadsided and demolished while being towed to his house.