Earlier today, I happened upon the fun blog, Oh No They Didn’t, and found an article featuring the most expensive music videos of all time. The list of the 20 biggest bank breakers including clips by the expected video king and queen, Michael Jackson and Madonna. But interestingly, it also featured clips from Celine Dion and some Japanese pop star named Ayumi Hamasaki. Take a look at the list below and see if you’re surprised by some of the clips. And note the most recent American song on the list is Madonna’s “Die Another Day” from 2003. As we all know music videos are primarily showcased on the web these days as the music biz has been hovering in the toilet of late. So, instead of these awesome art pieces, we mainly get cheap CGI clips or performance clips. I sure do miss the days of waiting for important video premieres on MTV’s Making the Video. Alas, at least we can reminisce on youtube….
The most expensive music videos of all time…
1. “Scream”- Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson (1995) $ 7million
2. “Die Another Day”- Madonna (2002), $6.2 million
3. “Express Yourself”- Madonna (1989) $ 5 million
4. “Bedtime Story”- Madonna (1995) $5 million
5. “Estranged”- Guns n’ Roses (1993) $4 million
6. “Victory”- Puff Daddy w/Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes (1998), $ 2.7 million
7. “2 Legit 2 Quit”- M.C. Hammer (1992), $2.5 million
8. “Heartbreaker”- Mariah Carey w/ Jay Z (1999), $2.5 million
9. “What’s It Gonna Be?”- Busta Rhymes w/ Janet Jackson (1999), $ 2.4 million
10. “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”- Celine Dion (1996) $2.3 million
11. “Bad”- Michael Jackson (1987), $ 2.2 million
12. “Larger Than Life”- Backstreet Boys (1999), $ 2.1 million
13. “Miami”- Will Smith (1998), $ 2 million
14. “She’s a Bitch”- Missy Elliott (1999), $ 2 million
15. “Freek”- George Michael (2004), $ 2 million
16. “My Name’s Woman”- Ayumi Hamasaki (2005), $ 2 million
17. “Fairyland”- Ayumi Hamasaki (2005), $ 2 million
18. “Green”- Ayumi Hamasaki (2008), $ 1.6 million
19. “Unpretty”- TLC (1999), $ 1.6 million
20. “Black or White”- Michael Jackson (1991), $ 1.5 million
