Top 10 Most Expensive Music Albums Ever Made

Michael Jackson's last studio album was released in 2001 and is considered the most expensive album of all time. Production cost around $30 million to get the sixteen tracks onto the record, more than twice as much as second-place Chinese Democracy. Jackson had three different studios rented every day, so he could choose which room he felt comfortable in. A total of 87 songs were fully produced by an army of writers and producers, and then only the best selection was included on the album. What these ten records share is that money rarely guaranteed great success. Sum

The band members of Guns N' Roses sought absolute perfection and refused to make concessions. As a result, it took fourteen years before the record was finally in stores. During that period, numerous band members were fired or replaced and costs for studio time and producers continued to mount. The album was finally released in 2008 with an official cost of approximately $13 million, at the time the most expensive rock album ever.

This Def Leppard album took three years to complete, pushing the recording costs up to an estimated $4.5 million. The investment turned out to be more than worth it, as it sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The delay was partly caused by a serious accident involving drummer Rick Allen, who lost his left arm. The band waited for his recovery, after which Allen learned to play on a specially adapted one-arm drum kit.

The special thing about Smile by The Beach Boys is that the original album was never released in the 1960s. For the recording sessions, band member Brian Wilson had some eccentric demands, such as an Arabic-style tent in the studio in which he ate and took narcotics. His piano also had to be placed in a large sandbox to create the right atmosphere. Individual fragments for the album, such as the later Good Vibrations, reportedly cost dozens of hours of studio time per song, which was unprecedentedly expensive at the time.

This Korn album sold millions of copies worldwide, but it took two years to record and ultimately cost more than four million dollars. This makes it one of the most expensive metal records ever. That high price tag was mainly due to the band constantly traveling back and forth between Phoenix, Los Angeles and Canada. Luxury accommodations were rented at each location, which caused the bill to rise considerably.

Chris Gaines was actually an alter ego of country singer Garth Brooks, created to experiment with rock music. Fifty musicians were needed for the album, with a recording budget estimated at five million dollars. On top of that there was a much larger marketing budget. Despite that enormous investment, the record was not a commercial success and was limited to this one experiment.

Record label Factory Records almost went bankrupt shortly after this album was completed. Drug use was the biggest problem during recording: the band was sent to a studio in Barbados in the hope that the distraction would keep the members clean. The opposite happened. During the sessions, band members sold furniture from the studio to fund their addiction, which significantly increased the costs for the record company.

The Darkness tried to imitate the excessive sound of seventies glam rock. For some songs, as many as 160 different guitar parts were recorded, with each part sometimes only being heard for a few seconds. Ultimately, the band had hundreds of tapes that all had to be put together into one whole. It reportedly cost $1.8 million to produce an album of just 35 minutes.

It took over a year for all the songs for Gaucho to be recorded. A total of 42 different musicians were hired to achieve exactly the right sound. In the meantime, the band members were having a hard time. Walter Becker was addicted to drugs and was involved in a serious accident, which required six months of rehabilitation. These setbacks, combined with the endless editing of the recordings, made Gaucho one of the most expensive records of that time.

Tusk is the twelfth album by Fleetwood Mac, made after the immense success of Rumours. Because there was enough money, the band had a completely custom-made studio set up in Los Angeles. They didn't always work hard either. The band spent a lot of time partying and using cocaine, which slowed down the recordings considerably. The final bill came to an estimated $1.4 million.