Are compilation records
worth anything?

Here is what the familiar TV-sold compilations bring on Discogs, based on the median of recent sales for each pressing.

Source: Discogs release-page sales statistics, October 2026.

In a box of 1970s records, these are usually the cheapest thing there. That is not a judgment on the music.

They sold in enormous numbers. K-tel was started by Philip Kives in Winnipeg in 1962 and released its first compilation, 25 Country Hits, in 1966. K-tel has sold more than half a billion units worldwide, and its yearly sales reached $178 million in 1981. Ronco, founded by Ron Popeil in 1964, ran the same play with its own TV-advertised albums.

Nobody is hunting for them. On Discogs, 2,415 users own the Ronco Do It Now LP and 55 want it. When owners outnumber buyers more than 40 to one, there is no price pressure.

The songs are easy to get elsewhere. Every track was licensed from an original recording that is also on the artist's own records, and most buyers would rather own those.

The valuable ones were put together by someone with a point of view, sold in small numbers, and hold music that was hard to find anywhere else.

Nuggets (Elektra 7E-2006, 1972). Lenny Kaye's double LP of singles from what the title calls the first psychedelic era, 1965 to 1968. The original, in a gatefold with Elektra butterfly labels, has a Discogs median of $67.39. Sire reissued it in 1976 with a new cover, so check the label.

No New York (Antilles AN 7067, 1978). Brian Eno produced four New York bands, including the Contortions and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. The 1978 US LP has a $59 median.

A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records (PHLP-4005, 1963). The Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans. It came out on November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was shot, and sold poorly at first. A 1963 US mono copy has a $40 median.

The odd K-tel. The Best of Bowie (K-tel NE 1111, 1980) reached No. 3 in the UK and carries edits of “Life on Mars?” and “Diamond Dogs” that appear nowhere else. Even so, its median is $11.54, and 7,179 Discogs users own a copy. Unusual contents help, but plentiful copies still cap the price.

For a lot of people, a K-tel album was the first record they owned. K-tel's Blockbuster was the first album Dave Grohl owned. These albums hold a year of radio in one sleeve, and they still play fine at a party.

If you are deciding what to do with a box, the arithmetic is plain. A $3 record rarely covers the time and shipping to sell it on its own. Keep the ones you play, and sell or donate the rest as a lot. Our sell, donate or keep guide covers the options. Before you do, photograph the box with Crown Vinyl. It identifies each pressing, grades condition from your photos and estimates value from recent real sales, so a Nuggets or a No New York doesn't go out with the Goofy Greats. Your first 10 record saves are free.