Why some new records are worth
more than old ones.

The biggest 1970s hits were pressed in huge numbers, and the copies survived. Discogs members have logged 67,453 copies of that 1977 Los Angeles Rumours alone.

Blond went the other way. Its first official vinyl was a double LP sold for 24 hours on Black Friday, November 25, 2016, through Ocean's own website. That pressing has a Discogs median of $397. Ocean's label Blonded reissued it in 2022 as Blonde (BLNDD002) and has sold more runs since, and that version sells for about $150. More on our Blond value page.

Madvillain's Madvillainy (Stones Throw STH2065) shows the same pattern over a longer time. The 2004 first pressing has a $102 median. Stones Throw has kept it in print since, and the 2006 and 2021 pressings sell for about $30.

Taylor Swift's debut came out on CD in 2006 and first reached vinyl in May 2016, as a black double LP (Big Machine BMRTS0150A). That pressing already sells for about $121, eight times a 1975 first pressing of Born to Run.

For Record Store Day 2018, Big Machine pressed it again on crystal-clear and turquoise vinyl, individually numbered in the US. Record Store Day's listing gives 2,500 copies; Discogs notes put the worldwide total at 5,000. The numbered copy has a Discogs median of $812.50. Same music, about seven times the price of the black pressing. See our Taylor Swift debut value page for the details.

Box sets follow the same rule. “Weird Al” Yankovic's 2017 Squeeze Box, packed inside a replica accordion, has a $999.50 median.

Modern labels often keep one catalog number through every repress, so the number on the spine won't tell you which run you have. The runout will.

• Madvillainy 2004 first pressing: “STH2065-SA JD MASTERDISK.” The 2006 repress has “S-60431” style Rainbo numbers; the 2021 repress has GZ Media numbers beginning “200148E.”
• Blond 2016: “XLLP846” with the Optimal Media job number “BG55863,” for example “XLLP 846 VV BG55863-01 A1 KR.”
• Taylor Swift 2016 US: “S-97701 BMRTS0150A-A2 WG/NRP” on side A.

High prices bring unofficial copies. Discogs marks these “Unofficial Release,” meaning neither the artist nor the label authorized them, and blocks many of them from sale on its marketplace.

Blond has dozens. Most are colored, marbled or clear vinyl, often marked “promo” or “for promotional use only,” many with the code B01KRKL6R8 in place of a real catalog number. Both official pressings are black vinyl. One counterfeit copies the 2016 barcode and runouts, but has Marilyn Monroe center labels and crudely etched matrix numbers, so check the labels as well as the dead wax.

Madvillainy had a single-LP bootleg on opaque grey vinyl in 2021, after MF DOOM's death, with a “Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl” sticker and a borrowed Fat Beats logo. The official vinyl pressings listed on Discogs are double LPs.

The rule of thumb: if a famous record turns up in a color that Discogs doesn't list among the official pressings, assume bootleg until the runout proves otherwise.

Most 1970s originals sell for $5 to $30, like the Born to Run and Rumours above. If you or your kids bought new records in the last fifteen years, a few of those may now be the valuable ones.

Crown Vinyl identifies the pressing from the barcode or photos of the sleeve, grades condition from photos on the Goldmine scale, and estimates value from recent real sales. For a single record, our guide to what your vinyl is worth walks through the checks.