If You Own One Of These Rare Prince Vinyl Records, You Could Resell It For More Than $15,000

Prince Rogers Nelson (or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince) is, was, and always will be a rock and roll legend. "Purple Rain," "When Doves Cry," "Kiss," and "Little Red Corvette" comprise a list that barely scratches the sparkly surface of Prince's catalog, not to mention the vault full of albums Prince hid away until his 2016 death, or songs from movies, like his bizarre 1989 "Batman"-soundtrack banger, "Batdance."

The powerhouse hitmaker of the '80s, '90s, and 2000s played his Super Bowl halftime show in the pouring rain, premiered his movie "Under the Cherry Moon" at a Holiday Inn in Wyoming, starred in an episode of "New Girl" so he could get his favorite sitcom characters together, in the most partial of lists of his most outrageous pop-cultural moments.

The fierce and fashionable little man who made the phrase "Game: blouses" possible might have been small in stature, but he and his talent was larger than life. Just like the artist, there is nothing too casual about Prince fans. In life, Prince topped the charts, so who wouldn't expect the same after he shuffled off this earthly plane? Collectors have paid show-stopping sums for The Purple One's rarest of recordings on vinyl, and chances are, they will again. Dust off your old Prince vinyl, and if you aren't too busy jamming out to it, you may just be able to sell it to another collector for a pretty paisley packet.

The most valuable Prince record on record is actually one that was never officially released. More than that, "The Black Album" is a record that Prince wanted all copies of to be destroyed. Recorded in 1987, the album was meant to be released totally unadorned. A black vinyl record wrapped in a black sleeve, void of images, track listing, or artist information would ultimately give the officially untitled album its unofficial name: "The Black Album." Originally intended to be Prince's untitled follow-up to 1987's "Sign O' the Times," rumor had it that "The Black Album" would be more controversial and club-ready than any Prince album before, which, when it comes to Prince, is truly saying something.

"Sign" spans Prince's range, and would one day become his most critically-acclaimed album. Not to mention, one that would live on in hearts (and on dance floors) for the rest of time. The double-album tracks feature hit singles "Sign O' the Times," "U Got the Look," "Adore," "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man." While the songs of "Sign" are about as iconic today as any Prince song ever was, they didn't chart in the stratosphere like super-smash critical and commercial hit, "Purple Rain." That 1984 Prince album cast a long, purple shadow over later efforts, including "The Black Album."

Legend has it that Warner Bros. Records, Prince's then-label, was hesitant to release a funky follow-up so soon after "Sign," which was released not even a full year earlier. However, it was Prince who made the call to shelve the album, after receiving a message from the spiritual plane.

Some of Prince's critics circa "The Black Album" disliked his strong lean into pop, away from his funky roots. Prince's response to his critics is woven into the dense net of lore covering the truth behind the impetus for "The Black Album." That album lore includes Prince being angry with lost love, being upset about splitting with his band (The Revolution), being furious with critics who called him not "urban" or funky enough, or being angry about the direction music was taking with rap and hip-hop.

Whatever truly motivated the writing of "The Black Album," Prince's regrets with the album's anger prompted him to recall its release. After having a deeply spiritual evening, Prince says he saw God and realized he had to denounce the darkness of the album."I was very angry a lot of the time back then," Prince says in a rare 1990 interview with Rolling Stone, adding: "And that was reflected in that album. I suddenly realized that we can die at any moment, and we'd be judged by the last thing we left behind. I didn't want that angry, bitter thing to be the last thing. I learned from that album, but I don't want to go back."

However, Prince's pulling of the album only created a frenzy for the "evil" creation. The few promotional copies that had already been released before Prince's destruction decree made their way into more Prince fans' hands via extensive bootleg copies. These illicit, handmade copies of "The Black Album" made the unreleased album absolutely legendary — and one of the most valuable old vinyl records of all time.

"The Black Album" was eventually officially released in 1994 by Warner Bros. Records. In his 1998 video for "Alphabet Street," Prince including a quick warning image card to fans that simply said: "Don't buy 'The Black Album.' I'm sorry." Of course, collectors did indeed buy it, sometimes at sums so high that Prince may even have considered forgiving them for their sins.

Only a small handful of copies of the original 1987 album have come to light. Some of these have been sold via online music marketplace, Discogs. In April 2016, a copy sold for $15,000. In 2018, a copy sold for $27,500. If that isn't eye-popping enough, consider that this high sale occurred months after a sealed copy of "The Black Album sold for $42,298 earlier in 2018, after being plucked out of a salvage pile by a Canadian vinyl press worker.

Genuine copies of "The Black Album" are exceedingly rare, with sealed copies even more elusive. While the likelihood of finding one might be even lower than finding a Beanie Baby worth $12,000 or a wildly valuable 2019 Pokémon card, collectors are always on the hunt. Truly collectible records aren't to be confused with the many fakes that try to slip by savvy collectors' eyes. If one thinks they have discovered the genuine article, reach out to a trusted professional for assistance. Or, if you get your hands on a few other great Prince albums in condition to match, try your hand at Discogs or eBay. It's no 42K, but even a white vinyl pressing of the 1994-released "The Black Album" fetched $1,649.94 in an eBay auction in April 2025.