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List of most expensive music videos

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This article lists the most expensive music videos ever made, with costs of $500,000 or more, from those whose budgets have been disclosed.

David Bowie's video for the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes" was the first music video to exceed this sum. Janet Jackson and Britney Spears have six videos each on the list, while Michael Jackson and Ayumi Hamasaki have five each. Madonna has made three appearances in the top five, and five total, making her the artist with the most expensive videos of all time combined. TLC, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Guns N' Roses, Mylène Farmer and MC Hammer appear on the list twice.

Joseph Kahn has directed seven, Paul Hunter has directed four, while Hype Williams, Cha Eun Taek and Wataru Takeishi have directed three. Nigel Dick, Mark Romanek and John Landis appear twice, the latter with videos both for Michael Jackson. This list only includes music videos with an announced or reported budget.

The only pre-1980s video on the list is "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" (1960) by Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni and Lata Mangeshkar. Sophie Muller's 2016 video for "Make Me Like You" by Gwen Stefani is both the most expensive music video directed by a woman and the most expensive music video of the 2010s, while "Feelslikeimfallinginlove" by British band Coldplay (2024) is both the most expensive music video by a non-American artist and the most expensive music video of the 2020s. Hamasaki's videos for the Japanese-language songs "My Name's Women" and "Fairyland" are tied as the most expensive non-English-language music videos. Madonna's videos for "Express Yourself" (1989) and "Die Another Day" (2002) are respectively the most expensive videos of the 1980s and the 21st century.

Romanek, who made Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which was claimed the most expensive music video ever made, has since denied this claim, saying that there were two other music videos from the same era which cost "millions more" than "Scream". In a 2017 interview, Mick Garris, a writer for Michael Jackson's Ghosts stated that after several years of production development for the Ghosts short film: "It became the most expensive music video ever made...it ended up coming in at about $15 million, all of it out of Michael's pocket."

Most expensive music videos

RankTitleArtist(s)DirectorYearCost ()RefNominalAdjusted"Scream""Die Another Day""Express Yourself""Bedtime Story""Estranged""Black or White""You Rock My World""Make Me Like You""Feelslikeimfallinginlove""Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)""Victory""2 Legit 2 Quit""Heartbreaker""Doesn't Really Matter""What's It Gonna Be?!""It's All Coming Back to Me Now""Bad""Larger Than Life""Remember the Time""Honey""Freeek!""My Name's Women""Fairyland""Me Against the Music""Green""Unpretty""November Rain""Girlfriend/Boyfriend""Give Me All Your Luvin'""Here Comes the Hammer""Work Bitch""Stronger""I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)""Party All Night""Don't Say Goodbye""Toxic""Touch the Sky""Call on Me""The Ghost of You""City Walls""God's Plan""One Shot""Destiny""Kilimanjaro""Malang""Super Lady""Heartbeat of Love""Saturnz Barz""Triumph""Ava Adore""California""Applause""Push It""Oops!... I Did It Again""Watch the World Burn""Sad Promise""Pillow Talking""Tunak Tunak Tun""Ashes to Ashes""Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah""The Centre of the Heart""Dola Re Dola""Thriller""Livin' la Vida Loca""Piece of Me""Hold It Against Me""Come Back Home""Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya"
1Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson1995$7,000,000
2MadonnaTraktor2002$6,100,000
31989$5,000,000
1995$5,000,000
5Guns N' Roses1993$5,000,000
6Michael Jackson1991$4,000,000
2001$4,000,000
Gwen Stefani2016$4,000,000"Make Me Like You (Gwen Stefani song)":
9Coldplay2024$$
10Limp BizkitFred Durst2000$3,000,000
11Puff Daddy (featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes)1998$2,700,000"Victory (Puff Daddy song)":
12MC Hammer1991$2,500,000"2 Legit 2 Quit (MC Hammer song)":
Mariah Carey (featuring Jay-Z)1999$2,500,000
Janet Jackson2000$2,500,000"Doesn't Really Matter (Janet Jackson song)":
15Busta Rhymes (featuring Janet Jackson)1999$2,400,000
16Celine Dion1996$2,300,000
17Michael Jackson1987$2,200,000
18Backstreet Boys1999$2,100,000
19Michael Jackson1992$2,000,000
Mariah Carey1997$2,000,000
George Michael2002$2,000,000
2005$2,000,000
2005$2,000,000
26Britney Spears (featuring Madonna)2003$1,750,000
272008$1,600,000
TLC1999$1,600,000
29Guns N' Roses1992$1,500,000
Blackstreet & Janet Jackson (featuring Eve & Ja Rule)1999$1,500,000
Madonna (featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.)2012$1,500,000
32MC Hammer1990$1,000,000
342013$1,200,000"Work Bitch (Britney Spears song)":
Kanye West2007$1,200,000"Stronger (Kanye West song)":
36Grace Jones1986$1,200,000
38Yo Yo Honey Singh & Meet Bros2013$1,025,000
Paulina Rubio2002$1,000,000"Don't Say Goodbye (Paulina Rubio's song)":
2004$1,000,000"Toxic (Britney Spears song)":
(featuring Lupe Fiasco)2006$1,000,000"Touch the Sky (Kanye West song)":
2006$1,000,000
"Cry Cry/Lovey Dovey"Cha Eun Taek2011$1,000,000
My Chemical RomanceMarc Webb2005$1,000,000
Twenty One Pilots2025$1,000,000$1,000,000
56Drake2018$996,632
57B.A.P2013$915,000
59InfiniteHong Won-ki2013$890,000
60A. R. Rahman, Javed Ali, & ChinmayiS. Shankar2010$875,000
61Pritam (featuring Siddharth Mahadevan & Shilpa Rao)Vijay Krishna Acharya2013$850,000
62(G)I-dleSon Seung-hee2024$820,000
631989$800,000
Gorillaz2017$800,000
1997$800,000"Triumph (Wu-Tang Clan song)":
The Smashing PumpkinsDom and Nic1998$800,000
661996$788,000"California (Mylène Farmer song)":
67Lady GagaVinoodh Matadin2013$767,000
68GarbageAndrea Giacobbe1998$750,000"Push It (Garbage song)":
2000$750,000"Oops!... I Did It Again (song)":
70Falling in reverseJensen Noen2022$200,000 - $300,000$750,000 to $1 Million+https://www.reddit.com/r/FallingInReverse/comments/1cowemq/music_video_budget/
71Cha Eun Taek2012$706,000
722017$700,000
73Daler MehndiDaler Mehndi1998
741980"Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song)":
75A.R. Rahman & Javed Akhtar (featuring Mohammed Aslam & Bonnie Chakraborty)Ashutosh Gowariker2008
76RoxetteJonas Akerlund2001
77Ismail Darbar, Shreya Ghoshal, & KKSanjay Leela Bhansali2002
78Michael Jackson1983$500,000
791999$500,000
802007$500,000"Piece of Me (Britney Spears song)":
81Jonas Åkerlund2011$500,000"Hold It Against Me (Britney Spears song)":
82Dee Shin2014$470,000
83Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar1960

Most expensive of all time at the time of production

YearTitleArtist(s)DirectorCost ()RefNominalAdjusted"Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya""Ashes to Ashes""I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)""Bad""Express Yourself""Bedtime Story""Scream"
1960Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar
1980$582,000
1984Duran Duran$1,000,000
1986Grace Jones$1,200,000
1987Michael Jackson$2,200,000
1989Madonna$5,000,000
1995
Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson$7,000,000

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

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  7. (2 July 2024). "Coldplay: Το Υπέροχο Βίντεο Κλιπ Στο Ηρώδειο Για Το Feelslikeimfallinginlove".
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