List of most expensive music videos

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

The music video for "Scream" by Michael Jackson (left) and Janet Jackson (right) has the highest-ever disclosed budget for a music video—both nominally and adjusted for inflation.

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.

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".^[1] 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."^[2]

Most expensive music videos

  Indicates the title was the most expensive of all time at the time of production

  Indicates non-English-language music videos

Most expensive music videos

Rank	Title	Artist(s)	Director	Year	Cost (est.)		Ref
					Nominal	Adjusted
1	"Scream"	Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson	Mark Romanek	1995	$7,000,000	$14,444,857	[3][4]
2	"Die Another Day"	Madonna	Traktor	2002	$6,100,000	$10,663,996
3	"Express Yourself"		David Fincher	1989	$5,000,000	$12,683,221
	"Bedtime Story"		Mark Romanek	1995	$5,000,000	$10,317,755
5	"Estranged"	Guns N' Roses	Andy Morahan	1993	$5,000,000	$10,883,437
6	"Black or White"	Michael Jackson	John Landis	1991	$4,000,000	$9,234,302
	"You Rock My World"	Michael Jackson	Paul Hunter	2001	$4,000,000	$7,103,176	[5]
	"Make Me Like You"	Gwen Stefani	Sophie Muller	2016	$4,000,000	$5,240,710	[6]
8	"Feelslikeimfallinginlove"	Coldplay	Ben Mor	2024	$3,548,100	$3,548,100	[7][8][9]
9	"Cartoon Heroes"	Aqua	Thomas Masin	2000	$3,500,000	$6,390,628	[citation needed]
10	"Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)"	Limp Bizkit	Fred Durst	2000	$3,000,000	$5,477,681	[10]
11	"Victory"	Puff Daddy (featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes)	Marcus Nispel	1998	$2,700,000	$5,208,718	[11]
12	"2 Legit 2 Quit"	MC Hammer	Rupert Wainwright	1991	$2,500,000	$5,771,439	[12]
	"Heartbreaker"	Mariah Carey (featuring Jay-Z)	Brett Ratner	1999	$2,500,000	$4,718,837	[13]
	"Doesn't Really Matter"	Janet Jackson	Joseph Kahn	2000	$2,500,000	$4,718,837	[14]
15	"What's It Gonna Be?!"	Busta Rhymes (featuring Janet Jackson)	Hype Williams	1999	$2,400,000	$4,530,084	[15]
16	"It's All Coming Back to Me Now"	Celine Dion	Nigel Dick	1996	$2,300,000	$4,611,224	[16]
17	"Bad"	Michael Jackson	Martin Scorsese	1987	$2,200,000	$6,088,987	[16]
18	"Larger Than Life"	Backstreet Boys	Joseph Kahn	1999	$2,100,000	$3,963,823	[16]
19	"Remember the Time"	Michael Jackson	John Singleton	1992	$2,000,000	$4,481,385	[16]
	"Honey"	Mariah Carey	Paul Hunter	1997	$2,000,000	$3,917,496	[17]
	"Miami"	Will Smith	Wayne Isham	1999	$2,000,000	$3,775,070	[citation needed]
	"She's a Bitch"	Missy Elliott	Hype Williams	1999	$2,000,000	$3,775,070	[citation needed]
	"Freeek!"	George Michael	Joseph Kahn	2002	$2,000,000	$3,496,392	[18]
	"My Name's Women"	Ayumi Hamasaki	Wataru Takeishi	2005	$2,000,000	$3,219,969	[16]
	"Fairyland"		Wataru Takeishi	2005	$2,000,000	$3,219,969	[19][user-generated source]
26	"Me Against the Music"	Britney Spears (featuring Madonna)	Paul Hunter	2003	$1,750,000	$2,991,272	[20]
27	"Green"	Ayumi Hamasaki	Kazuyoshi Shimomura	2008	$1,600,000	$2,897,972	[21]
	"Unpretty"	TLC	Paul Hunter	1999	$1,600,000	$3,020,056	[22]
29	"November Rain"	Guns N' Roses	Andy Morahan	1992	$1,500,000	$3,361,039	[23]
	"Girlfriend/Boyfriend"	Blackstreet & Janet Jackson (featuring Eve & Ja Rule)	Joseph Kahn	1999	$1,500,000	$2,831,302	[16]
	"Give Me All Your Luvin'"	Madonna (featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.)	Megaforce	2012	$1,500,000	$2,054,428	[24]
32	"Here Comes the Hammer"	MC Hammer	MC Hammer	1990	$1,000,000	$2,406,775	[25]
	"Ready or Not"	Fugees	Marcus Nispel	1996	$1,300,000	$2,606,344	[citation needed]
34	"Work Bitch"[a]	Britney Spears	Ben Mor	2013	$1,200,000	$1,619,829	[26]
	"Stronger"	Kanye West	Hype Williams	2007	$1,200,000	$1,819,740	[27]
36	"I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)"	Grace Jones	Grace Jones	1986	$1,200,000	$3,442,259	[28]
37	"Jewel"	Ayumi Hamasaki	Wataru Takeishi	2006	$1,100,000	$1,715,731	[citation needed]
38	"Party All Night"	Yo Yo Honey Singh & Meet Bros	Anthony D'Souza	2013	$1,025,000	$1,655,352	[29]
	"Hurt"	Oliver Tree	Oliver Tree	2018	$1,024,000	$1,282,239	[citation needed]
40	"The Wild Boys"	Duran Duran	Russell Mulcahy	1984	$1,000,000	$3,026,586	[citation needed]
	"Dominion/Mother Russia"	The Sisters of Mercy	Andrew Eldritch	1988	$1,000,000	$2,658,694	[citation needed]
	"Love Is Strong"	The Rolling Stones	David Fincher	1994	$1,000,000	$2,121,464	[citation needed]
	"Waterfalls"	TLC	F. Gary Gray	1995	$1,000,000	$2,063,551	[citation needed]
	"I Get Lonely" (remix)	Janet Jackson	Paul Hunter	1998	$1,000,000	$1,929,155	[citation needed]
	"L'Âme-stram-gram"	Mylène Farmer	Ching Siu-tung	1999	$1,000,000	$1,887,535	[citation needed]
	"Love"	S.E.S.	Hong JongHo	1999	$1,000,000	$1,887,535	[citation needed]
	"Thong Song" (remix)	Sisqó & Foxy Brown	Little X	2000	$1,000,000	$1,825,894	[citation needed]
	"Don't Say Goodbye"	Paulina Rubio	The Brothers Strause	2002	$1,000,000	$1,748,196	[30]
	"Toxic"	Britney Spears	Joseph Kahn	2004	$1,000,000	$1,664,729	[31]
	"Touch the Sky"	Kanye West (featuring Lupe Fiasco)	Chris Milk	2006	$1,000,000	$1,559,756	[32]
	"Call on Me"	Janet Jackson & Nelly	Hype Williams	2006	$1,000,000	$1,559,756	[33]
	"Virgin Road"	Ayumi Hamasaki	Masashi Muto	2010	$1,000,000	$1,441,935	[citation needed]
	"A New Day Has Come"	Celine Dion	Dave Meyers	2002	$1,000,000	$1,397,781	[citation needed]
	"Cry Cry/Lovey Dovey"	T-ara	Cha Eun Taek	2011	$1,000,000	$1,397,781	[34]
	"The Ghost of You"	My Chemical Romance	Marc Webb	2005	$1,000,000	$1,397,781	[35]
56	"God's Plan"	Drake	Karena Evans	2018	$996,632	$1,247,969	[36]
57	"One Shot"	B.A.P	Kang Ji Won & Kim Ki-bum	2013	$915,000	$1,235,119	[34]
58	"Honey Honey"	Gangkiz	Cha Eun Taek	2012	$900,000	$1,232,657	[citation needed]
59	"Destiny"	Infinite	Hong Won-ki	2013	$890,000	$1,201,373	[34]
60	"Kilimanjaro"	A. R. Rahman, Javed Ali, & Chinmayi	S. Shankar	2010	$875,000	$1,261,693	[29]
61	"Malang"	Pritam (featuring Siddharth Mahadevan & Shilpa Rao)	Vijay Krishna Acharya	2013	$850,000	$1,655,352	[37]
62	"Super Lady"	(G)I-dle	Son Seung-hee	2024	$820,000	$846,241	[38]
63	"Heartbeat of Love"	Pia Zadora	Dominic Sena	1989	$800,000	$2,029,315	[39]
	"Saturnz Barz"	Gorillaz	Jamie Hewlett	2017	$800,000	$1,026,229	[40]
	"Triumph"	Wu-Tang Clan	Brett Ratner	1997	$800,000	$1,566,998	[41]
66	"California"	Mylène Farmer	Abel Ferrara	1996	$788,000	$1,579,846	[42]
67	"Applause"	Lady Gaga	Vinoodh Matadin	2013	$767,000	$1,035,340	[43]
68	"Push It"	Garbage	Andrea Giacobbe	1998	$750,000	$1,446,866	[44]
	"Oops!... I Did It Again"	Britney Spears	Nigel Dick	2000	$750,000	$1,369,420	[45]
70	"Sad Promise"	Speed	Cha Eun Taek	2012	$706,000	$966,951	[46]
71	"Pillow Talking"	Lil' Dicky	Tony Yacenda	2017	$700,000	$897,950	[47]
72	"Tunak Tunak Tun"	Daler Mehndi	Daler Mehndi	1998	$610,000	$1,519,780	[48][49]
73	"Ashes to Ashes"	David Bowie	David Bowie and David Mallet	1980	$581,000	$2,217,233	[50]
74	"Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah"	A.R. Rahman & Javed Akhtar (featuring Mohammed Aslam & Bonnie Chakraborty)	Ashutosh Gowariker	2008	$575,000	$1,955,993	[51][52]
75	"The Centre of the Heart"	Roxette	Jonas Akerlund	2001	$575,000	$2,793,391	[53]
76	"Dola Re Dola"	Ismail Darbar, Shreya Ghoshal, & KK	Sanjay Leela Bhansali	2002	$514,300	$2,832,473	[51][54]
77	"Thriller"	Michael Jackson	John Landis	1983	$500,000	$1,578,517	[55]
78	"Livin' la Vida Loca"	Ricky Martin	Wayne Isham	1999	$500,000	$943,767	[56]
79	"Piece of Me"	Britney Spears	Wayne Isham	2007	$500,000	$758,225	[57]
80	"Hold It Against Me"		Jonas Åkerlund	2011	$500,000	$698,891	[58]
81	"Come Back Home"	2NE1	Dee Shin	2014	$470,000	$624,266	[59]
82	"Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya"	Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar	K. Asif	1960	$320,000	$3,401,215	[60][61]

Most expensive of all time at the time of production

Timeline of most expensive music videos

Year	Title	Artist(s)	Director	Cost (est.)		Ref
				Nominal	Adjusted
1960	"Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya"	Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar	K. Asif	$320,000	$3,401,215	[62][63]
1980	"Ashes to Ashes"	David Bowie	David Bowie and David Mallet	$582,000	$2,221,049	[50]
1984	"The Wild Boys"	Duran Duran	Russell Mulcahy	$1,000,000	$3,026,586
1986	"I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)"	Grace Jones	Grace Jones	$1,200,000	$3,442,259	[28]
1987	"Bad"	Michael Jackson	Martin Scorsese	$2,200,000	$6,088,987
1989	"Express Yourself"	Madonna	David Fincher	$5,000,000	$12,683,221	[3][4]
1995	"Bedtime Story"		Mark Romanek		$10,317,755
	"Scream"	Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson		$7,000,000	$14,444,857

See also

• Vevo Certified Award
• Lists of most expensive items by category
  • List of most expensive albums
  • List of largest music deals
  • List of most valuable records

Notes

1. Industry insiders from Planet Hollywood reported that the music video's total production and editing costs amounted to $6.5 million, as stipulated by the contract Spears signed in her residency requirements, making it the second most expensive music video of all time. Later, the director disclaimed the costs; they were not nearly to $6.5 million at all.