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

+ Most expensive music videos Rank Title Artist(s) Director Year Cost () Nominal Adjusted 1 "Scream" Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson 1995 $7,000,000 2 "Die Another Day"Madonna Traktor 2002 $6,100,000 3 "Express Yourself" 1989 $5,000,000 "Bedtime Story" 1995 $5,000,000 5 "Estranged" Guns N' Roses 1993 $5,000,000 6 "Black or White" Michael Jackson 1991 $4,000,000 "You Rock My World" 2001 $4,000,000 "Make Me Like You" Gwen Stefani 2016 $4,000,000 "Make Me Like You (Gwen Stefani song)": 9"Feelslikeimfallinginlove" Coldplay 2024$$ 10 "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" Limp Bizkit Fred Durst2000$3,000,000 11 "Victory" Puff Daddy (featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes) 1998 $2,700,000 "Victory (Puff Daddy song)":12 "2 Legit 2 Quit" MC Hammer 1991 $2,500,000 "2 Legit 2 Quit (MC Hammer song)": "Heartbreaker" Mariah Carey (featuring Jay-Z) 1999 $2,500,000 * "Doesn't Really Matter" Janet Jackson 2000 $2,500,000 "Doesn't Really Matter (Janet Jackson song)": 15 "What's It Gonna Be?!" Busta Rhymes (featuring Janet Jackson) 1999 $2,400,000 16 "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" Celine Dion 1996 $2,300,000 17 "Bad" Michael Jackson 1987 $2,200,000 18 "Larger Than Life" Backstreet Boys 1999 $2,100,000 19 "Remember the Time" Michael Jackson 1992 $2,000,000 "Honey" Mariah Carey 1997 $2,000,000 "Freeek!" George Michael 2002 $2,000,000 "My Name's Women" 2005 $2,000,000 "Fairyland" 2005 $2,000,000 26 "Me Against the Music" Britney Spears (featuring Madonna) 2003 $1,750,000 27 "Green" 2008 $1,600,000 "Unpretty" TLC 1999 $1,600,000 29 "November Rain" Guns N' Roses 1992 $1,500,000 "Girlfriend/Boyfriend" Blackstreet & Janet Jackson (featuring Eve & Ja Rule) 1999 $1,500,000 "Give Me All Your Luvin'" Madonna (featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.) 2012 $1,500,000 32 "Here Comes the Hammer" MC Hammer 1990 $1,000,000 34 "Work Bitch" 2013 $1,200,000 "Work Bitch (Britney Spears song)": "Stronger" Kanye West 2007 $1,200,000 "Stronger (Kanye West song)":36 "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)" Grace Jones 1986 $1,200,000 "Gerua" Arijit Singh & Antara Mitra 2015 $1,090,000 38 "Party All Night" Yo Yo Honey Singh & Meet Bros 2013 $1,025,000 "Don't Say Goodbye" Paulina Rubio 2002 $1,000,000 "Don't Say Goodbye (Paulina Rubio's song)": "Toxic" 2004 $1,000,000 "Toxic (Britney Spears song)": "Touch the Sky" (featuring Lupe Fiasco) 2006 $1,000,000 "Touch the Sky (Kanye West song)": "Call on Me" 2006 $1,000,000 "Cry Cry/Lovey Dovey" Cha Eun Taek 2011 $1,000,000 "The Ghost of You"My Chemical RomanceMarc Webb2005 $1,000,000 "City Walls"Twenty One Pilots 2025$1,000,000$1,000,000 56 "God's Plan" Drake 2018 $996,632 57 "One Shot" B.A.P 2013 $915,000 59 "Destiny" Infinite Hong Won-ki 2013 $890,000 60 "Kilimanjaro" A. R. Rahman, Javed Ali, & Chinmayi S. Shankar 2010 $875,000 61 "Malang" Pritam (featuring Siddharth Mahadevan & Shilpa Rao) Vijay Krishna Acharya 2013 $850,000 62 "Super Lady" (G)I-dle Son Seung-hee 2024 $820,000 63 "Heartbeat of Love" 1989 $800,000 Mark, 2011, pp. 442. "Saturnz Barz" Gorillaz 2017 $800,000 "Triumph" 1997 $800,000 "Triumph (Wu-Tang Clan song)":"Ava Adore"The Smashing PumpkinsDom and Nic1998 $800,000 66 "California" 1996 $788,000 "California (Mylène Farmer song)": Royer, 2008, pp. 157–58. Khairallah, 2007, p. 44. Royer, 2008, pp. 89,346. Cachin, 2006, p. 62. Chuberre, 2008, p. 185. 67 "Applause" Lady Gaga Vinoodh Matadin 2013 $767,000 68 "Push It" Garbage Andrea Giacobbe 1998 $750,000 "Push It (Garbage song)": "Oops!... I Did It Again" 2000 $750,000 "Oops!... I Did It Again (song)": 70 "Sad Promise" Cha Eun Taek 2012 $706,000 71 "Pillow Talking" 2017 $700,000 72 "Tunak Tunak Tun" Daler Mehndi Daler Mehndi 1998 73 "Ashes to Ashes" 1980 "Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song)": 74 "Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah" A.R. Rahman & Javed Akhtar (featuring Mohammed Aslam & Bonnie Chakraborty) Ashutosh Gowariker 2008 75 "The Centre of the Heart" Roxette Jonas Akerlund 2001 76 "Dola Re Dola" Ismail Darbar, Shreya Ghoshal, & KK Sanjay Leela Bhansali 2002 77 "Thriller" Michael Jackson 1983 $500,000 78 "Livin' la Vida Loca" 1999 $500,000 79 "Piece of Me" 2007 $500,000 "Piece of Me (Britney Spears song)":80 "Hold It Against Me" Jonas Åkerlund 2011 $500,000 "Hold It Against Me (Britney Spears song)":81 "Come Back Home" Dee Shin 2014 $470,000 82 "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar 1960

Most expensive of all time at the time of production + Timeline of most expensive music videos Year Title Artist(s) Director Cost () Nominal Adjusted 1960 "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" Naushad, Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar 1980 "Ashes to Ashes" $582,000 1984 Duran Duran $1,000,000 1986 "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)" Grace Jones $1,200,000 1987 "Bad" Michael Jackson $2,200,000 1989 "Express Yourself" Madonna $5,000,000 1995 "Bedtime Story" "Scream" Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson $7,000,000

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

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