10 Most Expensive Albums Of All Time

3. Guns N' Roses €“ Chinese Democracy

Total Cost: $13,000,000 + Undisclosed Marketing Costs When it comes to music, there are few albums more infamous than Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, a record over a decade in the making, and a musical project that many believed would never actually come to fruition. There are many reasons why Chinese Democracy probably never should have been released, but in the end it was. What's undeniable is the sheer cost of making the album. It's costly enough when a record gets dragged out over a few years, but fourteen years is something else entirely. It's reported that over thirteen million dollars were spent in the album's production. Where exactly did that money go? For a start, renting the studio cost fifty thousand dollars a month. Guitars were rented when it would have been ultimately cheaper to purchase them. Band members were paid over ten grand each, and that's not to mention the innumerable technical staff who were also paid. Combine all that with the fact that Axl Rose regularly didn't show up to the studio for long periods of time and you've got one hell of an expensive (and messy) album.