10 Most Expensive Celebrity Photos Ever Sold

Say what you want about paparazzi and the culture of invasion that follows them round and makes and breaks the pedestals they stand on, but they're clearly providing a service that fans continue to eat up. They fill the magazines, dirt rags and gossip columns released every week with candid shots that normalise celebrities at the same time as advancing their mythology. And frankly you love seeing the shots they provide; it makes idols seem like real people, feeding that irresistible idea that if only you knew Madonna, you'd probably be best friends right now. Which is precisely why the more personal the shot, the more expensive it tends to be to magazine publishers. Want to see Russell Brand in his underpants? Few thousand pound. Want to see Russell Brand getting married, or giving birth? Millions. For obvious reasons. And therein lies the biggest selling point: readers seemingly can't get enough of those first wedding shots or first baby images, and as a result celebrities have raked it in to the tune of more money than most people make in their lifetime for a single photograph... All prices are figures as quoted by the press at the time of publication.

Rating: $15,000,000

When Brangelina gave birth to twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, People magazine (in the US) and Hello! magazine (in the UK) paid a combined $15m for the exclusive photo rights... more than doubling the previous record.