The market for premium domains is hotter than ever—and 2025 has already rewritten the record books. Just this April, Icon.com changed hands for $12 million, vaulting into the all‑time top 10 and proving that single‑word .coms with broad brand appeal can still fetch eight‑figure sums . (DN Journal) When you add that to titans like Voice.com ($30 M) and Chat.com ($15.5 M), the list of the most expensive domain names ever sold keeps getting pricier.
Why do companies pay so much? Scarcity, instant credibility, and type‑in traffic all drive valuations higher—especially for short, dictionary‑word .coms tied to booming sectors like AI, fintech, and blockchain. Investors are also speculating that upcoming blocks such as AI.com could shatter the current highest domain sale price if they hit the market at their rumored nine‑figure price.
Whether you’re a startup hunting for a marquee brand or an investor tracking the next breakout sale, these headline‑grabbing transactions reveal what it really takes to own the web’s most coveted real estate.
Top 10 most expensive domain sales
Only a handful of domains have ever crossed the eight-figure threshold. Drawing on DNJournal, NameBio, SEC filings, and broker announcements, we’ve compiled the ten most expensive domain names ever sold—limited to public, cash-only transactions for an apples-to-apples comparison.
- voice.com (2019): $30,000,000 USD
- chat.com (2023): $15,500,000
- nfts.com (2022): $15,500,000
- rocket.com (2024): $14,000,000
- sex.com (2005): $14,000,000
- sex.com (2010): $13,000,000
- icon.com (2025): $12,000,000
- connect.com (2022): $10,000,000
- porn.com (2007): $9,500,000
- porno.com (2015): $8,888,888
Top public domain sales of 2024
Moving beyond all-time best sellers, here are some top-selling domains for 2024:
- rocket.com: $14,000,000
- gold.com: $8,515,000
- shift.com: $1,365,000
- tp.com: $1,200,000
- koko.com: $1,000,000
The sale of gold.com for a whopping $8,515,000 in March highlights the value of a domain that perfectly complements a brand’s core business – in this case, facilitating direct-to-consumer sales of gold.
Other notable entries breaking the million-dollar mark include shift.com, snapped up for $1,365,000 by Canadian web browser company Shift during a bankruptcy sale (namePros). This demonstrates the potential for established brands to acquire a relevant domain at a strategic moment in time. In a similar move, digital business services company Teleperformance, or TP, paid $1,200,000 for the tp.com domain (DomainInvesting).
Trend watch: the rise of .ai domains in 2024
When you consider top-level domains (TLD) beyond .com, some broader trends are shaping the resale market in 2024. Growing interest and investment in AI was evident with .ai domains leading the charge as the most common ‘non .com’ domain to hit the top 100 list for 2024.
Top 5 .ai domains
- sound.ai*: $250,000
- girlfriend.ai: $170,000
- golf.ai: $140,000
- win.ai: $130,000
- blueprint.ai: $130,000
Betting big: gambling‑sector domain sales
As online betting becomes legal in more locations, betting related domains like .bet continue to rise in value. Bet.bet* sold for $600,000 with domains like poker.world*, lightbet.com and more making the top 100 list as well.
Top 5 gambling domains
- Bet.bet*: $600,000
- Casino.bet*: $200,000
- luck.io*: $144,261
- 69bet.com: $140,000
- win.ai: $130,000
Finding the Next Most Expensive Domain Names
The eye‑watering prices on our most expensive domain names ever sold list show what happens when a perfect keyword meets the perfect extension—usually a one‑word .com. Yet those eight‑figure trophies also shrink the available pool, pushing investors to scout value in emerging, descriptive TLDs.
Recent seven‑figure outliers like You.ai ($700K ) and six‑figure deals for Girlfriend.ai or Bet.bet prove that brand‑ready keywords paired with the right niche extension can still break into the highest‑price conversation. As sectors such as AI, online betting, and Web3 mature, we’ll likely see more non‑.com domain extensions climb the “most expensive” rankings.
Translation: you don’t need a spare $30 million to play. Spot a concise, memorable keyword in a growth‑sector TLD today and you could be holding tomorrow’s headline‑maker.
Ready to find the next record‑setter? Check availability instantly with Name.com’s domain search tool.
* – Name.com’s parent company Identity Digital is the official registry of this TLD.
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