Cassettes and CDs selling for eye-watering amounts

Discogs has released a list of the most 100 expensive CDs sold on the site. Photo / News Corp Australia

They're something a millennial probably wouldn't even now how to use, but cassettes are still highly sought after.

Remember the last time you picked up a cassette? Neither do we.

But there are still folks out there who are after the now vintage pieces — and they're willing to pay a hefty price.

Discogs, the biggest music database website in the world, has revealed its 100 most expensive cassettes, and none fall below the $500 mark.

Coming in at number one was The Artist (Formerly Known As Prince) – The Versace Experience – Prelude 2 Gold, which sold for an eye-watering $6,502.

It was handed out to attendees of a Paris Fashion Week show in 1995 and was recently re-released for the first time on Record Store Day 2019.

Discogs actually says cassettes are the fastest-growing format of the big three sold on its website — the others being CDs and vinyl.

This was the most expensive box of CDs. Photo / Supplied

And if you want to know how much CDs are going for these days, the company has also released the 100 most expensive compact discs sold on the site.

The cheapest starts at $1,651 — Toto's All In 1978-2018 — but the winner went to Coil - Live Box at $5,075.

The cassettes attract a higher value because slower sales drive production and supply down, which makes some of them "phenomenally rare".

"The vast majority of cassettes do not hit these prices though and they are often more affordable than vinyl equivalents, making them appealing to many physical media enthusiasts," Discogs says.

Just 1.8 per cent of all Discogs purchases last year were a cassette tape, which was up slightly from the year before.

About 200,000 cassettes were bought on Discogs in 2018, which was an increase of 24 per cent.

More than a third of the expensive cassettes were sold in 2017 and 2018, with 2019 sales pacing slightly higher than those in 2018.

"Signs are pointing to a strong high-end cassette market, much like the trends we have noted in the vinyl market," the company says.

The most expensive cassette sold on the Discogs site. Photo / Supplied

"Cassettes are trendy now too. For many younger folk, they are a trinket to express ironic love of long-forgotten retro culture."

As for CDs, Discogs says their high-end market is also accelerating.

If 2019 sales continue at the pace they notched in the first four months, sales this year will account for 48 per cent of the top 100.

More than 60 per cent of the releases on that list are box sets.

The most prominent is Bob Dylan's The Cutting Edge 1965 – 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.12: Collector's Edition, which appears close to 20 times.