10 Most Expensive Music Videos of All Time w/ Videos

Not all music videos are created equal.

1. Michael Jackson - Scream

Directed by Mark Romanek, this video is shot in black-and-white, but has a futuristic sci-fi theme which features clips of anime (including Akira) and pop culture (such as Andy Warhol’s self portrait). At a cost of US$7,000,000 (unadjusted for inflation) this video was the most expensive music video of all time. Most of the costs went to the 11 different sets featured in the video but excesses were also spent on everything from computer generated graphics to makeup and choreography.

• Cost: $7 million
• Computer-generated spaceship: $65,000
• Breaking guitars: $53,000
• Morphing artworks: $50,000
• Michael’s makeup: $3,000
• Janet’s makeup: $8,000 a day
• Choreography: $40,000
• Giant video screen: $80,000
• Lighting: $175,000
• Cost per day: $636,000 (about 11 days)
• Total cost of 11 sets: $5,000,000

2. Puff Daddy - Victory

This epic music video was directed by Marcus Nispel (although he was supposed to remain anonymous at the time of premiere) and was more or less a direct homage to the The Running Man. The almost eight-minute-long video featured cameos from Dennis Hopper as a New World Order dictator (”President Victor Castiglione”) and Danny DeVito as a live action reporter. Production ran upwards of $2.7 million.

• Cost: $2.7 million
• Building an airplane and blowing it up: $55,000
• Pyrotechnic special effects: $100,000
• Artificial rain: $10,000
• Helicopter rental: $21,000
• Stuntman fee: $5,000 per jump from building to building
• Security on the set: $10,000

3. Mariah Carey - Heartbreaker

In this video Carey’s friends urge her to confront her unfaithful boyfriend (played by Jerry O’Connell), who is inside a film theater on a date with Carey’s alter ego, Bianca. The video is Carey’s most expensive and includes a variety of expenses from cameos to move theater rentals.

• Cost: $2.5 million
• Movie theater rental: $100,000
• Mansion rental (in the movie): $40,000
• Hairstyling: $13,000
• Dog and its trainer: $6,000
• Fight coordinator: $7,000
• Animation: $80,000
• Jerry O’Connell’s cameo fee: $10,000

4. Busta Rhymes - What’s It Gonna Be?!

$2.4 million!?! Well what else would you expect from a video with women dancing in silver body suits dancing on top of a liquid floor, walls and ceiling.

• Cost: $2.4 million
• Virtual set: $100,000
• Each morph: $30,000 (these added up . . .)
• Busta’s glass costume: $40,000
• Janet and Busta’s explosion: $20,000

5. Michael Jackson - Bad

The full music video for “Bad” is an 18-minute short film written by novelist and screenwriter Richard Price, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Michael Jackson.

• Cost: $2.2 million
• Director’s salary: $1 million
• Script: $200,000
• Cinematography: $30,000

6. Backstreet Boys - Larger Than Life

This costly video takes place in a futuristic space setting, and includes elaborate special effects and animation, as well as a break-down with a dance number. The video reportedly went over budget, which was the reason that Howie Dorough’s, one of the band members, has a short scene in the video.

• Cost: $2.1 million
• Cryogenic chamber model: $20,000
• Flying surfboard scene at beginning: $90,000
• 3-D animated models: $45,000
• Robot costumes for the B-Boys: $56,000
• Exterior shot of the space station: $70,000
• Dance stage: $80,000
• The cost to fly the crew to the set: $150,000
• Director’s fee: $150,000 (for just 4 days of shooting)
• Total special effects: $600,000

7. Will Smith - Miami

This costly music video features everything from private jets to a full fledge “Miami” set. Don’t forget the cameo from future Hitch star Eva Mendes.

• Cost: $2.0 million
  
• Private Jet rental: $15,000
• Each morph transition: $14,000 (and there were least 40 of these)
• Floating Miami set: $500,000
• Models: $10,000
• Choreography: $200,000

8. Missy Elliott - She’s a Bitch

Highlights of this video include Elliott and her dancers being raised from underwater on a giant hydraulic “M”, and also a complete set made from Electro Luminescent lighting. Although EL lighting is cheap and readily available today, in 1999 it was not. Experts had to be flown in from Germany to construct the set, which even included an EL costume.

• Cost: $2.0 million
• Missy Elliot’s rubber wardrobe: $10,500
• Glow-in-the-dark cape: $3,500
• M-shaped stage: $30,000
• Silver suits for the extras: $12,000
• Total set: $850,000
• Makeup: $6,000
• Special effects for a stormy sky: $20,000

9. TLC - Unpretty

The video has become a fan favorite because it is the last video released in the US featuring all three members of TLC before the death of Lisa Lopes. The music video for this song cost over $1.6 million making it one of the most expensive music videos ever made.

• Cost: $1.6 million
• Floating yoga pods: $60,000
• Field of purple flowers: $50,000
• Laptop computer animating breast enhancements: $63,000
• Flying robot camera: $35,000
• Hairstyling: $11,000
• Makeup: $25,000
• Costumes: $11,000

10. Guns N Roses - November Rain

This $1.5 million video was renowned at the time for its large budget and stunning cinematography. Lead guitarist Slash is prominently featured in some of the video’s most memorable scenes, including an epic sequence of helicopter shots swooping around him as he plays the first guitar solo and a later scene where he plays the second solo while standing on Axl’s piano onstage.

• Cost: $1.5 million
• Renting a symphony orchestra: $25,000
• Specially constructed chapel: $150,000
• Wedding dress: $8,000
• Specially constructed coffin: $8,000