Does a big budget make for a good piece of art that will be remembered for generations? Well if this list is any indication, probably not. But you go ahead and spend million dollars on a 4-minute film; I’m sure your results will vary.
I have to admit that I was familiar with just one of the music videos on this list. But maybe my sheltered 1990s upbringing is a poor measure of success when it comes to these big-budget music videos.
Now, stumbling upon this Wikipedia article proved to be a fun afternoon.
Stumbling upon this Wikipedia article proved to be a much longer rabbit hole than I anticipated. What I thought would be a fun couple of hours turned into several days of reading and watching on subjects that I had never dived into. I read about a pet chimpanzee, electronic music subgenres, the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, and break dancer biographies.
And I’ve never been much of a music video watcher, nor would I describe myself as a pop music listener. And it was probably this predisposition that led to me needing to read so much to gain the context I wanted.
So jump in, and learn something with me. Watching all of these music videos in the top 10 will take around 55 minutes. Enjoy.
And it seems the days of the $2+ million music video are behind us (only one song in the top 10 was released within the last 20 years). For this reason, I chose to include the song’s peak chart position as well as current YouTube views. I figured this measures both the song’s popularity at the time and its popularity among a more modern audience.
Note, all chart position and YouTube view information are as of June 2022.
10. “Victory” by Puff Daddy (Featuring The Notorious B.I.G and Busta Rhymes)
1998
$2.7 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 19
YouTube views: 1.6 million
By far the lowest number of YouTube views for any video in the top 10.
This is going to be a theme for this blog post (and maybe for the website in general), so I’ll say it now. The parenting I received in the 1990s and into the 2000s was one of deliberate distancing from popular culture. That conservative Christian upbringing excluded pop music, but especially Black pop music from my adolescent ears. So, as with many of the artists here, I am not familiar with their works outside of the occasional radio hit. I had never heard this song until this week.
But it seems obvious where the high costs came from. The video is a 6-minute-long police chase scene that includes explosions, helicopters, car chases, and many extras. There are digital and practical visual effects throughout, and several large sets. And maybe a bone had to be thrown to Dennis Hopper and Danny DeVito, but the Wiki page does claim that they appeared for free as a favor to the director.
This feels like a pretty cool piece of the 90s hip-hop canon, and yet it has the least views on YouTube of any music video on this list. I couldn’t think of any obvious reasons why.
Interesting fact for this video, the song contains the last two verses ever recorded by Biggie, who was shot to death the day after recording.
9. “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)” by Limp Bizkit
2000
$3 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 65
YouTube views: 223 million views
When discussing the cultural significance of Limp Bizkit, a friend of mine from Florida once told me that they are to Jacksonville as System of a Down was to Los Angeles. He analogized something along the lines of “it’s hard to buy into the music now if you weren’t there at the time, and there’s a correlation between your love for that band and your geographic proximity.” But as someone who got into SOAD in college, long after their cultural peak, I couldn’t disagree more.
I almost feel bad saying it, but I had hard time expressing it any other way. This music is a fucking joke. It sounds so corny, but I wasn’t listening then, and I knew zero people who were at the time. Now that I think of it, I don’t know anyone who has ever admitted to being a fan of this music, aside from the aforementioned Florida friend.
As someone who could not name a single Limp Bizkit song before writing this (now I can name one), I had the hardest time buying into this song as art. The high-pitched timbre of his rap voice, the growling qualities of his chorus voice, and the very deliberate pronunciation of certain words (for example, partner being slowed down as “pawd-ner”) in the opening scene lack any kind of believability or authenticity. But maybe that's how people speak in Jacksonville.
Where does the cost come from? My guess is that renting the rooftop of one of the World Trade Center buildings and having dope helicopter fly-bys is not cheap. And a cameo from Ben Stiller? Honestly, I don’t know where all the money goes on these kinds of projects, especially compared to other music videos that come to mind that aren’t on the list at all.
To this day, this is Limp Bizkit’s highest-charting single.
8. “Cartoon Heroes” by Aqua
2000
$3.5 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: n/a
Hit number one in Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Spain.
YouTube views: 25 million
If you can name two songs by the Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua, I’d be very impressed. “Barbie Girl” had come out 3 years earlier and hit number 7 in the US and was a worldwide phenomenon that even burst my conservative Christian parents’ best efforts to keep pop music out of our ears.
And “Cartoon Heroes” is clearly trying to strike the same kind of gold. The music video has lots of computer-generated visual effects and tells a story of a group of aliens (portrayed by the band) fighting off an octopus-like monster that is actively destroying Earth’s great cities.
The song feels like any number of the Euro dance-pop songs of the late 90s, though it feels more radio-friendly and polished than some others that come to mind (“Barbie Girl” included). After a few listens, the song, particularly the chorus, is infectious and fun.
And yes, I hate the timbre of the male singer's voice in this song too. But I'm not bashing it like I did to poor Mr. Durst because I'm convinced Aqua isn't taking themselves seriously. On the other hand, I feel like Limp Bizkit has been fighting for artistic legitimacy over the last 30 years.
T-6. “Make Me Like You” by Gwen Stefani
2016
$4 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 54
YouTube views: 25 million
A bit of research on this music video’s production quickly made it my favorite on the list. Maybe I just like No Doubt and have an Orange County bias when it comes to Gwen, but the production of this was really cool.
This was broadcast live during the Grammys, in a commercial break in a single live take. The budget was $4 million but says that it cost $8 million for the air time. Does this mean the cost of this one was really $12 million and it should be number one?
It's a fun, danceable, and catchy tune. The bouncy rhythm guitar and upbeat drum beats are a great time. It's honestly a mystery to me why this wasn’t a bigger hit. But with far less influence on the culture than, say, OK Go’s “Here It Goes Again,” (2005) may be the era of the one-take virality had come and gone by 2016. This is the newest song on the list by far, with the second-most-recent being from 2002.
T-6. “Black or White” by Michael Jackson
1991
$4 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 1, for seven total weeks
This is the highest-charting song in the top 10 most expensive music videos list.
YouTube views: 403 million
This is also the most YouTube views of any song on the list.
Michael Jackson is one of two artists with multiple entries in the top 10 most expensive music videos of all time. That's no surprise to me, and I thought he'd have more.
The music video was directed by the same guy who directed Michael’s famous “Thriller” music video, John Landis. It begins with Macaulay Culkin getting the full “We’re Not Gonna Take It” treatment for his love of rock music. Culkin’s response is to literally blast his dad out of the continent with the power of music.
But where the budget must have exploded is in the several professional dance troupes that Mike dances with, along with a few really savvy CGI face-morphing effects that hold up surprisingly well to this day.
And a shoutout to my girl Tyra Banks for just a moment at the end of the video.
Fun fact, this was the number one song the day I was born.
T-3. “Estranged” by Guns N’ Roses
1993
$5 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: n/a
It did hit number 16 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart though.
YouTube Views: 225 million
I must have a misunderstanding of Guns N Roses’ popularity. Of course, I know the radio hits, but the number of views on YouTube really surprised me here. This video, for a GNR song I had never heard of, has the second most views on this list.
While researching this blog post, I also discovered that “November Rain” (1992) by Guns N Roses was the first video made before YouTube to hit 1 billion views on the site. In the same vein, “Sweet Child o’ Mine” (1988) is the first video from the 1980s to hit 1 billion views.
Well, I’d never heard of this song. But that might be because I’ve spent the last 10 years actively avoiding Guns N’ Roses. You see, I worked at Guitar Center for a year. And every single day, kids would ditch class at the local high school, pick up a $2,000 guitar they had no intention of ever buying and play the opening guitar riff to “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” though they lacked the skill to even tune the instrument.
The video is nearly 10 minutes long, and it involves several different scenes with lots of sets and extras. The video is all over the place. Scenes of Axl Rose getting arrested in his home, lots of big stadium shots from a live show, and several minutes of dolphins (both real and CGI) tell a less-than-compelling story.
But with no true chorus and being a few minutes too long, it's no wonder this song isn’t one of the Guns N’ Roses radio hits.
Side note, reading the Axl Rose Wiki page and his many related acts of hooliganism, I’m even more surprised at the band’s popularity (see the Riverport Riot)
T-3. “Bedtime Story” by Madonna
1995
$5 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 42
YouTube Views: 8 million
Madonna is the only artist on this list with three entries in the top 10. Mark Romanek directed both this and the number one video on this list, and he's the only director with two videos in the top 10. Upon its release, this was tied for the most expensive music video of all time with another Madonna song.
The song was written by Bjork, and it is the only time she wrote a song for a Madonna album.
Some part of the art world loves this video, as it is apparently on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Madonna also mentioned that surrealist painters were the inspiration for the concept and imagery.
From the start, this music video is filled with lots of digital effects, which would be my first and most obvious guess for the high budget. This video is surreal, filled with symbols that might take some digging to understand the significance, and could be considered “weird” and/or “experimental” to the average viewer. I watched it several times and still have no idea what’s going on.
T-3. “Express Yourself” by Madonna
1989
$5 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 2
YouTube Views: 34 million
This is the oldest song in the top 10.
Similarly to the “Bedtime Story” music video, “Express Yourself” is explicitly inspired by a source material I’ve only heard of, but am not so familiar with (the 1925 German sci-fi film Metropolis).
In an interesting pre-internet instance, the music video was initially an MTV-exclusive, where it aired once an hour for three weeks.
Cultural critics have praised the video for some of its feminist symbolism. Madonna is seen wearing both traditionally masculine and feminine outfits for the video, and has said in interviews that the cat seen in the first verse is to showcase that “pussy rules the world.”
The budget must come from the high cost associated with building the very large sets, hiring multiple dance teams, and the many practical effects (such as the rain) for the video.
And as someone who has never really listened to Madonna, I was absolutely sure this was a Lady Gaga song upon first listen. A future blog post might focus on a deeper dive of her music and the successful artists that call her a primary influence.
2. “Die Another Day” by Madonna
2002
$6.1 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 8
YouTube Views: 15 million
I actually knew this song! A quick thank you to my dad for his love of the James Bond franchise.
The film does not contain any footage from any actual Bond films, but the references are not subtle (they nearly copy the iconic Bond gun barrel shot at the beginning of the music video).
The video bounces back and forth between 2 scenes. The first is Madonna being tortured while detained by some unmarked bad guys, and the second is a Madonna versus Madonna sword fight. And when one of the Madonnas from the fight scene is injured, those injuries show up on tortured Madonna. It is a bit of a bizarre concept, but tame compared to the other videos from her on the list.
The song is fun and catchy, and certainly feels like an early 2000s time capsule.
Sure, there's a bit of choreography and several large sets, but this video doesn’t have the same CGI effects as others on this list. The source of the large costs is lost on me.
1.“Scream” by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson
1995
$7 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: 5
YouTube Views: 140 million
Some records are never going to be broken, and I have a feeling the budget for “Scream” will never be topped.
The song is Michael’s response to the tabloid frenzy that followed him throughout the early 1990s, and Janet decided to be on the track as a show of support to her brother. It was the first time they had recorded a track together since 1984.
The video is entirely in black and white, and depicts Mike and Janet alone on a large spacecraft. They’re floating around the earth, but are entirely alone. They dance, play video games, and break guitars and vases. There’s a lot of CGI that holds up well, but there are several sequences (particularly of the spacecraft and typography effects) that just don’t hold up when compared to the Marvel-era (etc.) CGI we’ve all become accustomed to watching.
Mentions of Note (MoN):
These aren't in the top 10 most expensive music videos of all time, but all of these were interesting to learn about. I figured I'd share them for those who have scrolled this far.
MoN-1. “Ashes to Ashes” by David Bowie
1980
$581,000
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: n/a
Didn't chart in the US, but it did hit number one in the UK.
YouTube views: 11 million
There are 77 music videos that have had a budget of $500,000 or more. David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” was the first. I thought it deserved some recognition for holding that title.
Lots of sets and costumes, but I’m thinking that a lot of this cost comes from the now-primitive digital editing required. I mean, your iPhone can now do much more intricate digital editing and effects, but this would have been really impressive in 1980.
MoN-2. “Ghosts” by Michael Jackson
1997
$15 million
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: n/a
The highest chart was in Italy, at number 3.
YouTube Views: 97 million (short version)
“Ghosts” by Michael Jackson had a budget of $15 million. It was a 40-minute short film that debuted at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Guinness World Records gave it the title of the world’s longest music video, which it held until 2013. But it does contain 3 different songs (“2 Bad,” “Is It Scary,” and “Ghosts”). So I don’t know if it is supposed to count as a single music video, but I used the list on Wikipedia as my main source.
MoN-3. “My Name’s Women” and “Fairyland” by Ayumi Hamasaki
2004 (“My Name’s Women”) and 2005 (“Fairyland”)
$2 million each
US Billboard Hot 100 Peak: n/a
Neither appeared on US charts, but both songs peaked at number one on Japan’s Oricon Weekly Singles Chart
YouTube Views: 1.7 million (“My Name’s Women”) and 1 million (“Fairyland”)
I chose to mention these two videos, as they are the highest budgets for a non-English music video.
"My Name’s Women"
Large set with lots of extras, presumably filmed in some kind of nightclub. White women in flapper-inspired attire gawk at eyeliner-clad Asian hip-hop dancers. Ayumi initially portrays a quiet nerd-type, but then ugly ducklings the club-goers into a sexy and sparkly black dress. She joins another group of female dancers in choreography involving whips. And for some reason, it’s 9 minutes long.
"Fairyland"
Shooting on location in a tropical paradise must be the most expensive part of this video. Some shots that I assume are helicopters, I’m guessing this is before drones could do that. The peaceful and playful choreographed dance scenes are soon interrupted by a fire that coincides with a shredding guitar solo. But again, where’s the expensive budget?
The song is a banger though. Super fun electronic dance-pop song.
MoN-4. Lemonade by Beyoncé
2016
While chatting with a buddy about this blog post, a few mentioned Beyoncé's Lemonade TV special. From what I could gather, each track’s corresponding music video is considered separate from the others; however, the estimated budget for the entire TV special was $1.34 million.
What surprised you from this list? Are you like me in that you knew very few of the songs in the top 10? Were there any music videos that feel expensive, but are not on this list? Let me know what you thought about this blog post in the comments below.
Thanks for letting me Overshare,
Alex Francisco
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