What’s up with 2021’s most valuable domains?
Despite not setting any records, 2021 was a pretty strong year for domain sales. In order to make it on the list, a domain had to have been sold well into the 6-figure range. Additionally, this list only contains sales prices that we know about, there are plenty more private sales where the details are undisclosed.
Domain brokers work diligently to find buyers for these top-tier domains. But what happens after a domain is sold? Let’s find out.
Http response status codes
The easiest way to see what these domains are up to is by using http response status codes. These codes include 301, 302, 404, 503, 200, and many more. Simply put, 200s indicate a success, 300s indicate a redirect, 400s indicates no page, and 500s indicate an error. I ran the entire list of top 100 domain sales through TheTechSEO’s redirectinator which uses URLFetch within google sheets to see their redirect history.
Considering these domains are such big investments, you’d assume they’d be put to use, right? Wrong. 21 out of the top 100 most expensive domains of 2021 return a 4XX or 5XX status code. This means that 21% of the top domain investments lead to nowhere. This does mean that the other 79% are in use! 7 of the remaining 79 domains are currently parked and listed for sale.
Redirects
Of the 100 top domain sales, 19 of them redirect to a destination different from their core domain. For example, ebike.com redirects to https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/.
There are many reasons why a company would want to redirect a domain they purchased. Perhaps the redirected domain receives a high amount of direct traffic, which can be a reason for acquiring the domain. Another reason is to be used for marketing purposes. A shorter domain is much more attractive visually, so many companies choose to purchase a short domain to use on billboards and other forms of physical advertising. Then they simply set up a redirect to the intended destination.
Parking
Of those 19 domains with a 301 redirect, 6 go to parked pages offering the domain for sale. This indicates that the domain was originally bought by a domain investor looking to flip the domain or add it to their collection. It is very likely that these domain investors regularly look for big deals since they’re a lot more lucrative than smaller flips.
Top-Level-Domains
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of domains on this list use the .com TLD. Any domain investor will tell you that .com is by far the most valuable, and this list supports that viewpoint. Of the 100 domains, 84 are .com domains. Despite the rise and popularity of gTLDs, they are still not perceived as valuable.
Domain Data Spreadsheet
Here is the data used in this report. We used Namebio to get the initial domain data. It is an incredible tool that can help you get a good sense of domain valuations.
| Domain | Venue | Price | TLD | Length | Redirects |
| hippo.com | Private | $3,300,000 | com | 5 | 301 > 200 |
| floor.com | BrandForce | $3,144,000 | com | 5 | 200 |
| asap.com | Private | $3,000,000 | com | 4 | 301 > 200 |
| marketing.com | GetYourDomain | $2,500,000 | com | 9 | 200 |
| forge.com | Pvt Sale | $2,202,000 | com | 5 | 301 > 200 |
| afs.com | Pvt Sale | $2,000,000 | com | 3 | Error |
| angel.com | Sedo | $2,000,000 | com | 5 | 308 |
| nft.com | Private | $2,000,000 | com | 3 | 301 > 200 |
| is.com | Private | $1,950,000 | com | 2 | 308 |
| exodus.com | Private | $1,945,000 | com | 6 | 301 > 200 |
| galaxy.com | Private | $1,800,000 | com | 6 | Error |
| ee.com | VIP Brokerage | $1,350,000 | com | 2 | Error |
| meme.com | Brannans | $1,250,000 | com | 4 | 200 |
| mojo.com | Private | $1,250,000 | com | 4 | 301 > 200 |
| near.com | GetYourDomain.com | $1,150,000 | com | 4 | 200 |
| ebike.com | Buckley Media | $1,008,900 | com | 5 | 302 > 301 > 200 |
| gobet.com | Rick Schwartz | $850,000 | com | 5 | 200 |
| tattoo.com | RightOfTheDot | $812,000 | com | 6 | 301 > 301 > 200 |
| ava.com | GoDaddy | $792,000 | com | 3 | 301 > 200 |
| poker.net | NameExperts | $750,000 | net | 5 | Error |
| livewire.com | GoDaddy | $632,500 | com | 8 | 200 |
| iz.com | QEIP.com | $625,000 | com | 2 | 200 |
| zerocarbon.com | Private | $600,000 | com | 10 | 301 > 200 |
| lender.com | Brandforce | $550,000 | com | 6 | Error |
| wolf.com | Pvt Sale | $550,000 | com | 4 | 200 |
| able.com | Morgan Linton | $542,500 | com | 4 | 301 > 200 |
| blade.com | Pvt Sale | $503,000 | com | 5 | 301 > 503 |
| nif.com | Private | $450,000 | com | 3 | 200 |
| egt.com | Shane Kinsch | $450,000 | com | 3 | 301 > 200 |
| zag.com | Sedo | $450,000 | com | 3 | 302 > 200 |
| james.com | DomainBooth | $440,000 | com | 5 | 301 > 200 |
| snappy.com | GetYourDomain | $415,000 | com | 6 | 301 > 200 |
| overview.com | LegalBrandMarketing | $400,000 | com | 8 | 200 |
| worldclass.com | LegalBrandMarketing | $400,000 | com | 10 | 200 |
| fta.com | Shane Kinsch | $400,000 | com | 3 | 301 > 200 |
| steam.com | GoDaddy | $390,560 | com | 5 | 200 |
| tbc.com | Pvt Sale | $375,000 | com | 3 | 302 > 200 |
| pays.com | Sedo | $350,000 | com | 4 | 301 > 200 |
| portugal.com | Sedo | $350,000 | com | 8 | 301 > 200 |
| velvet.com | Pvt Sale | $350,000 | com | 6 | 200 |
| yachts.com | Pvt Sale | $350,000 | com | 6 | 200 |
| bico.com | Shane Kinsch | $350,000 | com | 4 | 200 |
| arizona.com | VIPBrokerage | $350,000 | com | 7 | 301 > 301 > 200 |
| monero.com | GoDaddy | $316,250 | com | 6 | 200 |
| binance.ae | Sedo | $300,000 | ae | 7 | 403 |
| eth.co | MagnumDomains | $300,000 | co | 3 | 200 |
| badger.com | MediaOptions | $300,000 | com | 6 | 200 |
| maxima.com | Dubai Domains | $295,000 | com | 6 | 200 |
| trainer.com | NameJet | $290,000 | com | 7 | 301 > 200 |
| bowman.com | Pvt Sale | $281,000 | com | 6 | 200 |
| aftermarket.com | NameJet | $280,001 | com | 11 | 301 > 200 |
| weshare.com | GoDadddy | $280,000 | com | 7 | 302 > 200 |
| weshare.org | GoDaddy | $280,000 | org | 7 | 301 > 301 > 200 |
| important.com | Efty | $270,000 | com | 9 | 301 > 200 |
| canadian.com | DomainName.com | $269,000 | com | 8 | 200 |
| z.org | LegalBrandMarketing | $257,000 | org | 1 | Error |
| laced.com | Sedo | $250,000 | com | 5 | 301 > 200 |
| followup.com | Pvt Sale | $250,000 | com | 8 | 302 > 200 |
| aka.com | NameJet | $248,400 | com | 3 | Error |
| mint.io | Park.io | $230,000 | io | 4 | 301 > 403 |
| triple.com | Sedo | $220,000 | com | 6 | 200 |
| arriba.com | Sedo | $200,000 | com | 6 | 308 |
| eth.club | Domaincracy | $200,000 | club | 3 | 200 |
| let.com | DomainBooth | $200,000 | com | 3 | 302 > 301 > 200 |
| rvsforsale.com | PrimeLoyalty | $194,213 | com | 10 | 200 |
| operate.com | NameJet | $190,000 | com | 7 | Error |
| threat.com | NameJet | $186,000 | com | 6 | Error |
| ecommerce.de | Sedo | $184,250 | de | 9 | 200 |
| copymarkets.com | Sedo | $181,188 | com | 11 | 301 > 200 |
| betu.com | James Booth | $180,000 | com | 4 | 200 |
| exchangerates.com | RightOfTheDot | $180,000 | com | 13 | 200 |
| listing.com | DomainBooth | $180,000 | com | 7 | 302 > 301 > 200 |
| smartwallet.com | Pvt Sale | $175,000 | com | 11 | 302 > 302 > 200 |
| bookstore.com | PerfectName | $175,000 | com | 9 | 302 > 200 |
| metaverse.io | Park.io | $175,000 | io | 9 | Error |
| unchained.com | GoDaddy | $174,999 | com | 9 | 200 |
| dealmaker.com | Private | $168,000 | com | 9 | 404 |
| link.co | Sedo | $162,000 | co | 4 | 307 |
| fsm.com | PerfectName | $161,719 | com | 3 | 301 > 301 > 200 |
| fume.com | Sedo | $160,000 | com | 4 | 200 |
| scottish.com | Afternic | $155,000 | com | 8 | 302 > 200 |
| chronic.com | James Booth | $150,000 | com | 7 | 302 > 301 > 200 |
| cluster.com | Pvt Sale | $150,000 | com | 7 | 200 |
| mules.com | Uniregistry | $150,000 | com | 5 | Error |
| meta.so | hypernames.co | $149,000 | so | 4 | Error |
| eshop.com | NameJet | $148,134 | com | 5 | 200 |
| skweezer.com | GoDaddy | $144,000 | com | 8 | 302 > 403 |
| skweezer.net | GoDaddy | $144,000 | net | 8 | 403 |
| btc365.com | GoDaddy | $143,480 | com | 6 | 301 > 301 > 200 |
| on.de | Sedo | $141,096 | de | 2 | 301 > 200 |
| cope.com | PerfectName | $138,000 | com | 4 | 302 > 200 |
| ncadd.org | NameJet | $130,000 | org | 5 | 301 > 200 |
| viv.com | PerfectName | $129,375 | com | 3 | Error |
| nutun.com | Sedo | $125,000 | com | 5 | 200 |
| cows.com | Sedo | $125,000 | com | 4 | Error |
| ledger.io | Domainofy | $120,000 | io | 6 | 200 |
| porn.co | DomainBooth | $120,000 | co | 4 | 301 > 200 |
| goon.com | GoDaddy | $120,000 | com | 4 | Error |
| plp.com | Sedo | $117,500 | com | 3 | 301 > 301 > 200 |
| verano.com | GoDaddy | $115,000 | com | 6 | 301 > 200 |