Top domain sales of 2021 (so far)

The year 2021 is halfway over and it’s been an explosive one for aftermarket domain name sales.

DNJournal tracks the year’s biggest domain sales, and it reports that five domain names have sold for over $1 million already this year. There are actually many more seven-figure domain name sales but most of them are subject to non-disclosure agreements and never come to light.

Here are the top sales so far in 2021.

1. Christmas.com $3,150,000

Christmas is year-round for some companies. One of those companies is Gordon Companies in New York. The company imports, wholesales, and retails Christmas merchandise such as ornaments, lights, and wreaths. It acquired this domain under a four-year payment plan, but paid it off early. 

2. Angel.com $2,000,000

Angel Studios is a crowdsourced filmmaking site. It recently raised $5 million for an animated TV series called The Wingfeather Saga and $1 million for a TV series called Freelancers. Oh, and it crowdfunded a $5 million round of funding for its own company, which gave it the wherewithal to spend $2 million on a domain!

3. Exodus.com $1,945,000

Cryptocurrency investors are awash in cash despite a recent pullback. These investors have acquired lots of domains, including Exodus.com, which is a bitcoin and crypto wallet.

4. Meme.com $1,250,000

Visit meme.com and you’ll see some of your favorite memes, such as Grumpy Cat and the “distracted boyfriend” image. The site doesn’t seem like a great use of a $1.25 million domain, which makes me think the buyer has a lot more planned. It might have something to do with meme stocks and crypto; one of the memes on the site is Dogecoin.

5. eBike.com $1,008,900

eBikes (heck, any kind of bikes) are having a resurgence during the pandemic. Bosch, known for everything from kitchen appliances to eBikes, bought this domain for over $1 million. The seller made a nice return; he bought the domain for about $72,000 in an expired domain auction in 2018.

6. SelfMade.com $977,500

Sewing and knitting company Stoff & Stil is rebranding as SelfMade.com, a much more memorable name.

7. Recursion.com $904,000

Recursion is a drug discovery company that went public this year. It acquired Recursion.com last December, and the sale came to light in an SEC filing this year.

8. GoBet.com $850,000

Domain investor Rick Schwartz, known as “The Domain King”, sold this domain name. It’s one of two domains in the top 10 that haven’t been developed yet.

9. Tattoo.com $812,000

Tattoo.com has an interesting story. A buyer bid $750,000 for this domain in a live domain name auction this year but then didn’t pay. The auctioneer subsequently found a new buyer for even more money. The site at the domain has been active for years, so this probably isn’t the final use.

10. Poker.net $750,000

This gambling domain sold for big bucks, but it hasn’t been developed yet. It will be interesting to see what shows up here.

The second half of the year promises to be full of more big sales. Already, EE.com has been reported by DNJournal as selling for $1.35 million. It will be interesting to see how expensive a domain has to be to land on the top 10 by the end of the year.

Source: namecheap.com