What Are the Top 10 Most Expensive Yachts in the World?

Dilbar holds the top spot right now. The 156-metre Lürssen is valued at around $800 million, and it heads a list of the top 10 most expensive yachts in the world where every entry is worth at least $500 million. Eclipse and Scheherazade follow at roughly $700 million each, then comes a cluster of four yachts estimated at $600 million: Azzam, Blue, Al Said and Sailing Yacht A. Before you trust any ranking like this, know one thing. Almost none of these prices are public. Owners sign confidentiality agreements, shipyards don’t publish invoices, and the “value” you see quoted is usually an estimate built from size, builder and the odd court filing. So we ranked every yacht on one consistent source and flagged the places where the numbers disagree. You’ll also see why the famous $4.8 billion yacht didn’t make the cut.

How were these yacht prices worked out?

Every figure below is an estimated value from SuperYachtFan, a database that tracks owners, specs and values for the world’s large private yachts. We used a single source on purpose. Mix numbers from five different websites and you end up comparing a 2010 build quote with a 2025 resale guess, which tells you nothing.

Three ground rules shaped the list:

• Only private yachts with a real, traceable build record count. Rumoured or fictional boats are out.
• Where two yachts share the same estimate, the longer one ranks higher.
• Royal support ships that carry staff and equipment rather than the owner (like Oman’s Fulk Al Salamah) sit in the “just missed” section.

Treat every number as a ballpark. Wikipedia, for example, lists Eclipse’s cost as $590 million as of 2011, while SuperYachtFan puts its value at $700 million today and notes the $1.5 billion figure you see online has never been confirmed.

How do the 10 priciest superyachts compare at a glance?

Notice who built them. Eight of the ten came out of German yards, and six from Lürssen alone. If you want a yacht in this price range, the shortlist of builders who can deliver one is very short.

Which superyachts made the top 10 most expensive yachts list?

1. Dilbar: about $800 million

Dilbar isn’t the longest yacht on the water, but by volume it’s the biggest. Its gross tonnage of about 15,900 is higher than Azzam’s even though Azzam is 24 metres longer, and that internal space is a big reason its estimate sits at the top. It also has the largest indoor pool ever fitted to a yacht, roughly 25 metres long and holding about 180 cubic metres of water, according to Lürssen. Espen Øino drew the exterior and Winch Design did the interior.

Ownership is messy. Dilbar was built for Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov and is held through a trust. German authorities froze it in 2022 after sanctions on Usmanov, and SuperYachtFan reports that a Frankfurt court ruled in June 2026 that Lürssen no longer has to treat the yacht as a frozen asset. What happens to it next is still unclear.

2. Eclipse: about $700 million

When Blohm+Voss delivered Eclipse to Roman Abramovich in December 2010, it was the longest private yacht in the world at 162.5 metres. Azzam took that title three years later. Terence Disdale designed it, and it carries about 70 crew. You’ll often read about a laser “anti-paparazzi shield” and a $1.5 billion price tag. Neither has ever been confirmed, so take both with a pinch of salt. Since 2022 Eclipse has spent most of its time in Turkish waters, where EU and UK sanctions on Abramovich don’t reach it.

3. Scheherazade: about $700 million

Scheherazade is the most secretive yacht here. Lürssen delivered the 140-metre boat in 2020, and its owner has never been officially confirmed. Media reports have linked it to Russian oil executive Eduard Khudainatov. Italian authorities froze it in May 2022 while it sat in a shipyard in Marina di Carrara. Interior work is credited to Zuretti, and SuperYachtFan estimates it can host around 18 guests with a crew of 40, a very high staff-to-guest ratio even by superyacht standards.

4. Azzam: about $600 million

At 180 metres, Azzam is the longest private yacht in the world, and it’s been that way since Lürssen delivered it in September 2013. It was commissioned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the late president of the UAE, and is now associated with Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. Speed is the surprise here. Gas turbines and water jets push this 590-foot ship past 30 knots, which is ferry-fast for something this size. Put it next to the ships in our list of the biggest cruise ships and it still looks small, though, because a modern Icon-class ship is nearly twice as long.

5. Blue: $600 million or more

Blue is the newest yacht in the top five. Lürssen delivered the 160-metre boat in 2022, and it’s linked to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the same Abu Dhabi royal who owns A+ (the former Topaz). It can take 48 guests in 24 cabins with about 80 crew, and it runs on diesel-electric hybrid propulsion with an electric pod drive. SuperYachtFan describes its value as “more than $600 million,” which is why it ranks right behind Azzam rather than tied with it.

6. Al Said: about $600 million

Built by Lürssen for the late Sultan Qaboos of Oman, Al Said is 155 metres long and holds up to 70 guests, the most of any yacht on this list. Its crew runs to about 174 people. It’s widely reported to have a concert hall big enough for a 50-piece orchestra, which fits Qaboos’s well-known love of classical music. In 2022 there were reports that it had been sold to Qatar’s royal family, but that hasn’t been officially confirmed.

7. Sailing Yacht A: about $600 million

The only sailing yacht in the top 10, and you can’t miss it. Philippe Starck designed it, Nobiskrug built it in 2017, and its three freestanding composite masts reach close to 100 metres. Below the waterline there’s an underwater observation pod. Italian police seized it in Trieste in March 2022 because its owner, Andrey Melnichenko, was placed under EU sanctions. Reuters valued it at about €530 million at the time, and it was still sitting in Trieste in 2026.

8. Dubai: about $500 million

Dubai had a long, odd birth. Work began in 1996 for Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei, stalled, and the half-built hull was later finished by Platinum Yachts for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. It was finally delivered in 2006. At 162 metres it’s almost exactly the same length as Eclipse, and it carries 48 guests with 88 crew. Reported running costs land somewhere between $35 million and $50 million a year.

9. Nord: about $500 million

Nord belongs to Russian steel billionaire Alexei Mordashov and was delivered by Lürssen in 2021. It’s 142 metres long and has something few yachts have: a fully enclosed helicopter hangar, plus two landing pads. Mordashov is under Western sanctions, but Nord has never been seized. It moved to Vladivostok in 2022, later spent time in Dubai, and SuperYachtFan reports it crossed to Oman in April 2026.

10. Serene: about $500 million

Serene is the one yacht here with a resale price people actually reported. Fincantieri built it for Russian vodka businessman Yuri Shefler in 2011, and it was later sold for a reported €450 million to €500 million. The buyer is widely reported to be Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It has a seawater pool inside the hull and carries its own submarine, and it made headlines in 2017 when it ran aground in the Red Sea.

Why do the most expensive yachts cost so much?

Size is the main driver, but it isn’t length. It’s volume. A yacht’s price tracks its gross tonnage far more closely than its length, which is why the shorter Dilbar is valued above Azzam. SuperYachtFan’s estimate for Azzam works out to about $60,000 per gross ton, and the same rough maths runs through the rest of this list.

After size, these factors push the number up:

• Who builds it. A handful of northern European yards (Lürssen, Feadship, Oceanco, Blohm+Voss) charge a premium, and their order books are full for years.
• Fully custom design. None of these boats came off a production line. Each one has its own hull, layout and interior designer.
• Engineering. Gas turbines, hybrid drives, helicopter hangars and high-end security systems all add cost.
• Toys and tenders. Submarines, support vessels and beach clubs are often priced separately.

If you’re curious how this scales down to boats normal millionaires buy, our breakdown of how much a yacht costs walks through prices from small cruisers up to 50-metre superyachts.

What about History Supreme and the $4.8 billion yacht?

You’ll find History Supreme at number one on most “most expensive yachts” lists, usually with a $4.8 billion price and a story about 100,000 kg of gold and platinum. We left it out because there’s no shipyard record, no registration, no photo of the real boat and no confirmed owner. The figures trace back to a single designer’s claims around 2011. We dug into the whole story in our article on the History Supreme yacht, and the short version is that it’s an internet legend rather than a superyacht. The same goes for “Streets of Monaco,” a $1.1 billion design concept that was never built.

Which expensive yachts just missed the list?

A few famous names sit just below the $500 million line, or have estimates that swing too much to rank with confidence:

• Fulk Al Salamah (about $500M): Oman’s 2016 royal support vessel, built by Mariotti. Same value tier as the bottom three, but it’s a support ship.
• Opera (about $450M): Lürssen’s 146-metre boat for Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, delivered in 2022.
• A+ (about $450M): the former Topaz, also owned by Sheikh Mansour. Some publications quote it above $500 million.
• Dragonfly (about $450M): Sergey Brin’s 142-metre Lürssen with a glass-bottom pool, delivered in December 2024.
• Koru ($250M to $500M): Jeff Bezos’s 127-metre sailing schooner from Oceanco. Even SuperYachtFan’s own page gives two different values.

How much does it cost to run a yacht like this?

A lot, every single year. The common rule of thumb is that running a superyacht costs about 10% of its value annually, and the reported numbers for this list fit that pattern. SuperYachtFan puts Dilbar’s yearly running costs at $50 million to $80 million and Al Said’s at about $60 million. That money goes on crew salaries, fuel, insurance, berthing, maintenance and refits. A 70-person crew alone can cost several million dollars a year before the yacht leaves port. For many owners, the purchase price is the smaller long-term number.

Conclusion

Dilbar leads the top 10 most expensive yachts on current estimates, at about $800 million, followed by Eclipse and Scheherazade at roughly $700 million each. Azzam, Blue, Al Said and Sailing Yacht A share the $600 million tier, and Dubai, Nord and Serene close out the top 10 at around $500 million. Keep in mind that these are informed estimates, not receipts, and that sanctions have frozen several of these yachts in place since 2022, so their real market value is hard to pin down. What the list does show clearly is how concentrated this market is: a few German yards, a few Gulf royals and a few Russian industrialists. For more on giant boats and the money behind them, browse the latest guides on The Ocean Culture.

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