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The Best Of Sam Cooke vinyl value

Prices for this album are still being collected: our eBay tracker quotes a pressing only after at least three live listings match it. The pressings and identification below are complete.

Sam Cooke — The Best Of Sam Cooke: pressings we track

PressingCatalogCountryNotes
1981 RCAAYL1-3863USCompilation, Reissue, Indianapolis Pressing
1986 RCA CamdenCL 89903EuropeCompilation
1989 PerformancePFP 1008UKCompilation, Reissue
2011 Analogue ProductionsAAPP-2625-45USCompilation, Reissue, 180gm
2015 Analogue ProductionsAAPP-2625-45USCompilation, Reissue, Remastered
2018 RCA19075874931EuropeCompilation, Reissue
Undated RCA InternationalNL83863EuropeCompilation, Reissue
Undated PremierPMP 1010UKCompilation, Reissue
Undated PremierCBR 1012UKCompilation, Reissue

11 pressings tracked, 9 shown · catalog of 974,753 releases, August 2026

What separates the pressings

Oldest we track, 1981First released 1962; our table starts at 1981 (RCA, US). A copy older than 1981 predates everything here. Treat it as the find.
Reissues, 2011+3 pressings. Easy to find, priced as listening copies.

How to identify your copy

Three checks, in the order worth doing them.

  1. 1

    Match the catalog number. It is printed on the spine and the record label. Check it together with the country against the pressings table above: the same number can appear in more than one country.

  2. 2

    Read the runout. The code etched in the dead wax near the label names the exact pressing. On the 1981 US pressing it reads “AYL1-3863-A” on side one and “AYL1-3863-B” on side two. Trust the etching over the jacket: covers get traded around, dead wax stays put.

  3. 3

    Grade the condition. A clean copy and a worn one of the same pressing sit several grades, and several multiples, apart. Grade record and sleeve separately; see our grading guide.

Do not price the cover. A later disc in a 1962 jacket is a reissue, whatever the sleeve says: the pressing lives in the runout etching and on the label.

Questions

Which pressing of The Best Of Sam Cooke is worth the most?

Original 1962 pressings lead; they predate everything in our table, and that scarcity is the point. Among tracked copies, the 1981 pressings come first. After that it is all condition: the gap between near mint and VG is usually larger than the gap between pressings.

How do I tell which pressing I have?

Match the catalog number on the spine and label against the table above, check the country, then read the etched code in the runout groove. On the 1981 US pressing the runout reads “AYL1-3863-A”. A period jacket with a later disc inside is still a reissue.

How much is The Best Of Sam Cooke worth today?

Market prices move, so a static number goes stale fast. Scan the record in the RecordScout app: it identifies your exact pressing from the label and shows a current value range for its condition.

Not sure which pressing you have? Photograph the label and RecordScout names it, then shows a current value range for its condition.

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