RecordScoutGet the app

Hotter Than July vinyl value

Hotter Than July — Stevie Wonder album cover
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.

Stevie Wonder — Hotter Than July: pressings we track

PressingCatalogCountryNotes
1984 MotownZL72015EuropeReissue
1986 MotownRMTL-8008JapanPromo
1986 MotownRMTL-8008JapanGatefold
2011 Mobile Fidelity Sound LabMOFI 1-018USLimited Edition, Numbered, Reissue
2017 Tamla06025 573 783-9 (9)EuropeReissue, Remastered, 180 gr.
2017 Tamla06025 573 783-9 (9)EuropeReissue, Remastered, 180 gram
2017 TamlaB0026292-01MexicoReissue
2017 TamlaB0026292-01USReissue
2025 Tamla06025 573 783-9 (9)EuropeReissue, Remastered, 180 gram
Undated MotownZL72015EuropeReissue, Gatefold
Undated MotownZL 72015ItalyReissue, Gatefold

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

What separates the pressings

Oldest we track, 1984First released 1980; our table starts at 1984 (Motown, Europe). A copy older than 1984 predates everything here. Treat it as the find.
Collector variants1986 Japan: Promo; 2011 US: Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue. Pressed in small numbers, and priced accordingly.
JapanPressed to high standards and collected separately; a copy with the original obi strip is a different record to collectors than one without.
Reissues, 2017+5 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 1984 Europe pressing it reads “DM E-0212 A-2/84 S III (etched: III)” on side one and “DM E-0212 B-2/84 S III (etched: II)” on side two. Sleeves migrate between copies over the years; the etching stays with the record.

  3. 3

    Grade the condition. Condition multiplies the price: near mint can bring several times what a VG copy does. Vinyl and sleeve get separate grades; the scale is in our grading guide.

Discs and jackets part ways over the decades: a 1980 sleeve proves nothing about the record inside it. The runout etching and the label decide the pressing; the cover never does.

Questions

Which pressing of Hotter Than July is worth the most?

Original 1980 pressings lead; they predate everything in our table, and that scarcity is the point. Among tracked copies, the 1984 pressings come first. Scarcer variants (the 1986 “Promo” and the 2011 “Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue”) can beat an ordinary early copy. 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 1984 Europe pressing the runout reads “DM E-0212 A-2/84 S III (etched: III)”. A period jacket with a later disc inside is still a reissue.

How much is Hotter Than July 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.

Open in the App StoreFree to try, iPhone, no account.
More from Stevie Wonder