RecordScoutGet the app

Who's Better, Who's Best 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.

The Who — Who's Better, Who's Best: pressings we track

PressingCatalogCountryNotes
1988 Polydor835 389-1AustralasiaCompilation
1988 MCAMCA2-8031CanadaCompilation, Club Edition
1988 MCAMCA-8031CanadaCompilation
1988 Polydor835 389-1GermanyCompilation, Mono, Gatefold
1988 Polydor835 389-1 YGreeceCompilation, Gatefold sleeve
1988 Polydor835 389-1 YGreeceCompilation, Test Pressing, White Label
1988 Polydor25MM 0628JapanCompilation, Gatefold
1988 Polydor25MM 0628JapanCompilation, Promo, Gatefold
1988 PolydorWTV 1UKCompilation, Mono
1988 PolydorWTV 1UKCompilation, Promo, Mono
1988 MCAMCA2-8031USCompilation, Club Edition
1988 MCAMCA2-8031USCompilation
Undated Polydor835 389-1 YGreeceCompilation, Gatefold sleeve
Undated Polydor835 389-1NetherlandsCompilation, Gatefold

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

What separates the pressings

Originals, 19887 first-year pressings (US, UK, Australasia, Canada and 3 more); any of them is an original. Runout on the US copy starts “MCA 7860 ASR2 [Artisan Logo] ⧈-G-⧈”.
Collector variants1988 Germany: Compilation, Mono, Gatefold ; 1988 Greece: Compilation, Test Pressing, White Label; 1988 Japan: Compilation, Promo, Gatefold. Short runs like these often bring more than a standard early copy.
JapanPressed to high standards and collected separately; a copy with the original obi strip is a different record to collectors than one without.

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 1988 US pressing it reads “MCA 7860 ASR2 [Artisan Logo] ⧈-G-⧈” on side one and “MCA 7861 ASR2 [Artisan Logo] ⧈-G-⧈” on side two. Jackets get swapped over the decades; the runout does not.

  3. 3

    Grade the condition. The same pressing can be worth several times more in near mint than in VG. Grade the vinyl and the sleeve separately — our grading guide shows the standard scale.

A 1988 jacket with a later disc inside is a reissue in an original sleeve. Judge the pressing by the runout etching and the label, never by the cover.

Questions

Which pressing of Who's Better, Who's Best is worth the most?

The 1988 originals lead. Scarcer variants (the 1988 “Compilation, Mono, Gatefold ” and the 1988 “Compilation, Test Pressing, White Label”) 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 if I have a 1988 original?

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 1988 US pressing the runout reads “MCA 7860 ASR2 [Artisan Logo] ⧈-G-⧈”. A period jacket with a later disc inside is still a reissue.

How much is Who's Better, Who's Best 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 The Who