Sports Illustrated published a list of the most expensive Air Jordan sneakers ever sold on stockx, and the top transactions read like auction headlines: a pair of Air Jordan 4 "Wahlburgers" in size 9 and a pair of Air Jordan 4 x Travis Scott Purple Friends and Family in size 9 each sold for $26,000, while an Air Jordan 1 OG "Black and Red" in size 10.5 fetched $27,027.
The raw numbers make the market's gravity obvious. The two Air Jordan 4s that reached $26,000 carried average price premiums of 12,281% on stockx; the Air Jordan 1 OG "Black and Red" posted an average premium of 41,480%. Sports Illustrated listed multiple entries for the Travis Scott Purple Friends and Family colorway too, with other transactions ranging from $23,000 to $25,940 and three rankings for that colorway among the site's most expensive spots.
Those sale prices stand in stark contrast to each shoe's retail tag. The Air Jordan 1 OG "Black and Red" originally dropped on September 15, 1985, for $65 in adult sizes. The Air Jordan 4 "Wahlburgers" arrived as a general release on January 1, 2018, for $210 in adult sizes, and the Air Jordan 4 x Travis Scott Purple Friends and Family also had a $210 retail price when it dropped on February 9, 2019.
Sports Illustrated framed the list specifically as resale-market transactions on stockx and said it compiled the most expensive resale rankings; the source noted that while many player-exclusive colorways and limited-edition collaborations exist, only the five most expensive transactions were listed. That narrow focus leaves the list as a snapshot of outsized sales rather than a full accounting of the secondary market.
The friction in the numbers is part of the story. Two different Air Jordan 4s share the same headline sale figure of $26,000 and the exact average premium of 12,281% on stockx, and the Travis Scott Purple Friends and Family colorway appears multiple times across the rankings with different high-dollar transactions. At the same time, another pair of the Air Jordan 1 OG "Black and Red" in size 11.5 sold for $16,931 and ranked 19th on the list — a reminder that even a single model can trade across a wide price band depending on size, condition and provenance.
For collectors and casual buyers watching resale platforms, the list exposes how release price and cultural cachet disconnect in the aftermarket: $65 and $210 retail releases have turned into transactions topping $27,027 on stockx. The trades Sports Illustrated highlighted do not explain why any one pair reached a particular number, only that, in isolated cases, the resale economy has pushed these Jordans into five-figure territory.
If the data on stockx holds, the clearest conclusion is simple: rare Air Jordans can sell for multiples that dwarf their original prices, and a handful of headline transactions now anchor conversations about value in sneaker collecting. For those hunting specific colorways — whether the Wahlburgers drop or the Travis Scott Purple Friends and Family — the list explains why demand can translate into extraordinary prices.
