What was the most expensive music video ever made?

The music video most often cited as the most expensive ever made is “Scream” by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. It was released in 1995 and is widely reported to have cost about $7 million to produce.

A couple of caveats:

• Exact budget figures for music videos are not always public, so rankings can vary a bit by source.
• If you compare budgets without adjusting for inflation, the answer is usually given as “Scream.”

So the safest concise answer is: Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson’s “Scream” is the most commonly cited most expensive music video ever made.