system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do records by incredibly popular bands like The Beatles consistently top 'most rare/valuable' vintage LP lists? Shouldn't the market be over-saturated because so many people bought them when they were new?
gpt
The ones that top the list aren't necessarily the album as a whole, but *certain pressings* of that album.  
Over time, popular albums go through many different pressings at the record plant as they sell out. Sometimes, errors get through or certain pressings are made in a much more limited quantity. These are the ones that are valuable.  
  
For example, the album 'Yesterday and Today' by the Beatles can be found on ebay for fractions of a dollar.  
But if you have an original copy of the first pressing, which contained a later deleted and banned cover art, you have an album worth many thousands and thousands of dollars.  
Another example is the first self-titled Queens of the Stone Age album. Over the years, it has been pressed many times. You can find copies for $20 easily. But if you have the first pressing, which was very limited quantity, you have something worth many hundreds of dollars.  
  
Source: I've bought and sold records for the last 20 years.