Top 10 Rarest Records Atlas Records Sold In July 2026

Here's our rundown of the top 10 rarest records we sold in July 2026! This month leans into punk and its rarer formats, with a 1977 promo 7" from The Damned - given away free at their first-anniversary Marquee gigs - sitting alongside a hand-labelled X-Ray Spex test pressing we couldn't find another copy listed anywhere. Elsewhere the genres range widely, from the psych-pop of Blossom Toes to the roots reggae of The Wailers' Catch A Fire.

Other highlights include a Dutch acid/techno white label limited to just 100 copies, Paul McCartney's steel-boxed Fireman set (about as heavy as it is rare), and a zoetrope picture disc of Bring Me The Horizon's Sempiternal. 

Topping this month's list - and not for the first time - is a first-pressing copy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, identifiable by the solid blue triangle on the label and the faint blue tinge to the sleeve.

You can read our other top tens and a guide to protecting your records by exploring the rest of our blog.

Read on to discover our rarest albums this month.

One for the Vertigo swirl collectors; Warhorse was formed by former Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper. This is their first album, released on Vertigo in 1970. According to fans, this album is very aligned with the sound of Deep Purple in their earlier years.

This one was very scarce! An X-Ray Spex Germfree Adolescents test pressing, with a white label featuring the track titles written by hand. While ours was listed for sale, and at time of writing, there are no other copies currently available on Discogs, making this record truly "rare" in both findability and value. Check out our blog post to learn more about test pressings.

The only 7" to make this list in July! This 1977 The Damned release was limited to 5,000 copies and was a promo in that it was given away for free by the band. From Discogs: "This record was given away free at the 1st anniversary gigs at the London Marquee on 3-6 July. Copies were also sent to members of their original fan club, known as the Damned Disciples. Some copies included a Stiff Records compliment slip. 250 copies were also given away in an NME competition."

Much like the earlier X-Ray Spex album, this release by My Vitriol was one of only a couple available on Discogs when it sold, and at time of writing there are none available. To add to the scarcity, this copy was signed! My Vitriol are a London-based band, formed in 1999 with Finelines being the only full-length album they have released. 

Continuing the psychedelic-pop thread from previous months, in July we sold a copy of We Are Ever So Clean by Blossom Toes, released in 1967 on Marmalade. Record Collector included it in their '100 Greatest Psychedelic Records'. The band released only one further album before disbanding in 1970, making this record a brief but vivid snapshot of the late-'60s British psychedelic scene.

Crashing forward into modern heavy music, in at number 5 is a picture disc zoetrope 10th anniversary reissue of Sempiternal by Bring Me The Horizon. The album was originally released in 2013, with this edition released in 2023. We featured this one on our social media, showing off how to view a zoetrope record - check it out below:

This copy of Catch A Fire by The Wailers was an early UK issue with the hinged Zippo lighter design and original blue Island inner sleeve. Copies of this album with the delicate hinge still intact are hard to come by, which is part of what makes this pressing so rare.  

A deeply sought-after Dutch acid/techno white label from 1996, limited to just 100 copies and featuring collaborations between three producers across eight untitled tracks. This release is incredibly popular with collectors i the acid/techno genre, with many commentors on Discogs searching for a copy or hoping for a repress. This was an interesting find that was featured in our Ultra-Rare Monthly Drop, where we list the 30-40 rarest records we bought the previous month.

Paul McCartney's third experimental collaboration with producer Youth, presented in a steel box set limited to around 2,000 copies - including 200g vinyl, bonus CDs, exclusive art prints, and studio footage. It comes with a brown outer bag with a large red "F" printed on the front. This was another from our Ultra-Rare Record Drop, and one thing we noted while dealing with this release was quite how enormous and heavy the whole thing is! A mammoth addition to any collection.

And in first place, a record that semi-regularly tops our rarest record blog post, a first press copy of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. First pressings of this album are indicated by the solid blue triangle on the label and the slightly blue tinge to the black sleeve. Some copies also come complete with the original title hype sticker. The Dark Side of the Moon is also the album that we sell most copies of - mostly UK fifth pressings, first pressings don't make up quite so much of the pie!

We hope you enjoyed discovering our top ten rarest records from July. If so, do go and have a look at our Ultra-Rare Monthly Record Drop too - on the 1st of every month, we drop the very rarest records we've come across that month.

If you'd like to see more of the rare and unusual records that pass through Atlas Records, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. We post daily, sharing our latest rare finds, behind-the-scenes glimpses of how we do things here at Atlas Records, and lesser-known stories and fascinating facts about some of the most iconic albums in music history.

If you own, or are looking to purchase rare records, they should be kept in the best environment to prevent them from being damaged by the elements. We recommend using HDPE inner sleeves, and polythene outer sleeves, to best protect your collection. You can add them to your next order below.