10 of the Top Domain Names

Yesterday, I reported on the sale of Home.com to Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. The domain name sale price was not shared by any of the parties, but I would be very surprised if it was not an 8 figure deal. In my opinion, Home.com is one of the top domain names possible, and Fairway has the potential to turn it into an iconic brand name.

Andrew Rosener tweeted about the sale and mentioned that he think it is one of the top three domain names. Someone replied to Andrew to ask what other domain names he thinks are in the top 3 (he said X.com and did not name the other name).

I thought I would give it a go and share what I think are 10 of the top possible domain names there are based solely on intrinsic value. Some of these domain names are actively used and developed, but I think they are top domain names without any of the additional goodwill and/or traffic. These are not listed in any particular order – just as I am thinking of them off the top of my head:

  • Home.com
  • Money.com
  • Business.com
  • Weather.com
  • 123.com
  • ABC.com
  • Go.com
  • Travel.com
  • News.com
  • Cars.com

Of course, this type of list is a matter of opinion, and everyone probably has their own different lists. Feel free to share what you think are the top 10 domain names.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

34 COMMENTS

  1. How do you define “top domains”? If by value, the top names IMO are (in no particular order) X.com, Z.com, Q.com, Sex.com, Porn.com, Slots.com and Casino.com. There are a handful of 8-figure deals that include Voice.com, Home.com and others. Most of these sales will never be confirmed. But BY FAR the most valuable name that has ever been sold is Poker.com – which also won’t be confirmed.

    • You’re overthinking it a little bit.

      If you’re at a party, and someone making small talk with asks, “Braden, what do you think are the top 10 domain names in the world?” what would you say without considering past sales and whatnot?

    • Hmm, interesting to see people’s picks here.

      The most I found doing a quick search is that Poker.com allegedly sold for $27m in 2007, but in all candor I doubt that is true, especially since the current holder was trying to sell for only $20m recently.

      Casino.com and Slots.com were both sold for peanuts compared to their value, both incredibly huge steals. It seems I personally may have been significantly instrumental in making sure Slots.com did not sell for less than Casino.com when it was about to be sold, but it’s a story I would not share here and I certainly doubt that would ever be confirmed as Braden put it here. But all our colleagues in domaining can rest assured that I did that unsung effort for the cause and for “truth in domaining.”

  2. BTW, there is no right or wrong here. If you gave me an hour, I could probably think of 100 other spectacular domain names that could also be in the top 10:

    Book
    Learn
    See
    Free
    Porn
    Porno
    Deals
    Coupons
    Word
    Bet
    Poker
    Casino
    Red
    Green
    ….etc…

  3. My “BullS” makes the list too!!

    It is all about perspective.

    Q- those domains listed, what the ROI- how much revenue $$$$ coming in versus the cost of the domain

  4. I won’t include any single character or even 2 character domains:

    1) Bet.com
    2) Home.com
    3) Casino.com
    4) Business.com
    5) Health.com
    6) Insurance.com
    7) News.com
    8) Cars.com
    9) Media.com
    10) Live.com

    Disclaimer: I own none of these domains 🙁

  5. 11) Odds.com
    12) Hotels.com
    13) Cam.com
    14) Remote.com
    15) Hire.com
    16) Deals.com
    17) Music.com
    18) Stream.com
    19) Poker.com
    20) Sports.com

  6. Ok so replying to this and to Braden’s comment. First, I sold Sex.com (the first sale) and Home.com this week. So while biased, they make the list. I do not see many debating these two. I assume they would make everyone with expertise and experience list. Sex, while notorious, was a cash machine, brand aside, and Home is summed up in “there is no place like Home”. If you heard my fireside chat with Soeren at Namescon this week you would know that my all time #1 and undisputed heavyweight champion of the world has always been Weather.com. Globally every human of every race, ethnicity, socioeconomic, location, wonders about it and checks it in some manner every single day. I see the comments and yes, it is an opinion but I dispute some of them and assume they are biased by ownership. I can say somewhat firsthand and factually that Casino is phenomenal but for many reasons not on that list. If anything it is Bet.com (the action itself) and of while not a top 10, SportsBook.com and Poker as noted are stronger than Casino. Fun exercise nonetheless.

    • Andrew Miller

      Why is your name not in the Escrow.com top 2 highest grossing brokers?

      The Home.com sale will easily surpass Media Options grossing. Assuming the commission is 15%

      • Drew – Home.com appears to have sold within the last week, and if the parties used Escrow.com to transact, that would obviously not count towards the 2020 award. In addition, while Escrow.com is great, many high $ transactions close via attorney escrow.

      • First. I have been a loyal Escrow.com customer since day one and think the world of Jackson, Manuel, Clara and team. In this deal, Seller wanted to use a different Escrow. And never one to care about top broker etc.
        I do not believe you can find me listed on the web or promoting myself as a broker anywhere

    • Andrew – Do you think Sex.com would still be a top 10 domain name today? IMO, adult traffic is worth less today than in years prior. That said, the list I shared is very subjective.

    • @Andrew, I didn’t include sex.com in my list, but of course, it’s legendary in value, and the whole story and books written about its genesis, theft and the revenues —- and the characters involved, and yes, its value could lie more in pharma than adult these days. Sex.com generated millions back in the day, according to the articles I read.
      curious why you feel sportsbook.com is more valuable than casino.com and maybe sportsbook.com as I tend to agree due to the explosive growth of online sports betting, and only in limited states over the last year?

      interesting observation/pov per crypto and bitcoin.

    • Respectfully, disagree. In time it probably won’t even be referred to as crypto and that is an abbreviation. It will be simply “bitcoin” or a different form. Not for many years though.

  7. Gregg. A good and fair question and one I have discussed many times over the years. I will give it some thought and figure out the best forum to answer it at some point. It likely wont be in these comments.

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