NFT sales hit $592 million over the past week. These were the 6 best-selling digital collections.

• NFT sales had a breakthrough year in 2021, with total sales volume surging to $14 billion.
• The NFT market is dominated by a handful of standout leaders due to their popularity and rarity.
• These are the six best-selling digital collectibles that helped drive $592 million in NFT sales over the past week.
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The cryptocurrency boom over the past few years has helped propel a newer market to record heights: digital collectibles known as NFTs.

In fact, 2021 was a breakthrough year for NFTs, with total sales volume topping $14 billion as artists, investors, and entrepreneurs descend upon the nascent Web3 space.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique, irreplaceable, mostly digital items that users buy and sell online.

NFTs use blockchain technology to keep a digital record of ownership, similar to cryptocurrencies. They were first launched on ethereum, the same blockchain that supports the cryptocurrency ether, and most NFTs can still only be purchased using ether.

In the past week alone, sales of NFTs hit $592 million, according to data from NonFungible.com.

With NFT sales soaring, these are the six best-selling NFT collections over the past week, according to NonFungible.

6. Pudgy Penguins

7-Day Sales Volume: $9.3 million
Number of Sales: 1,897
Highest Sale Price: $32,429

Explainer: "With 8,888 Pudgy Penguins sliding around on the freezing Ethereum blockchain, each Penguin is an official member of the Pudgy Penguins community found in the freezing cold, arctic region of the metaverse."

5. The Sandbox

7-Day Sales Volume: $16.9 million
Number of Sales: 1,150
Highest Sale Price: $132,993

Explainer: "The Sandbox is a community-driven UGC-voxel platform where users own their LAND and host their creative magic."

4. CryptoPunks

7-Day Sales Volume: $19.1 million
Number of Sales: 114
Highest Sale Price: $3.1 million

Explainer: "10,000 unique collectible characters with proof of ownership stored on the Ethereum blockchain. The project that inspired the modern CryptoArt movement."

3. Art Blocks

7-Day Sales Volume: $19.2 million
Number of Sales: 2,884
Highest Sale Price: $878,000

Explainer: "A storefront for genuinely programmable and on-demand generative artwork that is stored directly on the Ethereum blockchain."

2. Doodles

7-Day Sales Volume: $51.6 million
Number of Sales: 1,217
Highest Sale Price: $867,325

Explainer: "Doodles come in a joyful range of colors, traits, and sizes with a collection size of 10,000. Doodles are a funky bunch that like to role play or transmogrify themselves into delicious treats. Holding a Doodle allows you to participate in coordinating the Doodles Community Treasury."

1. Bored Ape Yacht Club

7-Day Sales Volume: $109.4 million
Number of Sales: 1,305
Highest Sale Price: $1.3 million

Explainer: "BAYC is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs -- unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card, and grants access to members-only benefits."