NFT sales hit $293 million over the past week. These were the 5 best-selling digital art collections.

• NFT sales have had a breakthrough year in 2021, with total sales volume surging to $12 billion.
• The NFT market is dominated by a handful of standout leaders due to their popularity and rarity.
• These are the five best-selling digital art collections that helped drive $292 million in NFT sales over the past week.

The cryptocurrency boom over the past two years has helped propel a newer market to record heights: digital collectibles, also known as NFTs.

2021 has been a breakthrough year for NFTs, with total sales volume hitting more than $12 billion as both 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 to this day most NFTs can still only be purchased using ether.

In the past week alone, sales of NFTs hit $292 million, according to data from NonFungible.com.

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

5. Decentraland

7-Day Sales Volume: $6.6 million
Number of 7-Day Sales: 339
Average Sale: $19,469

Explainer: Decentraland is a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications.

4. Art Blocks

7-Day Sales Volume: $13.2 million
Number of 7-Day Sales: 2,737
Average Sale: $4,822

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

3. CryptoPunks

7-Day Sales Volume: $17.5 million
Number of 7-Day Sales: 38
Average Sale: $460,526

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

2. The Sandbox

7-Day Sales Volume: $33.1 million
Number of 7-Day Sales: 2,182
Average Sale: $15,169

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

1. Bored Ape Yacht Club

7-Day Sales Volume: $52.2 million
Number of 7-Day Sales: 695
Average Sale: $75,107

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."