The 20 best LEGO sets of all time, ever!
The very best in LEGO brick history! Pirates, castles, city sets and more. Did your favourite make the cut?
Is there a more universally beloved toy on the planet than LEGO? From its humble beginnings in 1932 as a wooden toy maker, through to its breakthrough interlocking brick design in the 1950s, LEGO has become not only the biggest toy company on the planet, but a global entertainment juggernaut.
Films, video games, theme parks and more all now bear the LEGO logo — but at it's heart, LEGO is still all about the brick.
Over the decades, LEGO has put out some truly cracking sets, from simple city themes to fantastic takes on pirates, knights, space adventures and more. And we've sat down to pick our definitive best LEGO sets of the bunch. You'll find sets here that date back to the 1970s, right through to more modern constructions, some designed for little builders, and plenty that'd keep AFOLs (adult fans of LEGO) busy for hours, too.
As time has gone on LEGO's designers have made sets that have become ever more elaborate and ambitious — and that's reflected in this list. There's a bias towards newer builds that push the capabilities of the humble brick to its limits. But we've made sure to leave space for iconic and trailblazing sets of yesteryear, without which we wouldn't have the LEGO we know and love today.
So, ready that nostalgia gland, get some loose bricks at the ready, and take a trip with us down memory lane as we celebrate (in no particular order...) the best LEGO sets of all time, ever!
1. LEGO Castle (AKA 'The Yellow Castle) - Set #375
Release year: 1978 | 767 pieces | 14 minifigures | Price at launch: (£49.99)
Kicking off with a stone cold classic, the first ever LEGO Castle set was the start of a massive theme for LEGO and its fans. With its drawbridge and buildable horses, its blocky yellow turrets have become an iconic part of early LEGO history.
Availability: Retired
2. Black Seas Barracuda - Set #6285
Release year: 1989 | 909 pieces | 8 minifigures | Price at launch: $110 (£82)
Approaching 40 years old, has LEGO built a better pirate shop than the Black Seas Barracuda? This multi-decked affair, complete with full rigging, had a colourful cast of minifigures, and put the pirate theme truly on the map. It's also one of the first wave of sets to include the instantly-recogniseable Captain Redbeard minifig.
Availability: Retired
3. Death Star - Set #75159
Release year: 2016 | 4,016 pieces | 27 minifigures | Price at launch: £409.99
Though the latest version of the LEGO Death Star released in 2025, its pancake-flat shape and super-high price has raised eyebrows among LEGO fans. But there's nothing but love for the 2016 version, which keeps the moon-like shape of its onscreen inspiration, and has plenty of different play areas that recreate scenes from the legendary first Star Wars film. Though retired, loads were made, so you'll be able to find this quite easily if you shop around.
Availability: Retired
4. Gringott's Wizarding Bank - Set #76417
Release year: 2023 | 4,803 pieces | 13 minifigures | Price at launch: £369.99
A gravity-defying build that's sure to impress whether you're a fan of the boy wizard, Harry Potter, or not. There's so much to enjoy here — the roller-coaster like mine cart track, the vertical build, the crooked-house style building and of course the creepy dragon on top. For modular fans the top building piece can be separated for inclusion in a LEGO city, too.
Availability: On sale
5. Assembly Square - Set #10255
Release year: 2017 | 4,002 pieces | 9 minifigures | Price at launch: £259.99
Speaking of sets for LEGO city builders, no brick-built metropolis is complete without the Assembly Square. Its trio of multi-story shopfronts is one of the finest modular creations LEGO has put out — expect to pay a pretty penny on the aftermarket for this now-retired build.
Availability: Retired
6. Pirates of Barracuda Bay - Set #21322
Release year: 2020 | 2,545 pieces | 10 minifigures | Price at launch: £179.99
The Black Sea Barracuda ship earlier on this list proved so popular across the generations that LEGO revisited it for this 2020 special edition set. Imagining the ship as a now-grounded pirate hangout, it's a wonderfully ramshackle display build bustling with imagination, while staying true to the spirit of its predeccessor.
Availability: Retired
7. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RIVENDELL - Set #10316
Release year: 2023 | 6,167 pieces | 21 minifigures | Price at launch: £429.99
A truly luxurious set, the Lord of the Rings Rivendell set absolutely nails the ethereal, magical quality of Tolkien's elf realm. From its golden trees to ornate architecture, it's a must-have for both LEGO and Rings fans, with a particularly good set of minifigs, too.
Availability: On sale
8. NASA Apollo Saturn V - Set #92176
Release year: 2020 | 1,969 pieces | No minifigures | Price at launch: £104.99
One definitely for the big kids out there — this 1:110 scale rendition measures over 39-inches when standing, and is a great centrepiece for anyone interested in the space-race golden age. There's a lovely little easter egg in the piece count, too — 1969, the year of the Saturn V flight that took Neil Armstrong and co. on their legendary voyage to the surface of the moon.
Availability: Retired
9. The Simpsons House - Set #71006
Release year: 2014 | 2,523 pieces | 6 minifigures | Price at launch: £189.99
LEGO and The Simpsons coming together was always going to be a sure fire hit, but this recreation of 742 Evergreen Terrace is simply perfect. Full of great easter eggs (the wheelbarrow with a 'property of Ned Flanders' sticker in the garage always gets a laugh), the interiors are wonderfully put together too, laying out The Simpson's home just as seen on screen. An incredibly popular set at launch, it's only become more valuable as the years have gone on for this retired set, so getting it at a good price today may be tricky.
Availability: Retired
10. Star Wars Millennium Falcon - Set #75192
Release year: 2017 | 7,541 pieces | 8 minifigures | Price at launch: £734.99
The daddy of all Star Wars sets, the giant collector's edition Millennium Falcon is a truly epic build, with a wild amount of detailing that makes the beat up star of George Lucas's fleet come to life. There's a good selection of minifigs here too — though a re-release with just the OG 1977 crowd onboard would be fine by us, too.
Availability: On sale
11. Titanic - #10294
Release year: 2021 | 9,090 pieces | No minifigures | Price at launch: £589.99
Another gigantic build, the Titanic is aimed squarely at adult builders. Designed on a huge scale with historic accuracy, the LEGO designers have captured the spirit of the ill-fated ship beautifully, right down to the individual cabin window spaces. It's not sea-worthy sadly — but that just makes it all the more accurate.
Availability: On sale
12. Galaxy Explorer - #497
Release year: 1979 | 338 pieces | 4 minifigures | Price at launch: $32 (£24)
The most beloved of LEGO space sets, the Galaxy Explorer (also known as the 'Space Cruiser and Moonbase' in some parts of the world) is a great kicking off point for any budding intergalactic builder. With its landing pad baseplate and angular starship, it's an evocative build that sparked the imagination of interplanetary LEGO fans back in the late 70s, and inspired a recent modernised build from the Danish toymakers too.
Availability: Retired
13. Main Street - Set #6390
Release year: 1980 | 591 pieces | 8 minifigures | Price at launch: $40 (£30)
If you're a LEGO city builder, dip your cap to set #6390 — Main Street is where it all began. Multi-storey buildings, a crane, vehicles, an extended baseplate, it's the first taste of what's to come as LEGO looked to encourage fans to expand their individual builds into fully-fledged metropolises.
Availability: Retired
14. Daily Bugle - Set #76178
Release year: 2021 | 3,772 pieces | 25 minifigures | Price at launch: £299.99
A set to fire off comic book lovers' spider senses, Peter Parker's workplace makes to an exciting spot for all manner of Marvel villains and heroes to face off. Towering with loads of play features, it's great for giving the web-slinger's adventures a sense of above-the-ground scale, and makes a neat 'skyscraper' addition to city builds, too.
Availability: On sale
15. Star Wars Mos Eisley Cantina - Set #75290
Release year: 2020 | 3,187 pieces | 21 minifigures | Price at launch: £349.99
A personal favourite among the Shortlist team, we'd argue that this is actually the best Star Wars LEGO set ever released. Despite an intricate build, the Cantina is just as good as a playset for younger LEGO fans as it is a display piece. And a big part of that is down to the glorious selection of minfigs included here — a real who's who weirdos, you won't find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in any other LEGO set.
Availability: Retired
16. Eiffel Tower - Set #10307
Release year: 2022 | 10,001 pieces | No minifigures | Price at launch: £554.99
A real fancy-pants set, the Eiffel Tower is quite literally a towering set, with a huge piece count taking it just over 10,000 pieces. A build not for the feint of heart — it's an intricate and time-consuming one, not to mention its size making it difficult to safely find a home for in all but the more generous of living spaces. But for fans of iconic architecture, or challenging builds, there are few sets more impressive and satisfying.
Availability: On sale
17. Nintendo Entertainment System - Set #71374
Release year: 2020 | 2,646 pieces | No minifigures | Price at launch: £229.99
Nintendo paired with LEGO is a match made in heaven, and the ongoing partnership keeps serving up gold sets, from the LEGO Zelda Deku Tree to the fantastic LEGO Game Boy. Our favourite Nintendo-themed LEGO set however remains the nostalgia-peaking Nintendo Entertainment System. As well as a fantastically accurate console, controller and game cartridge, it comes with a wildly-intricate TV set that, thanks to a Technics-powered crank on its side, creates a scrolling scene from the first Mario game. A technical marvel.
Availability: Retired
18. Police Patrol - Set #600-2
Release year: 1978 | 23 pieces | 1 minifigure | Price at launch: £2.75
A rather unassuming set on this list, but definitely one of the most important. Police Patrol, Set #600-2, has the special honour of being the very first set to include a minifigure, adding life, personality and character to the hitherto bricks-only LEGO universe.
Availability: Retired
19. Eldorado Fortress - #6276
Release year: 1989 | 506 pieces | 8 minifigures | Price at launch: $66 (£49)
What's a pirate without somewhere to plunder? With its moulded, elevated base and battalion of soldiers, the Eldorado Fortress is one of the most fondly-remembered sets from the LEGO pirates theme, letting the two factions duke it out on this high-seas outpost.
Availability: Retired
20. Lion Knights' Castle - Set #10305
Release year: 2022 | 4,514 pieces | 22 minifigures | Price at launch: £349.99
A true showstopper to round out the list, the Lion Knights' Castle is the epitome of everything great not only about the Castle theme, but LEGO in general. A satisfying build? Check. A charming array of minifigures? Check. An awesome display piece? Check? A great playset to build stories around? Check. A love letter to the potential of LEGO (just look online at how creative LEGO fans have made customised Lion Knights' Castle in their own unique ways), this set could very well be the #1 best LEGO set of all time, in our books.
Availability: Retired (...but only recently so! Some stock may still be available if you hunt around!)
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