What are the top 5 most expensive domain names?

What is your take on unique vs. descriptive site/domain names for a web app and its impact on attracting and retaining visitors?

• Coming up with a good domain name is hard, by now that's a given. I've just registered a 6 letter domain name that roles off the tongue pretty well, but requires a little explanation as to the 3 words from the site's scope that were mashed together to form it. On top of that, the unaltered name was available as a Twitter handle as well, which was a major requirement. I don't think the origin of the name will be apparent to many people without further explanation, but the social nature of the site will mean it will attract a nto insignificant portion of its visitors through existing social networks anyway. It's not completely spellable until you see it written out however, but ought to be memorable after that. I'm tempted to explain the name on the more lengthy about page, but I'm not sure spelling it out in the site tagline as part of the header is needed. Ultimately, my question is, have their been studies done and published on how unique domain names might hinder site growth in the beginning? Any other comments are welcome too. I can't show off the name just yet to get feedback (as much as I'd like to) unfortunately, because I'm not quite ready to draw attention to it for another few weeks. Comments?

• Answer:

  If your traffic can be driven from organic search, domain name doesn't matter *too* much provided you do a good job at SEO. However, if it's a word of mouth play, then domain name is much more important. It needs to be a be name  that's easy to recall after hearing about it from a friend over a drink.