Forget the upcoming battle between Apple and the major labels over variable pricing. Prices already vary. The current average cost of an album of iTunes' current Top 40: $10.50.

Not $9.99? No, and here's why: Five of the Top 40 albums cost $9.90. Eight of them cost $11.99 or more. Two cost $12.99. Two cost $13.99.

The two most expensive albums are T.I.'s King -- which has 17 tracks and is sold as a single CD -- and Dane Cook's Retaliation, which has 29 tracks and is sold as a double-CD.

One of the $11.99 albums is Bob Marley's Legend, which is a perennail top selling catalog album. Amazon.com sells the CD for $11.96.

Only two of the more expensive albums are what could be considered as proper double-albums -- Ben Harper's Both Sides of the Gun and Cook's Retaliation. The Flaming Lips' At War With the Mystics is long, and it has bonus content, but it's not a double-album. (Update: I didn't see the normal version, and according to a post at Digital Audio Insider a lot of other people aren't seeing it either.)

And what does one get for paying $11.99 for James Blunt's Back to Bedlam? A digital booklet and a video for his hit single "You're So Beautiful."

One of the titles in the Top 40 is a video collection. Queen's Greatest Video Clips 1 costs $11.99 for seven videos.

The cheapest album of the group? KT Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope. Virgin is trying to break KT here in the States, which would most likely explain the lower price. If she suddenly blows up, expect the price to blow up as well.