The most exclusive credit cards on the market right now

Thanks to the mythology surrounding the Centurion^® Card from American Express — aka the original "black card" — an increasing number of consumers today want their credit cards to offer VIP perks and rewards.

Premium luxury credit cards, or black cards, are the most exclusive and prestigious credit cards on the market. They typically come with high annual fees, high spending requirements and strict rules regarding who can qualify for card membership.

While there may always be cards reserved exclusively for the elite, some of the best credit cards aren't impossible for everyday consumers to apply for and use.

Ahead, CNBC Select rounds up some of the most exclusive travel and high-limit rewards credit cards on the market. The ones listed below are not invitation-only, but most require that applicants have good to excellent credit scores (FICO scores 670 and above) and pay expensive annual fees that, in theory, pay off in terms of luxury benefits, such as airport lounge access, automatic elite statuses and dedicated concierge services.

• Best overall: The Platinum Card® from American Express
• Runner-up: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Best for travel: U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
• Best for concierge: Mastercard® Black Card™
• Best for flexible rewards: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Best for dining: American Express® Gold Card

Exclusive perks: Besides being one of the heaviest publicly available cards, The Platinum Card® from American Express offers a long list of luxury travel and lifestyle benefits, including:

• Up to $200 annual hotel credit; Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card®. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• Up to $200 annual airline fee credit
• Up to $300 annual Equinox credit; Get up to $300 back per calendar year on an Equinox+ subscription, or any Equinox club memberships when you pay with your Platinum Card®. Enrollment required. Visit https://platinum.equinox.com/ to enroll.
• Up to $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit. Enrollment required.
• Up to $189 credit to enroll in CLEAR® Plus. Subject to auto-renewal.
• Up to $240 annual digital entertainment credit; Get up to $20 in statement credits each month when you pay for eligible purchases with the Platinum Card® at your choice of one or more of the following providers: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• Up to $155 annual Walmart+ credit (subject to auto-renewal)
• Worldwide airport lounge access, including Delta SkyClubs and Amex Centurion Lounges
• Up to $200 annual Uber credit. Benefit renews annually.
• $100 Global Entry Credit: Receive either a $100 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck® (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to your Platinum Card®. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Automatic hotel elite status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy
• Access to the Fine Hotels + Resorts program, providing benefits such as room upgrades, late check-out, early check-in, complimentary breakfast for two and a $100 hotel credit (based on availability)
• Comprehensive travel insurance
• Cell phone protection
• Complimentary Amex concierge service
• Terms apply.

Exclusive perks: The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the only Chase card to offer a 50% bonus when redeeming points toward travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® portal. Other unique benefits include an annual $300 travel credit, which can cover everything from airfare and hotels to parking and tolls and effectively reduce the $550 annual fee to a more manageable $250.

Cardholders also enjoy special discounts and memberships with Instacart+, DoorDash, and GoPuff; airport lounge access; elite-like benefits when booking hotels through The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection; comprehensive travel and shopping protections; and a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS application fee credit of up to $100 every four years.

Exclusive perks: Unlike other U.S. Bank credit cards, points earned with the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card are worth 1.5 cents apiece toward travel, as opposed to one cent each. Additional premium benefits include up to $325 in annual credits toward eligible travel and dining purchases; a complimentary Priority Pass™ Select membership, providing entry to over 1,300 airport lounges around the world; access to the Visa Infinite® Luxury Hotel Collection; and a statement credit of up to $100 to reimburse you for TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® membership, among other travel perks and shopping protections.

Exclusive perks: Points earned with the Mastercard® Black Card™ can carry greater value depending on how you choose to redeem them — points are worth 1.5 cents apiece toward cash-back redemptions and 2 cents apiece toward airfare. The card offers several other luxury benefits, such access to a concierge that can help with everything from travel bookings to creating once-in-a-lifetime memories, a Priority Pass™ Select membership, an up to $100 annual air travel credit, a TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® application fee credit, cell phone protection and access to exclusive events and experiences through Mastercard Priceless.

Exclusive perks: The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is packed with plenty of unique features. For starters, cardholders receive up to $300 back in statement credits each year for bookings made through Capital One Travel and a 10,000-mile bonus on each account anniversary, which helps offset the $395 annual fee. Beyond that, the card offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit, cell phone insurance and access to Capital One Lounges — one location in Dallas (DFW) is currently open, while two more are expected to open next year in Denver (DEN) and Washington, D.C. (IAD)— as well as the extensive network of Priority Pass and Plaza Premium lounges worldwide.

Other perks include access to exclusive reservations and experiences through Capital One Dining and Capital One Entertainment, VIP treatment and benefits when staying at luxury hotels booked through The Premier Collection and exclusive priority access to premium trips created by PRIOR.

Exclusive perks: The American Express® Gold Card offers several money-saving benefits geared toward foodies. Beyond a competitive return on restaurant and U.S. supermarket spending, cardholders receive dining credits of up to $120 annually ($10 every month), which can be used at at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations (one-time activation required). Plus, receive up to $120 in credits for Uber ($10 every month), which can be used towards Uber rides or Uber Eats. Terms apply.

And when you book stays of two nights or longer through The Hotel Collection with American Express Travel, you can receive a $100 experience credit and room upgrades when available. Experience credit varies by property.

Depending on your spending habits, there could be a lot of value in having a luxury credit card, particularly if you travel a lot. Although most of the top cards require good to excellent credit scores, you generally don't need a special invitation to apply, so qualifying may be easier than you think.

If you can't justify paying a high annual fee, consider the best credit cards with annual fees less than $100 or the best no annual fee cards.

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At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best credit cards.

To determine which credit cards offer the best value, CNBC Select analyzed popular credit cards available in the U.S. We compared each card on a range of features, including rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fee and foreign transaction fees, as well as factors such as required credit and customer reviews when available. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is for the consumer to redeem points.

Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company's data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri's data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

While the five-year estimates we've included are derived from a budget similar to the average American's spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your shopping habits.

For rates and fees of the Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.

Information about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.