When, at the beginning of the 1950s, two hunters entered into an argument in a pub in Ireland, only to find that there is no way of arriving at the answer they wanted, they decided that a record is needed of all things curious so that answers to pub arguments could be available. Thus was generated the Guinness Book of World Records to carry the achievements of all possible kinds for a quick reference.
Now some of the household names are not only celebrities but also holders of world records – isn’t that exciting? How did they grab records – by making tattoos, drinking a lot of beer or by creating something no-one had thought of before? Here’s your chance to find it out.
Cristiano Ronaldo: social media records
This athlete topped all his colleagues as to the number of followers – in 2019 the amount of people desiring to be updated through his Twitter messages ran up to 79.7 million.
Dolly Parton holds multiple records
Country music lovers won’t be surprised to learn that this iconic singer penned and recorded so many hits that she made it to Guinness four times. Parton has more No. 1‘s on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart than any other singin‘ woman or any artist, starting from “Joshua” in 1971 and going on to 2006 when she received the marker for “When I Get Where I’m Going,” giving her the record for the longest span of 35 years passing between winning hits. And what about the six decades of sheer genius work stretching from the 1960s to the 2010s spent with hits on Top 20 country list? It really seems the Guinness Book was designed especially for her!
Ariana Grande: streamed a lot
Grande’s stream record back in 2018 was nothing short of awesome: she became the most streamed woman artist having clocked up more than three billion streams on Spotify.
David Bowie’s after-death record
The death of the rock superstar so impressed the world that the very next day his songs provided him with an unheard-of record: for 24 hours on that January day in 2016 52 million people visited Vevo to watch his videos. This platform had never known so many views on a day before; neither it has up to now. Over 11 million of those listeners went for his then-recent track “Lazarus,” making it the most demanded Vevo track on that day.
Before that the listening record belonged to another British singer, Adele, who a year before had attracted over 36 million viewers to her clips.
Dwayne Johnson: largest layered dip
Dwayne Johnson is perpetuated in the Book twice: for the largest layered dip and for the amount of selfies he took. Unfortunately, both his records have been beaten since then; yet the fact remains.
Early in 2017, the actor and his assistants – working for about six hours in a fish tank of 100-gallon capacity – created this enormous tailgating layered dip that secured the record. The 540-pound-heavy dip was afterwards donated to a charity catering for homeless people. The record held good for three years until a year ago it was overcome by Bush’s Beans coming up with a dip that ran to 1,087 pounds.
Johnson’s second, earlier record, was registered in 2015 when he managed to take 105 selfies in the period of three minutes. Again his record was beaten after three years, by James Smith who took 168 selfies in the same time.
Eminem’s rapper-record
Eminem released the wordiest hit single ever. His 2013 single “Rap God,” a Grammy Award nomination, contains 1,560 words delivered at the average rate of 4.28 words a second.
BTS: most views
The K-pop band BTS became the first of its kind to top the US albums chart – and it is not the only record they can brag of!
The group’s YouTube record, the song “Boy With Luv” performed with the American singer Halsey, became the most-viewed video in one April day in 2019 having numbered an astounding 74 million and a half views.
In August of the following year the Korean boy band overreached themselves releasing the “Dynamite” video and collecting 101 million views.
The band‘s Twitter record is for most retweets any music group ever achieved, while on TikTok BTS succeeded in raking up one million followers sooner than anybody else ever did.
Justin Bieber: singles chart winner
No-one but Justin Bieber has contrived to occupy the three highest positions on the U.K. singles chart at once. In 2015, when his new single “Love Yourself” grabbed the top place, his songs “Sorry” and “What Do You Mean?” occupied places 2 and 3 respectively.
Pharrell Williams’s record: longest music video
When Pharrell Williams conceived the idea of running the video of his song “Happy” over and over in a loop for 24 hours in 2013, he set the world record for the longest clip. Throughout the loop various celebs and dancers were going through the motions.
This record lasted for seven years until 21 Pilots came up with the longest music video. Their “Level of Concern” COVID-19 hit was made into a video lasting 177 days 16 hours 10 minutes and 25 seconds while the song itself is under four minutes long.
Taylor Swift’s record is about the money
Taylor Swift sells well, we all know that. Actually, so well that hers is the overall record for the highest annual income of a female recording artist – in the year 2016 she made $170 million. As Forbes reports, by September 2019 she has earned an awesome $185 million.
Vin Diesel: most likes on Facebook
Vin Diesel, renowned for his part in “Fast & Furious,” was deeply saddened by the passing of his friend and co-star Paul Walker in a car crash late in 2013. His tribute posted on Facebook was so moving that it collected the record number of “likes.”
