22 Jaw-Dropping Music-Related World Records

From coldest gig ever performed to the band who played all seven continents in one year, plenty of massive artists have achieved world records and made history in the Guinness Book Of World Records.

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April 24, 2017

1. Eminem
The Detroit rapper made a world record this week when ‘Rap God’ earned him the title of Most Words In A Hit Single. The six-minute track contains 1,560 words which means that Eminem is rapping a tongue-twisting 4.28 words per second.

2. Chic ft. Nile Rodgers
The band rounded off Bestival by breaking the record for world’s largest disco ball. Rodgers took to the stage before Chic’s show to meet a representative from the Guinness Book Of Records, who told him that festival organisers Rob and Josie Da Bank had fulfilled his request to build the world’s biggest mirrorball in order to get him to headline the festival

3. Nikki Minaj
Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ video got 19.6 million views in just one day, smashing the previous holder Miley Cyrus’s video for ‘Wrecking Ball’ which got 12.3 million.

4. Kate Bush
The singer has become the first female artist in UK history to have eight albums in the Top 40 at the same time. She broke the record previously held by Madonna after seeing a surge in sales as her Before The Dawn residency kicked off at London’s Eventim Hammersmith Apollo. Madonna previously had three albums in the Top 40 in 1987.

5. Napalm Death
Heavy-metal group Napalm Death hold the record for the shortest song ever registered at 1.316 seconds long. The single, called ‘You Suffer’, has been described by their songwriter Justin Broadrick as ‘utterly retarded…ridiculous, but it was hilarious’. The band even released the ‘song’ as a 7-inch single in 1989.

6. Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney holds the world record for the first artist to broadcast live to space. The former Beatle woke up the crew of the international space station with the track ‘English Tea’ from his album ‘Chaos And Creation In The Backyard’, as well as the Beatles classic ‘Good Day Sunshine’ from a US gig in Anaheim.

7. Psy
The South Korean phenomenon’s ‘Gangnam Style’ is the most popular video of any kind on the web with a ridiculous 2.08 billion YouTube views. It is also the most ‘liked’ video online (not to mention the 4th most disliked).

8. The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips hold the record for the most live concerts in 24 hours. Beating a record previously held by Jay-Z, the Oklahoma eccentrics played eight shows in eight cities, even bringing along the Guinness people to verify the legitimacy of their claim.

9. Adele
Well, it wouldn’t be a records feature without Adele, would it? The 26-year-old has broken quite a few records. Second studio album ‘21’ has the most consecutive weeks at number 1 in the UK album charts. It was top for 18 weeks. She also became the first female artist to have two entries in the top five in both singles and album charts simultaneously.

10. Willow Smith
The 10-year-old daughter of Will Smith holds the record for the youngest artist to have a track in the top 20 in both the UK and the US. ‘Whip My Hair’ reached number 2 in the UK charts and number 11 on the US Billboard Charts.

11. Michael Jackson
Following his death in June 2009, the ‘Bad’ singer scored the record for the most simultaneous hits on the UK singles chart. A whopping 13 of his songs reached the top 40.

12. Justin Beiber
Beiber knows a thing or two about smashing world records. He was the first musician with a music channel to be viewed an incredible 3billion times and the youngest solo artist to have five US number 1 albums. He also holds the record for the most disliked video on YouTube – ‘Baby’ has 2.5 million ‘thumbs down’.

13. Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams has the world record for the most nominations and wins in the Brit Awards history: 30 and 17 respectively. He got 23 of the nominations as a solo artist and seven with Take That – and won 13 awards solo and four with Take That.

14. Charlie Simpson
Ex-Busted lead singer Charlie Simpson broke the world record of the coldest concert. Simpson played a full 15 minute set in -30˚C temperatures in a remote village dubbed the ‘Pole of Cold’ in Siberia. The 29-year-old singer travelled for four days to get to the village, sleeping in locals’ homes.

15. Miley Cyrus
Whether it’s humping hot dogs or licking sledgehammers, Miley Cyrus knows how to get attention. She holds the record for being the most searched pop star on the Internet, beating Michael Jackson who held the title after his death in 2009.

16. Shakira
After the release of her self-titled album, her 10th, Shakira became the most ‘liked’ person on Facebook with 103.5 million likes. She also became the first person to reach 100 million likes on Facebook.

17. Gorillaz
The mastermind of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful virtual band title is the Gorillaz. The animated band have global album sales of 3 million for their self-titled debut released in 2001.

18. Pharrell Williams
Owner of seven Grammy awards, the multi-talented producer Pharrell Williams holds the title for the longest music video. The video for ‘Happy’ lasts 24 hours and featured multiple people dancing in LA and miming to the words. It was nominated for ‘Best Male Video’ and ‘Video of the Year’ for this year’s VMAs.

19. Katy Perry
Smashing Lady Gaga’s Twitter crown, Katy Perry now holds the title for the most Twitter followers in the world with 56.7 million followers. She beats Justin Bieber and, erm, Barack Obama. Most of the top 10 most followed on the social network are pop stars.

21. Metallica
In 2013, Metallica became the only band to perform on all seven continents in a year. The titans are in the Guinness Book of World Records after finishing the tour with a 10-song set in Antarctica in December which was attended by “300 very curious penguins” according to lead singer James Hetfield.