When it comes to breaking records in music, there are the achievements that everyone's aware of.
Most albums sold, most No. 1 hits, highest-grossing tour. You know, the usual.
But then there are the accomplishments so wild, they almost take you by surprise and make you wonder why anyone was even paying attention to that in the first place.
When we learned that it was the 28th anniversary of the Guns N' Roses rock ballad "November Rain" becoming the longest song to ever crack the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, it got us wondering just what other wild and obscure records were out there. Luckily, the good people at Guinness World Records have been keeping track of that sort of things since the annual reference book's inception in 1955.
What we found among their records below us away. Most births at one concert. The deepest underwater performance. The most digital tracks released in 24 hours. (Wait until you find out how many on that last one.)
What follows are 20 of the most interesting records in music history that we've come across. Prepare to be amazed—or, at the very least, mildly amused.
Most Sampled ActThe late, great James Brown is the most sampled musician of all-time, sampled over 7,000 times as of 2018. His song "Funky Drummer" has appeared on 1,440 songs, including George Michael's "Freedom! 90," Nicki Minaj's "Save Me" and Ed Sheeran's "Shirtsleeves."
First Download-Only Hit SingleIn March 2003, Fleetwood Mac's "Peacekeeper" became the first single to enter the Billboard Hot 100 based on download sales alone. Available for purchase on the band's website, the song debuted at No. 93 and went on to peak at No. 80 two months later.
Longest Song to Enter the Hot 100While Guns N' Roses has the longest song to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, the title track of TOOL's 2019 album Fear Inoculum became the longest to ever enter the chart, clocking in at 10 minutes and 21 seconds. Debuting at No. 93, it was also the first to enter the chart while exceeding 10 minutes.
Longest Live Broadcast of a Single Piece of MusicOn September 27, 2015, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a live performance of Max Richter's "SLEEP" that lasted 8 hours, 1 minute and 23 seconds.
Most Consecutive Weeks to Release a Digital SingleAfter launching his #EverySingleFriday campaign, Nashville actor and musician Charles Esten set a record for 54 consecutive weeks spent releasing a new, original digital single.
Most Digital Singles Released by an Act in 24 HoursOn March 8, 2013, the Dutch duo Nick & Simon released their single "Julia"—followed by 154 different versions, each with a different female name as the title.
Most Recorded SongWhile "Amazing Grace" and The Beatles' "Yesterday" have been recorded a thousand different ways, George Gershwin's jazz standard "Summertime," written for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, has a staggering 67,591 recorded versions in existence as of 2017.
Longest Album Title
In March 2008, the band Chumbawumba released an album with a title that clocked in at a staggering 156 words. Shortened to The Boy Bands Have Won, the full title is: The Boy Bands Have Won, and All the Copyists and the Tribute Bands and the TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture to Be Shaped by Mimicry, Whether from Lack of Ideas or from Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try to Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, or Hold Art and Music and Literature as Fixed, Untouchable and Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try to 'Guard' Any Particular Form of Music Are, Like the Copyists and Manufactured Bands, Doing It the Worst Disservice, Because the Only Thing That You Can Do to Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done, and the Boy Bands Have Won. Try and slap that on some merch.
Best-Selling Instrumental SingleA disco arrangement of film composer John Williams' "Star Wars Theme and Cantina Band," released by record producer Meco in 1977, remains the only instrumental single to ever reach Platinum status, having sold over two million units. The track was featured on the album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, which outsold the Star Wars soundtrack and also went Platinum.
Most Viewed YouTube Music Video in 24 HoursWith the release of their latest single "How You Like That," K-pop superstars Blackpink edged out BTS for the most viewed music video on the streaming platform, notching 86,300,000 views in its first full day on the site.
First Digital Track to Sell a Million CopiesIn October 2005, Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" became the first song to have one million paid downloads in the USA.
Longest Music VideoIn November 2013, Pharrell Williams released the "world's first 24-hour music video" for his inescapable hit single "Happy." The video features people dancing to the four-minute track, which plays on a loop a whopping 360 times.
Most Views on YouTube in 24 Hours by a Solo PerformerWhile Blackpink holds the distinction of the most views in the first 24 hours overall, Taylor Swift is the solo artist to have the most views of a music video in its first day when "ME!" dropped on April 2019 and racked up 65,200,000 views.
Most Words in a Hit SingleWhen Eminem released the song "Rap God" in 2013, he delivered an astounding 1,560 words in the 6:04 minute track, which averages to 4.28 words per second. In one 15-second segment of the song alone, he spits 97 words. It's no surprise that he also holds the distinction of the recording artist with the largest vocabulary, using 8,818 unique words in the lyrics of his 100 lengthiest tracks.
Longest Song to Crack the Top 10Clocking in at 8:57 minutes long, the symphonic ballad "November Rain" off Guns N' Roses' 1981 album Use Your Illusion 1 became the longest song to ever enter the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at No. 3 in the summer of 1982.
Most Sampled SongA seven-second drum solo in soul group The Winston's 1969 track "Amen, Brother" holds the distinction of the most sampled track in history. Performed by Gregory Coleman, what's known as the Amen break has been sampled over 2,800 times, becoming a staple of both drum and bass and jungle music. Sadly, Coleman never saw a cent of royalties and died homeless and destitute in 2006, reportedly never even knowing the impact he'd made on music.
Oldest Artist with a Debut AlbumAt 89 years young when his album Love Changes Everything was released in September 2019, Britain's Got Talent winner Colin Thackery became the oldest person to release a debut LP.
Largest Musical Act to Release an AlbumSigned to Decca—part of Universal Music Group—in 2009, Rock Choir became the largest act to ever release an album when Rock Choir Vol. 1 was released the following year. A pop, gospel and Motown choir, the group consists of an astounding 4,386 singers.
Most Births at a ConcertYes, you read that right. The infamous Altamont Speedway concert headlined by The Rolling Stones on December 6, 1969 was the scene of four births, as reported by the American Red Cross. The six-hour free show, which included Santana, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on the line-up, also, tragically, was the location of four deaths.
Deepest Underwater ConcertIn October 2006, UK-based singer-songwriter Katie Melua and her band performed a concert 994 ft. below sea level on the Norwegian Statoil's Troll A platform in the North Sea. They had to undergo extensive medical testing and survival training before arriving on the rig via helicopter. She performed two 30-minute concerts for 20 oil rig workers who had won tickets to see the performance.
