25 Records That No One Thought Could Be Broken But Were

It’s no secret that companies pay a lofty fee every year to advertise their commercials during one of the most watched sports segments—the super bowl. In 2002, Pepsi broke the record for the most expensive advertising campaign at whopping $8.1 million.

The commercial, which starred Britney Spears sipping Pepsi through five different themes over five decades, ran for a total of 90 seconds.

As if Macy’s needed extra holiday spirit, in 2014, they broke the record for longest wishlist to Santa. The company encouraged people around the world to submit their wishlists online, and combined them into one list. The end result was 121,138 wishes, surpassing the 2012 record of 75,954.

Hunter Hayes was represented by Atlantic Records when he broke the record for most live concerts in 24 hours in 2014. Promoting his album Storyline, Hayes started his campaign in New York City and ended in Philadelphia.

Love wins—especially when it comes to record-breaking. On a flight from New Zealand to Fiji, Fiji Airlines coordinated the marriages of two passengers on board, witnessed by ten bridesmaids and groomsmen.

At an altitude of 41,000 feet, the couples said “I do” and Fiji Airlines won the title of highest altitude wedding on an aircraft.

Transparency in companies, particularly where food is concerned, is an appreciated trait. To show their customers just how much effort goes into the perfect sandwich, Arby’s aired a 13-hour, five minute and 11 second-long commercial in Duluth, Minnesota.

The commercial showcased the entire slow cooking process of the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich, from start to finish, effectively giving the company the title of the longest television commercial.

Playing with your food isn’t always frowned upon, especially when it comes to breaking records. In 2016, employees at Kelloggs U.K. broke the record of most cereal boxes toppled in domino fashion. The exact number of classic cornflakes capsized was 2,686.

DHL was not far beyond when it came to record-breaking, as they proved this year when they broke the record for most people on a single raft. Staged at Lake Otto-Maigler-See in Cologne, Germany, they managed to squeeze 956 DHL employees on a raft, breaking the old record of 512 people held by German retail company REWE Markt GmbH.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen, famously known for founding Microsoft in 1975, both became Guinness World Record holders shortly after their company came to life. In 1980, Gates and Allen won the record for the world’s first microcomputer, after the release of their first operating system, known as Xenix.

November 11th, 2015 held the online shopping event “Single’s Day,” on Alibaba, and ended up being record-breakingly popular. The event won the company the title of “highest online sales revenue generated by a single company in 24 hours.” That was in addition to selling the most cars, televisions, mobile handsets, watches, liters of milk, tons of nuts, kilograms of honey, and kilograms of apples in one day on an individual platform.

Not to be left in the dust, Yahoo Inc, for its 20th anniversary, broke the record for “the largest simultaneous yodel.” 3,432 Yahoo employees, led by Wylie Gustafson who created the company’s infamous jingle, partook in a group yodel and achieved the title.

Being the founder of Virgin is only one of Richard Branson’s many accomplishments, some of them even landing him titles in the Guinness World Records. Among his many record-breaking titles include the most people to ride a kite surfboard (2014), the most followers on LinkedIn (2014), and the oldest person to cross the English Channel by kiteboard (2012). If you thought that was it, you are wrong. He also holds the record for the richest reality television host, the first Pacific crossing by hot air balloon (1991), and the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic (1987). There’s no doubt about it, Branson has one goal in mind, domination!

Companies have also made their mark in the Guinness World Records, and Intel was ready to rise to the challenge. For their 50th birthday, Intel released a massive promotion! 2,018 Intel Shooting Star Drones went into the sky over Folsom, California, effectively breaking the record for “the most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously.”  Needless to say, the police station was busy that handling phone call after phone regarding UFOs in the skies!

Cat lovers will be familiar with the extensive length that the mane coon breed can grow to, so it will come as no surprise to some that Cygnus the Silver Mane Coon is a Guinness World Record holder. His long, fluffy, and downright magnificent tail measures 17.58 inches long, crowning him king of the tails—as far as records are concerned.

In 2018, You Jianxia of Jiangsu, China joined the Guinness World Records with the longest recorded eyelashes. Jianxia first noticed her lengthening lashes during an 18-month nature retreat in 2013. She believes the length, measured at 4.88 inches, to be attributed to her time in nature. While that theory seems fascinating, no research was conducted to verify that time with nature caused the growth of lashes!

When we picture origami, what comes to mind are usually images in miniature. Cranes. Elephants. Stars. Tiny, folded layers of paper. In this case, Liu Tong had more complex ideas for his origami rhinoceros. Interestingly, his design was not at all small at all. It stands at 13.3 feet tall and 25.6 feet long. Needless to say, he is the proud record holder for his creation having the largest origami. The giant white rhino is on display at the Mixc Shopping Mall in China.

The need for speed seems to be an innate human complex, and in Tom Bagnall, it manifests as the world’s fastest jet-propelled go-kart. Tom, fueled by a love of engineering, built the go-kart over a year and secured the record at 112.29 mph.

Age is just a number and Sumiko is a big advocate of such. At 83 years old, she is the world’s oldest DJ, going by the name Sumirock. By day, she is a restaurant owner and cook in Japan. She says that doing something different gives her energy.

It is never too late to start something you’re interested in—who knows, it may even land you a world record. Take Betty Goedhart for instance. She did not start practicing trapeze until the age of 78!  Now, she holds the record for the record of oldest performing flying trapeze artist. She is 84 years and 249 days old.

Legos are a staple of childhoods everywhere, inspiring creativity in young minds to build and explore. That is where Matt from Winchester got his initial curiosity in engineering. His love of legos would eventually lead to the creation of the world’s largest rideable hexapod (six-legged robot). The machine is 9.2 feet tall 16 feet wide.

Most of us have probably tried (and possibly failed miserably because it is SO much harder than it looks) our hands at hula hooping before. Mastering one hoop is definitely a challenge, and Dunja Kuhn from Germany blows the competition out of the water with ease. Kuhn holds the record of most hula hoops spun simultaneously on multiple body parts with 59 hoops.

As an owner and dog team, Rachel and her dog Jessica secured their record of most skips with a jump rope made by a person and dog in one minute, in December 2016. The pair have been since be able to retain their record of 59 skips.

The owner of Feather, an Italian Greyhound from Maryland U.S., knew she was destined for great heights when the pup jumped so high, she hit the basement ceiling. After training jumps and hurdles, Feather now holds the world record for highest jump made by a dog at 191.7 cm high.

Zeus was owned by the Doorlag family in Michigan, he was a part-time therapy dog and full-time gentle giant. Standing on his hind legs, Zeus measured a towering 7′ 4”, more than a third the height of an average giraffe, and surpassing the previous record holder Giant George, another great Dane.

Mia Hamm scored her 158th international goal on November 3, 2004, it was a big accomplishment for the soccer player. The win shattered her own records and added some for the U. S. women’s national soccer team. Mia Hamm made the goal with 51 seconds left on the clock which gave the team a 1-1 draw against Denmark. It put Hamm 51 goals ahead of the next-best woman, Elisabetta Vignotto of Italy. Needless to say, Hamm led her team to an unbeaten streak of 21 total games.

When Bob Beamon sprang from the long jump runway and into the air at Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium on October 18, 1968, he says the only thing in his mind was to win, not to set a new record. Beamon didn’t exactly set a new record as much as he shattered the old one held by Ralph Boston and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan. Beamon sprang two feet farther than the previous record holders’ length of 27 feet and 4¾ inches. Beamon’s eye-popping record was 29 feet, 2½ inches. The athlete had gone much further than anyone thought possible. Even the electronic measuring device wasn’t able to calculate the distance!  They ended up using a traditional measuring tape to measure the distance!