I think we have to assume that someone, somewhere, someday, is going to break most records out there.
It’s the nature of records, after all – they’re made to be broken and all of that.
Even so, some of them probably never will be, and people say these will probably stand the test of time.
1. Who would have thought?
I’m pretty sure too many people have d**d trying to break boating speed records. Turns out rocket engines and water are a dangerous combination.
2. This is as it should be.
Most of the “world’s youngest” records have been retired.
I think at some point- probably when a girl had to be rescued trying to be the youngest to sail solo around the world, or a 7 year old d**d trying to be the youngest to fly across the country- people realized this was irresponsible and not something to be encouraged.
So you can definitely still do it- I know a family whose twins are the unofficial youngest to cycle the Pan-American highway, for example- but no one will recognize you for doing so.
3. That’s pretty dangerous.
David Blaine looked into breaking the no sleep record but decided it was too dangerous even for him.
4. Poor little dogs.
A lot of “fattest animal” records are also retired to discourage animal abuse.
5. Apple is giving it a shot.
Most popular single model of home computer. Ghe Commodore 64.
There are so many options now, it would be nearly impossible to reach that level of saturation again.
6. Too much pressure on small shoulders.
Youngest monarch.
Both Alfonso XIII of Spain and Jean I of France became kings immediately upon birth, as their respective fathers d**d before the sons were born.
7. Safety first.
Javelin, probably. The current world record is 106m iirc.
They changed the guidelines on the specifications that the javelins could be made to so that they wouldn’t fly over 100m and impale the running track/runners, so 106 will never be beaten
8. I love this one.
The longest-lasting lightbulb is still switched on and burning after 120 years of operation.
9. Unsettling to think about.
Visible stars and galaxies. As the universe expands and light red-shifts more and more of the theoretically possible viewable stars and other celestial bodies disappear.
If we had a perfect telescope and cataloged everything we could, we would notice that catalog shrinking little by little every year as object forever red shift out of our view. The ballpark figure is that we lose 60,000 stars every second from our viewable range.
10. Unless someone let it.
I recently read about the Champawat Tiger.
A bengal tiger that k**led 436 People and with that is in the Guinness Book of World Records. She was shot d**d in 1907.
I don’t see with today’s technology that a Tiger would ever beat that record.
11. Because it’s impossible.
Paper folding. The world record is folding paper 12 times using a hydraulic press. Folding paper 13 times is impossible.
Fun fact:
30 folds will get you to space, because your paper will be now 100 km high.
42 folds will get you to the Moon.
81 folds and your paper will be 127,786 light-years, almost as thick as the Andromeda Galaxy.
At 103 folds, you will get outside of the observable Universe, which is estimated at 93 billion light-years in diameter.
12. No one would want to.
tallest person ever; nowadays the condition he had would be treated much earlier.
He was from a town over from me. They have a life-sized statue of him. Poor guy only lived to 22.
13. One large instrument.
World’s largest organ:
The largest and loudest musical instrument ever constructed is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Completed in 1932 by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company, it had two consoles (one with seven manuals and another movable one with five), 1,477 stop controls and 33,112 pipes, ranging from pencil-size to 64 feet tall, both wood and metal.
It’s said to have “the volume of 25 brass bands,” with a range of seven octaves.
14. The true GOAT.
Wayne Gretzky’s most points / goals / assists.
The dude is part of the highest scoring pair of siblings in NHL along with his brother Brent who tallied I believe 5 points in his brief career.
I’ve seen some talk about who is the “GOAT of GOATs” between all the sports and it’s pretty unreal how little respect Gretzky gets, although with how limited hockey is in popularity it’s not too surprising.
15. The rules have changed.
Several baseball records won’t be beaten due to the way the game is played now, one of the big ones being Cy Young’s winning record.
No pitcher will ever match that because they don’t pitch every day any more. No other player has even come close, that record has stood for over 100 years.
16. It was a good show.
The final episode of MAS*H, which aired on February 28, 1983, was the most watched series finale ever, drawing in 105.9 million viewers.
Because there were only 3 or 4 channels when it aired, I think the viewing numbers are untouchable.
17. But they’ll be healthier.
Same for Nolan Ryan’s strikeout record. It just won’t happen with the advent of strict pitch counts, five-man rotations, and the general shift in caution with pitchers.
He’s got the record with 5,714 Ks over like 27 seasons, and the next closest pitcher is Randy Johnson with 4,875 in 22 seasons.
Justin Verlander is the active leader in strikeouts with 3,013, but he is 16 years into his career and is 37.
Nobody will ever catch up to Nolan Ryan.
18. Be careful out there.
There are a ton of records that have been deemed to dangerous to attempt, and so the relevant organizations will not accept submissions.
Things such as longest time without sleep.
19. That is a lot of people.
Greatest amount of extras used in a single movie scene.
The record holder is 1982’s Gandhi which used 300,000 for a 10 minute funeral sequence.
Most films now prefer to use CGI for crowds of that size, so it’s likely to remain the record holder
20. Because people cannot be trusted.
They retired all of the “world’s heaviest cat/dog” type records because sh%theads were overfeeding their pets in an attempt to get the record.
The previous winner for cats was a tabby who apparently weighed 46 pounds (generally a healthy range for domestic shorthairs is 8-10 pounds) and I sincerely hope no cat ever gets anywhere near that big again, that kind of animal abuse just breaks my heart
21. Cool, indeed.
I know I’m late to this but there is an oil well in Pennsylvania that is the world’s “oldest continuously producing oil well”. Its the McClintock #1. Drilled in 1861. It still produces about a barrel of oil a year (31.5 gallons) but most of it is salt water.
It’s off the side of the road and only a small sign marks where the little park is. I just think it’s a cool piece of history.
22. This one will be interesting to watch.
Best selling album ever. Thriller will have that record until the sun burns out.
Prior to Thriller, the best selling album would be topped every 3-4 years. Thriller has now been the World’s biggest selling album for 37 straight years. The closest competitor is 18 million records behind.
23. That’s a long way off.
John Stockton’s all time assists in the NBA. It’s insane, closest is down by 3,715 assists.
24. Seriously hard to believe.
The highest horse jump with rider. A thoroughbred jumped with its rider 2,47 meters high. Hopefully this record will never be broken.
25. More variety now.
Greatest percentage of cars on the road at any one time.
For a hot minute back there, the Model T Ford comprised more than half of all consumer cars on the road.
26. Because she could, I guess.
Woman holds record for having s^x with 919 guys in the same day
Lisa Sparks is her name.
27. Just who he was.
How many beers in one sitting. Andre the giant has kept that record at 110-120 beers.
He was a 7ft 4inch tall man weighing in over 500 pounds. This was in a 6 hour period with his manager who drank 56 beers himself. The bar tab itself was at $40k. Record has been there since 1976.
28. So many immortalized baseball players.
Baseball.
Cy Young’s 511 wins
Pete Rose’s 4256 hits
Ty Cobb’s .367 lifetime batting average
Barry Bond’s 232 walks in a season
Nolan Ryan’s 383 K’s in a season
29. At least, I hope it will stand.
Ratu Udre Udre ate at least 87 people.
I doubt with modern technology anyone would get away with being a cannibalistic serial k**ler for that long.
30. Are you not entertained?
The record for the movie with the most tickets sold is still Gone with the Wind, which was released in 1939. It has sold an estimated 202,286,200 tickets across all of its releases.
Second place is Star Wars (1977) with an estimated 178,119,500 tickets sold.
While the records for highest box office earnings get beaten every few years due to inflation (with Avengers: Endgame currently holding the record), it’s unlikely that the record for the number of tickets sold will ever be beaten since people don’t go to the theater in numbers as large as they used to now that we have television, home theaters, streaming services, and other ways to keep us entertained.
31. I’m not sure if this is good or bad.
Longest siege in the world: Siege of Candia, 1648-1669. Herakleion was sieged for 21 whole years. Modern weaponry guarantees that will never be bested.
Edit: some people in the comments corrected me. It seems that the actual longest siege is the Siege of Ceuta 1694-1720. However, when searching “the longest siege”, Google answers Candia (Crete), something I already knew. Idk guys.
32. And yet people keep trying.
The water speed record. As I understand anyone who’s tried to beat the record has d**d horribly from losing control of their boat.
33. They’ll never get close.
Cy Young, with over 500 wins as a major league pitcher.
Will definitely never see another 500 game winner, or a 400 game winner, and very likely not even another 300 game winner.
Active leader is verlander with 226.
34. Lol indeed.
Largest percentage of humanity slept with. Probably belongs to Genghis Khan. Unless Adam and Eve are to be considered historical figures lol
35. He’s got some catching up to do.
John Stockton assists and steals record. John Stockton has 15,806 assists which is 3,715 more assists than the next guy on the list. He also has 3,265 steals which is 581 steals ahead of 2nd place.
The current active steals leader is Chris Paul who has 2,002 steals, he would have to average 100 plus steals a season for the next 12 seasons to come close to breaking that record.
36. A classic.
Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.
The only way a guy is getting to even 80 points again is if it’s in the flow of the game and the game is undecided. We’ve seen Steve Kerr shut down his players once they reach certain scoring milestones, but mainly because the games are out of reach and he doesn’t want anyone getting hurt intentionally. Even Kobe got shut down for a fourth quarter after scoring 62 through three quarters.
That being said, scoring 100 points in a game is the only realistic record of his that can be matched/broken. Nobody is averaging 50 points per game, 27 rebounds per game, 48.5 minutes per game, etc.
I have to say that I agree with most of these.
What would you add to the list? Do it in the comments!
