When setting records, the weirder the better
For Guinness, it’s big business, too
Guinness World Records has declared Sultan Kösen the tallest living man in the world (8 feet, 2.8 inches), Bilal Ilyas Jhandir the best at identifying Taylor Swift songs in a minute or less (34 songs) and a team at a 2017 Adidas event the top distance traveler on a treadmill in an hour while carrying a 20-pound backpack (36.6 miles). ⬤ They’re among the roughly 65,000 records tracked by the company − so many, in fact, that the famous annually printed Guinness World Records book doesn’t include them all.
You might not realize it, but that book started out as an offshoot of Guinness beer to settle pub bets about seven decades ago. But now Guinness World Records also tracks lots and lots of dreamed-up superlatives − and those records seem to keep getting more specific, and at times bizarre.
Today’s records include the most people in a floating line (unassisted), most people in a digging relay, most prolific beat-’em-up video game soundtrack composer and most people lifted and thrown in two minutes (female).
The company says the massive list of records helps keep Guinness World Records relevant in an online world. Granting superlatives for whimsical topics – person to hug the most trees in an hour, person with the most matches held in the nose, person with the fastest time to visit every location on the London Monopoly board by bicycle – is a part of the brand’s appeal, said Craig Glenday, the company’s editor-in-chief.
But staffers at Guinness World Records also acknowledge that a large collection of niche records is a big part of how the organization
“It’s important we’re not a nostalgic brand. Everyone should have the opportunity to get in the records.”
Craig Glenday
Editor-in-chief, Guinness World Records
makes money. It now operates a consulting business that helps match paying companies with records they can break to generate publicity.
Nearly half of the company’s total sales came from the consulting services in 2022, said Amanda Marcus, a spokesperson for Guinness World Records. (Meanwhile, 43% of its total sales came from publishing and 8% came from its digital, TV and entertainment services.)
The end result: very specific, sometimes oddly specific, records that benefit both Guinness World Records and the companies that break those records.
Guinness World Records is in a unique global position: It has a virtual monopoly on superlatives in the public imagination and answers to no governing body or advisory board. But the company says it works with experts from various disciplines, including dendrologists (trees), gerontologists (aging) or funambulists (tightrope walking) and has a team “overseeing records to assess evidence and verif(y) the success or failure of record attempts.”
Here’s how Guinness World Records became famous and held its popularity for tracking records − even the ones it made up.
It all started with an argument about the fastest game bird
Guinness Breweries managing director Sir Hugh Beaver created the company in the early 1950s in Ireland. According to the company, Beaver attended a party. There, “he and his hosts argue(d) about the fastest game bird in Europe, and fail(ed) to find an answer in any reference book.”
At the party, “Sir Hugh had the idea for a Guinness promotion based on the idea of settling pub arguments and invited the twins Norris and Ross McWhirter who were fact-finding researchers from Fleet Street to compile a book of facts and figures,” according to the Guinness World Records website.
The McWhirters founded Guinness Superlatives, Ltd. and published the first now-annual Guinness Book of World Records in 1955. The brand sold 187,000 books after four reprints within a year. In 1964, book sales across all editions and languages peaked to 1 million copies, according to the company’s website.
“First published in 1955, the annual Guinness World Records book has become one of the biggest-selling copyright titles of all time, selling 120 million copies to date in 22 languages and in more than 100 countries,” according to the company.
More than just a book: It’s a TV show, a museum and more
Today the company says it tracks roughly 65,000 records, and there’s plenty of interest in breaking them.
Guinness World Records received more than 57,400 applications in 2023, said spokesperson Kylie Galloway. That’s a jump from 38,000 applications it received in 2014. The company grants awards based on actions that are measurable, breakable, able to be standardized, verifiable, based on one variable and the best in the world, according to the company’s website.
Guinness Superlatives changed its name to Guinness Publishing Limited in 1990. Guinness Publishing Limited changed to Guinness World Records, and the Guinness Book of World Records was renamed Guinness World Records in 1999, reflecting its evolved business. The company also expanded from mostly publishing books to other ventures, including a TV show in the United States called “Guinness World Records Primetime” and a museum of its records in Hollywood.
Its current owners, Canadian conglomerate Jim Pattison Group, purchased the company in 2009.
Record breakers don’t get money, but they do get bragging rights
A world record from Guinness World Records routinely garners international media coverage and has inspired some incredible feats.
Ashrita Furman, of Queens, New York, holds the most Guinness World Records. He has set hundreds of records and holds 159 of them, Galloway said. Furman earned his first Guinness World Record in 1979 by completing 27,000 jumping jacks.
“As a kid I had a huge fascination with the exotic places and people listed in the Guinness Book of Records, but being a non-athlete, I never imagined ever actually getting a world record myself,” Furman’s website says.
Guinness World Record holders don’t receive money or trophies from the company. Some may end up in record books or websites. Award winners are guaranteed only a certificate and bragging rights, Galloway said.
But not every record is broken by an unique or talented person. Some records are broken as a part of an elaborate public relations service used by brands.
In 2009, the company launched Guinness World Record consultancy, a service offered to businesses, corporations and influencers who want to win a superlative to promote or market their brand or product.
The company works with major corporations, influencers and nonprofits to help them break records, according to a written statement from Mackenzie Berry, head of consultancy services for Guinness World Records Americas.
“Our consultancy business started organically over a decade ago, when organizations and individuals were showing interest in receiving additional support across all stages of record breaking,” Berry wrote in an email.
Fees vary depending on what services are requested, but the company’s services “tend to start at around $13,000,” Marcus said.
Businesses or individuals can pay for advice from a Guinness World Records staffer to create a new record title or break an existing one, to plan an attempt, to have an adjudicator attend the world record attempt and to use Guinness World Records branding to promote a world record, among other services, Berry wrote in an email.
“We work with everyone from globally recognized brands – like Adidas, LG (and) Panasonic – to influencers – like Nick DiGiovanni, Mr.Beast (and) Airrack – to small non-profits looking to raise funds and engage with their communities,” according to a written statement from Berry.
They are required to actually complete the records themselves, Berry said.
One frustrated record holder goes off on his own
Dean Gould and David Adamovich hold several Guinness World Records. Gould holds records for licking the most stamps in five minutes and snatching the most drink coasters, among others. Adamovich holds a variety of knifethrowing records, including for throwing the most knives alternatively to both sides of two human targets in one minute and throwing the most knives around a human target in one minute.
They told USA TODAY they had some good feelings about Guinness World Records but weren’t fully happy about their experience.
Galloway said three of Gould’s records were featured in the annual books, but Gould was frustrated with the amount of promotion they received.
There’s only enough space in the books to feature about 4,000 records each year, Galloway said. The book’s editorial team decides which of the more than 65,000 records the company tracks is featured in each book, Galloway said. She said Guinness World Records features “as many as possible online.”
In his frustration, Gould launched Record Holders Republic – his own global record-keeping brand. The company tracks about 4,000 records, he said in an email. Gould holds several records with his own company.
Despite more than two decades in business, it’s difficult to reach the level of fame Guinness World Records holds, Gould said. But he’s determined to challenge the brand.
“The difference between us and Guinness is we only specialize in human achievements,” Gould said. “Guinness has awards for music, the animal kingdom, literature and all different sorts of topics.”
Adamovich, who is known as “The Great Throwdini,” is president of the U.S. chapter of Record Holders Republic. He said he has many grievances about Guinness World Records, including a disagreement with an adjudicator over an attempted knife-throwing record.
“I hear more often than not from disgruntled people trying to go down the Guinness path,” Adamovich said. “We understand what it’s like to want to win, achieve and hold a world record.”
Is a Guinness World Record getting too watered down?
Several other companies track superlatives, including India’s World Records. Glenday doesn’t consider them challengers to Guinness World Records.
“People in those books really want to be in the Guinness World Records book,” Glenday said.
There is a downside to a growing number of records, some of which are being used as advertisements for brands: a superlative from Guinness World Records isn’t what is used to be.
Or at least that’s the opinion of some critics.
In an emailed interview, Anna Nicholas, a former adjudicator and PR representative for Guinness World Records who said she worked at Guinness World Records for 21⁄2 years from 1987 to 1990, noted the company’s main product today “is a far cry from the book I worked on.”
The company used to publish only records that were newsworthy and “stopped at pure sensationalism,” she said. Now the company acknowledges some records are used to drum up publicity.
“At the end of the day the book was fun but regarded by many as a serious reference source which meant that there was an element of propriety,” Nicholas said. “Intellectual rigour was key for many of the academic and knowledge-based records although we of course carried a number of fun and crazy records, too.”
Still, Nicholas has fond memories of working at Guinness World Records and said: “I imagine the current owners need to do all they can to keep it profitable and viable in our current age hence why charges and a consultancy service are probably offered.”
The great debate over the world’s oldest living dog
Tracking records is a mix between objective measurements and human judgment – and the process can be fraught with controversy.
Guinness World Records has a team of adjudicators who make the ultimate decisions on award-winners. Those officials are required to assess entries and claims “with objectivity and enthusiasm and free from prejudice or bias,” according to the company’s values. But it’s not always that simple. One high-profile example: Several veterinarians challenged Guinness World Records after it awarded the superlative of “the world’s oldest dog living” and “the world’s oldest dog ever” to a 31-year-old Rafeiro do Alentejo dog named Bobi in 2023. The company eventually revoked the title of “the world’s oldest dog ever” after adjudicators decided an investigation showed there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he was in fact the oldest dog in the world.
Guinness World Records says it has a team of experts who fact-check record entries for authenticity.
“Guinness World Records has an expertly trained Records Management Team who undertake substantial research and verification checks to confirm whether a new record has been achieved, in addition to regularly reviewing our current record titles and creating new record titles,” Galloway said.
New awards, greater inclusivity, even artificial intelligence
Much of the company’s success is its ability to evolve and its stance that anyone can win a record, Glenday said. That is partly why the company tracks so many superlatives.
“It’s important we’re not a nostalgic brand,” he said. “Everyone should have the opportunity to get in the records – whether you’re Usain Bolt or someone down the street doing handstands,” Glenday said. (Bolt has a superlative from Guinness World Records for being the fastest man in the world.)
In an interview with USA TODAY, Glenday said the company is looking at how artificial intelligence can help Guinness World Records with consistency. The company also is adjusting or adding awards to include transgender and nonbinary people and people with mental and physical impairments. And it’s trying to attract more female recordbreakers; the majority of superlative holders are men, Glenday said.
And it plans to continue working with influencers and companies to use new records for marketing purposes – not so different from its origins, when Sir Hugh Beaver envisioned the book of superlatives to promote Irish beer.