2023 is almost over, but what an incredible year it’s been.
We’ve seen some pretty iconic records broken this year and there’s been plenty to celebrate.
From the world’s oldest people and premature babies defying the odds to epic stunts, awe-inspiring feats and record-breaking animals, we’ve seen it all.
We’re blown away every single year by the amazing record breakers who come along. We’re constantly surprised by the achievements of people around the world and truly never know what to expect one day to the next.
As the festive period continues and 2024 draws nearer, let’s take a look back at the last year of record breaking…
January
Prince Harry (UK) kicked off the year in style when his memoir Spare became the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time in January.
The controversial royal autobiography took the title by selling 1.43 million copies in its first day on sale in the UK, USA, and Canada.
Also in January, we lost the world’s oldest person living Sister André (France, b. 11 February 1904 as Lucile Randon) at the age of 118.
Shortly afterwards, María Branyas Morera (USA/Spain) was named the new oldest woman living and oldest person living at the age of 115 years 321 days.
2023 was a huge year for K-pop, kicking off with three records being set by BLACKPINK’s Lisa in January.
She became the first solo K-pop winner at the MTV Video Music Awards and the first solo K-pop winner at the MTV Europe Music Awards, as well as earning the record for most followers on Instagram for a K-pop artist.
But this was just the beginning of record-breaking activities in the K-pop world this year, with BLACKPINK also becoming the most streamed female group on Spotify and BTS smashing their own record for most streamed male group on Spotify, both in March.
To name just a few of the many other K-pop records set this year, BTS star Jimin became the fastest solo K-pop artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify (male) in just 393 days before breaking more records later in the year, as did his bandmate Jungkook, who had the most streamed track on Spotify in one week (male) with “Seven”, and BLACKPINK’s Lisa made history when “LALISA” became the first K-pop track by a solo artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.
Back to January, YouTuber Airrack teamed up with Pizza Hut to create the world’s largest pizza (13,990 square feet; 1,296.722 square metres), the world’s largest waterlily leaf, with a diameter of 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) was discovered in Bolivia after hiding in plain sight for decades, and SweetyCakes (Switzerland) unveiled the largest wearable cake dress (supported).
February
In February, dog trainer Wolfgang Lauenburger (Germany) earned his 10th Guinness World Records title after teaching 14 of his dogs to become the most dogs in a conga line, while loved-up couple Beth Neale (South Africa) and Miles Cloutier (Canada) performed the longest underwater kiss by holding their breath to smooch for 4 minutes 6 seconds.
February also saw a USA man named Edwin Castro pocket the greatest jackpot in a national lottery after winning a massive $2.05 billion (£1.79 billion), and Dalai the llama won the genetic lottery after becoming the oldest llama in captivity ever shortly after his 27th birthday.
Also, Disney superfan Jeff Reitz (USA) claimed the record for most consecutive visits to Disneyland after going to the California park 2,995 days in a row – that’s eight years, three months and 13 days spent at the happiest place on Earth.
Japanese twins Yoshie and Michie Kikuchi claimed the title of greatest height differential in living non-identical twins (female) in February with 75 cm (2 ft 5.5 in) between them.
March
In March, we met the world’s oldest living chicken. Peanut the hen was at least 20 years 304 days old.
We also celebrated the inspiring story of the most premature twins.
Adiah Laelynn and Adrial Luka Nadarajah, from Ontario, Canada, were given a “0% chance of survival” when they were born at just 22 weeks.
2023 was also a massive year in speedcubing.
Nine-year-old Yiheng Wang (China) broke the record for fastest average time to solve a 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube in March with a time of 4.69 seconds.
He did it again a few months later with a time of 4.48 seconds.
In June, Max Park (USA) broke the iconic record for fastest time to solve a 3x3x4 rotating puzzle cube in just 3.13 seconds.
In July, Li Zhihao (China) once again broke the record for fastest time to solve three rotating puzzle cubes whilst juggling in an impressive 3 minutes 16 seconds.
And in October, Charlie Eggins (Australia) set the record for fastest time to solve a 3x3x3 rotating puzzle cube blindfolded in an astonishing 12.10 seconds.
March also saw the announcement of the world’s most premature triplets.
Rubi-Rose, Payton-Jane and Porscha-Mae Hopkins (UK) were born 121 days early at 22 weeks 5 days. And with a combined weight of 1.28 kg (2.83 lb), they were also the lightest triplet birth ever.
Sarwan Singh (Canada) extended his record for longest beard on a living person (male) after his facial hair grew to 2.54 m (8 ft 3 in), and actor James Martin (Northern Ireland) made history as the first leading actor with Down Syndrome in an Oscar-winning film thanks to his role in An Irish Goodbye.
Towards the end of March, Elon Musk (South Africa) amassed the most followers on Twitter, taking over former US President Barack Obama, who had held the record since 2020.
April
In April, we revisited Aevin Dugas (USA), owner of the world’s largest afro on a living person (female).
Her impressive hair was first declared record-breaking in 2010 when it measured 4 ft 4 in (132 cm), but by April this year, it had grown to 5 ft 4 in (165 cm).
And from big things to small things, we unveiled the shortest dog living, pocket-sized Chihuahua Pearl who is just 9.14 cm (3.59 in) tall.
The world’s shortest man living Afshin Ghaderzadeh (Iran) returned to the record books with the smallest hands (male) – his left is 6.7 cm (2.63 in) and the right is 6.4 cm (2.51 in).
Also in April, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (Norway) broke the record for most goals scored by a player in an English Premier League season with 33 goals in 29 appearances. He went on to finish the season with 36 goals in 35 games.
May
In May, Josef Šálek (Czech Republic also known as Czechia) pushed through the pain to establish a new world record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position (male) with a staggering 9 hr 38 min 47 sec.
We also caught up with inspirational Àlex Roca Campillo (Spain), an athlete with cerebral palsy, who broke the record for fastest marathon (CIH) (male) in a time of 5 hr 50 min 51 sec.
And two strangers with a shared loved of Marvel became joint record holders for the most Marvel comic book characters tattooed onto the body with 34 inkings each.
June
In June, Taylor Swift (USA) broke an iconic music record – one of many she earned this year.
She had the most simultaneous albums on the US Billboard 200, becoming the only living artist in history to place as many as 10 albums on the chart at the same time.
Ruth Magee (Canada) and Beryl Richmond (UK) extended their record for longest lasting pen friendship (pen pals) after writing to each other for more than 83 years.
And TV legend Don Francisco (Chile) – real name Mario Kreutzberger – became the oldest variety TV show host (male) at 82 years 85 days and earned the longest career as a variety TV show presenter (male) with a career lasting 60 years 277 days.
Chefs Nick DiGiovanni (USA) and Gordon Ramsay (UK) teamed up to make the largest beef wellington, but the biggest cooking news of the year was Nigerian chef Hilda Baci’s longest cooking marathon (individual) at 93 hours 11 minutes.
And in medical news, the world’s largest and heaviest kidney stone was removed from 62-year-old retired soldier Canistus Coonghe (Sri Lanka).
In football, Lucy Clark (UK) broke new ground in the game by becoming the first openly transgender football (soccer) referee.
July
When new social media platform Threads launched in July, YouTuber Mr Beast (USA) became the first person to reach 1 million followers on Threads in just a matter of hours.
The world’s largest box of chocolates was also unveiled in this month, and photographer Steven Haining and his model Ciara Antoski (both Canada) staged the deepest underwater model photoshoot at 21 ft (6.40 m) although he’s since gone even deeper!
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) nabbed the highest annual earnings for an athlete for the third time in his career and an Aussie fitness fanatic named Daniel Scali did 3,249 push ups in an hour – the most push ups in one hour, although it was broken later in the month by Pop Laurentiu (Romania/UK) with 3,378.
And supermom Elisabeth Anderson-Sierra (USA) clocked in the largest donation of breastmilk by an individual. She has hyperlactation syndrome, a condition where breastmilk overflow occurs because of increased milk production.
We also caught up with super fit Jim Arrington (USA), the world’s oldest bodybuilder who was still going strong at 90 years old.
August
In August, USA woman Kimberly “Kimycola” Winter did the loudest burp (female) – one that measured 107.3 decibels.
And UK dad Colin Hancock became the longest-surviving triple heart bypass patient (male) as he marked more than 45 years since his life-saving operation.
Erin Honeycutt (USA) embraced her facial hair until it grew to 30 cm (11.81 in) and became the longest beard on a living female and a film fanatic claimed the record for most films seen in a cinema in one year after 777 trips to the flicks.
Daredevil couple Jake Bennett and Mel Eckhart (Australia) broke a record that had stood for more than 20 years when they achieved the longest motorcycle jump with a passenger at 37.10 m (121 ft 8 in).
Meanwhile, Tami Manis (USA) was all business in the front, party in the back when she unveiled her longest competitive mullet (female) to the world – all 172.72 cm (5 ft 8 in) of it.
We also caught up with Cassius, the largest crocodile in captivity (living) who measures at 5.48 m (17 ft 11.75 in). He’s become a surrogate dad since getting his record.
September
In September, Fayis Nazer (India) reclaimed his record for fastest time to drink a Capri Sun with a time of 8.02 seconds. It’s really not as easy as you think it is – give it a go!
It was a month for big hair news, with Sidakdeep Singh Chahal (India) breaking the longest hair on a male teenager record with locks measuring 146 cm (4 ft 9.5 in) and Amir Manuel Mendez (USA) earning the largest afro on a living person (male) with a circumference of 226 cm (88 in).
And champion speedeater Mike Jack (Canada) clocked in the fastest time to eat 50 Carolina Reaper chilli peppers at 6 min 49.2 sec.
Super fit Frank Sagona (USA) did 1,010 chin ups in just 60 minutes to break the decade-old record for most chin ups in one hour.
October
In October, the world’s highest-ranking penguin extended his record following his promotion to an even higher rank. He’s now Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands.
Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum ran the fastest marathon ever when he completed the Chicago Marathon in just 2 hr 35 sec, and internet sensation Jovante Carter (USA) aka HolyGxd broke the record for the longest duration gurning with the lower lip covering the nostril, clocking a time of 1 min 2 sec.
Just in time for Halloween, the heaviest pumpkin was unveiled, weighing in at 2,749 lb (1,246.9 kg).
And the Carolina Reaper was dethroned as the world’s hottest chilli pepper after its creator Ed Currie unveiled his new chilli – Pepper X.
Noisy cat Bella purred at an impressive 54.59 decibels (about as loud as a boiling kettle) to achieve the loudest purr by a domestic cat (living) and married couple Victor Hugo Peralta (Uruguay) and Gabriela Peralta (Argentina) extended their record for most body modifications on a married couple to 77.
At the end of the month, footballer Lionel Messi (Argentina) made history with his eighth Ballon d’Or win, extending his record for most wins of the Ballon d’Or.
November
Irish chef Alan Fisher, who has his own restaurant in Japan, broke Baci’s longest cooking marathon record with a time of 119 hours 57 minutes. What’s even more impressive is that after just a short rest, he also achieved the longest baking marathon (individual) record with a time of 47 hours 21 minutes.
The Beatles’ ‘final song’ “Now and Then” broke the record for most radio stations to simulcast a music track when it was played on more than 760 radio stations in the US at the same time.
And fan-favourite record largest human mattress dominoes was broken by 2,355 people in the Philippines.
While over in America, Jay Stocki achieved the longest golf putt (non-tournament) by sinking his ball from a distance of 122.3 m (401.2 ft).
And in Nigeria, Helen Williams created the longest handmade wig, measuring 351.28 m (1,152 ft 5 in).
An Indian woman unveiled her luscious 236.22 cm (7 ft 9 in) locks – the longest hair on a living person and a two-year-old girl from USA became the youngest Mensa member (female).
December
In December, the world’s oldest living triplets (male) – Larry, Lon and Gene Brown (USA) – celebrated their 93rd birthday.
Grand Theft Auto VI might not be hitting shelves until 2025, but it’s already breaking records.
Among other accolades, it became the most viewed videogame reveal on YouTube in 24 hours when a trailer racked up 90,421,491 views on the first day of its release.
We also announced the release date for our first ever feature-length documentary, Rumeysa: Walking Tall, which follows the world’s tallest woman Rumeysa Gelgi as she travels from her native Türkiye to the US to spread her message of kindness for those with visible differences.
Find out how you can watch it here.
Body mod fan Colton Pifer (USA) unveiled his largest nasal septum flesh tunnel (male) that measures 2.6 cm and we caught up with Neil Harbisson (UK/Spain), the world’s first officially recognized cyborg, who told us all about his fight for transspecies rights.
We feel so lucky to have been able to share all this amazing record-breaking news with you in 2023.
Here’s to doing it all again in 2024!
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