Rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars entered the record books last Wednesday following a sold-out concert at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

The gig marked the 309th show the group had played in support of their This Is War album, setting a new world record for the Most Shows Played During An Album Cycle.

Speaking to MTV about how the tour became a record-breaking stretch, lead singer Jared Leto explained "It was my idea. I'm the guilty party here."

"People started to ask us, with an incredulous look, 'What is wrong with you?', or they would kind of look at us and be like, 'You guys arestillon tour?'

He added: "It started to seep in that maybe this was a little bit crazy. And then I remember as a kid, I was a big fan of the Guinness World Records book ... so I just started thinking, Maybe we should take a shot at it. "

"I used to love it, you know, like world's longest fingernails, so it's fun to think we're a part of something that was a part of our childhood".

"Plus, it's Mars history, and something fun for us to do and another chance for us to stop, take note, say thank you to the people that have shared the journey and helped to take our dreams and make them reality."

Following the record-setting show, the band played a low-key benefit gig at New York's St. Peter's church, bringing down the curtain on a tour that has sold out scores of arenas around the world including London's O2, the first International Lollapalooza Festival in Santiago, Chile, and Rock Am Park in Germany in front of an audience of 100,000 people.

Summing up the last two years spent on the road, Leto said "We'll always look back at this time as one of the most important and impactful periods of our creative lives, ever."