10 Rock Bands Who Broke World Records

Smashing guitars and smashing records.

By Jacob Simmons /

In 1955, brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter published a book that would go on to become one of the most recognisable titles in all of literature.

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The original Guinness Book of World Records was a massive hit, and it spawned a tradition that is still going to this day. Each year, the team behind the book verify and collate thousands of world records into a single glossy print, destined for the stockings of young children and relatives that you don't know that well across the globe.

Because there are so many records to be broken, it's not a huge shock to learn that several of the biggest bands in rock can be found within the book's pages. Whilst some of the records are testament to the groups' talents and tenacity, others are completely random, seemingly made up just to get them an entry.

From the high-end to the hilarious, this list details ten rock outfits and what they did to earn themselves a spot in one of the most famous books in the world. Or, at the very least, an article on the website.

10. Pink Floyd - Longest Stay By An Album On A Music Chart

In 1973, prog rock pioneers and all-round madlads Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album and, in many ways, the one that would define their careers.

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The Dark Side of the Moon routinely comes up in lists of the greatest albums of all time, rock or otherwise, and it's also one of the best-selling LPs to ever grace the market, shifting an estimated 45 million copies across the globe since its debut. In short, not a bad job from the boys in Pink.

As well as cementing their status as legends and making them all a boatload of cash, Dark Side also got Floyd into the Guinness Book of World Records in April 2012. This was the week that the album celebrated its 802nd consecutive week in the Billboard 200 album charts, meaning that people had been consistently buying it for nearly 40 years.

This bagged the band the record of "Longest Stay by an Album on a Music Chart". It is estimated that one in 14 Americans under the age of 50 owns or has owned the album at some point, which isn't a world record, but is really damn cool.

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