Their songs have been featured in commercials, video games, and TV show trailers, and have earned a long list of award nominations. And now, after a whirlwind 2-year tour, rockers 30 Seconds to Mars are about to break a Guinness World Record for Most Shows Performed During a Single Album Cycle. The tour promoted their 2009 album This Is War, and their 300th performance on December 7th of this year will seal the deal for the world record. The band has seen so much success thus far, it’s only fitting to see them achieve this record!
In honor of this achievement today we’re taking a look at some other music-related Guinness World Records. Here are some of our favorites:
Most piano key hits in one minute: The most piano key hits in one minute is 498 and was achieved by Balázs Havasi (Hungary) during the Symphonic Red Concert Show at the Music Academy in Budapest, Hungary, on 29 November 2009.
Most No. 1 music videos: Madonna had her ninth No.1 on the US Music Video chart on 24 April 2010 with Sticky & Sweet Tour. No popular music artist has had more.
Most live concerts in 24 hours (multiple cities): The most live concerts performed in 24 hours in different locations is seven: “The Hangar Tour”, by rapper Jay-Z performed in seven different cities to promote the release of his new album ‘Kingdom Come’ (2006, Universal Music) from 7 am on 18 November to 1:15 am on 19 November 2006. The concerts were performed in the following order: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Most guitar strings changed In one hour: The most guitars re-strung in 1 hour is 30, achieved by Glenn Haworth (Australia) at Haworth’s Shellharbour Music Centre, Albion Park Rail, Australia, on 15 March 2009.
Longest career as a music teacher: The world record for the longest working career for a music teacher was set by Charles Wright (USA, b. 24 May 1912) who began teaching piano privately and professionally in 1931. He continued to do so for the next 76 years until he passed away on 19 July 2007, aged 95 years 56 days.
Largest Singing Lesson: The largest singing lesson involved 6,651 participants and was achieved by Sweet Adelines International during the 63rd Annual Sweet Adelines International Convention and Competition at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, on 24 October 2009.
Largest Kazoo Ensemble: On 14 March 2011, an audience of 5,190 classical music fans at the “Big Red Nose Show” held in the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK, formed a kazoo ensemble as part of Red Nose Day. Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and led by comedienne Sue Perkins, the ensemble hummed-out renditions of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyres and Eric Coates’ Dambusters March. The event was hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Katie Derham and Basil Brush.
These are just a few of the crazy musical acts that have earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, and we can only imagine what other stunts will be thought up next. For all of the aspiring artists out there – why not dream big? Maybe you could join in and earn a world record yourself.
Suzy S.