THE LIBRARY
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GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2024
FROM THE WORLD’S YOUNGEST PIRATE TO THE MOST PLAYED MUSIC ARTIST
AUTHOR GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
ILLUSTRATOR ALEX PANG AND ROD HUNT
PUBLISHER GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
PRICE £22 / $29.95
RELEASE OUT NOW
As the internationally recognised authority on who or what in the world is the biggest, fastest, strongest, longest and so on, Guinness World Records takes its role as registrar and curator of world records very, very seriously. For this year’s edition of its hardback annual, 30,000 applications were reviewed by Guinness World Record’s record managers – which may be a record in itself – a percentage of which were approved as world records.
Meanwhile, less than one-tenth of those original applications, the crème de la crème, made it into Guinness World Records 2024.
It includes records like the one set by 11-year-old circus star Sofia Tepla, who rolled 20 metres in 10.49 seconds, which sounds like a pretty ordinary feat until you realise that Sofia was performing a contortion roll to set this record, with her legs bent backwards and over her head. Or Spotify’s ‘most streamed female act’, which goes to pop princess Taylor Swift with a staggering 41.13 billion plays – that’s five plays for every single living person on Earth. Or the all-time record for the ‘most fingers and toes’, which went to Akshat Saxena, a boy who was born with 14 fingers and 20 toes before he underwent surgery – though his impressive record still stands.