2021 has been another huge year for record breaking!
Singers, footballers, k-pop groups and pro wrestlers are all among the list of celebrities to earn Guinness World Records titles this year. 🕺💃
Can you spot your idol here? 😍
Billie Eilish's (USA) second album, Happier than Ever, became the most pre-added album on Apple Music, with 1.028 million pre-adds before it was released on 30 July.
Billie has held this record before – her 2019 album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? was pre-added over 800,000 times. 😵
She probably also deserves a record title for coolest middle name ever (her full name is: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell) 🏴☠️️
BTS (Republic of Korea) broke a bunch of records this year. 😎
The Bangtan Boys dominate social media with the most Twitter engagements (average retweets) for a music group. With the help of the ARMY, they have set this record four times in the past and are sure to smash it again in the future!
In May, BTS collected five more records when they released their single "Butter”; including most viewers for the premiere of a music video on YouTube and most streamed track on Spotify in the first 24 hours.
BTS now have a whopping 23 record titles, earning their place in the Guinness World Records Hall of Fame this year. 🥳️
Taylor Swift (USA) added FOUR more record titles to her collection this year! 😲
In March, she won Album of the Year at the Grammys for her 2020 album Folklore. Taylor now has the most Album of the Year awards won at the Grammys (female): 3 🏆🏆🏆
In November, 26 songs from her album Red (Taylor's version) made it onto the charts. That's the most simultaneous US Hot 100 entries by a female, breaking the previous record of 18 set by Taylor's album Lover in 2019.
This achievement also earned Taylor the record for the most simultaneous US Hot 100 new entries. 🔥
Her song "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" from the same album also became the longest song to reach No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September, Cristiano Ronaldo broke the record for most goals scored in international soccer matches (male).
The Portuguese striker scored 2 goals for his team in a 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland, bringing his total to 111 goals in 180 matches. ️⚽️️
Ronaldo holds many record titles, but this one is extra special as it was 17 years in the making; ever since he scored his first goal for Portugal in 2004 as a teenager. 😊
SIIIUUUUU!!!
In 2021 Ariana Grande (USA) earned her 20th Guinness World Records title! 🤩
Five singles from her 2020 album Positions went on to top the charts, setting a record for the most songs to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. 🎵
Her amazing fans, the ‘Arianators’, have also helped her break lots of social media records, such as most followers on Instagram for a musician.
Beyoncé (USA) also won some awards at the Grammys:
Beyoncé now has the most Grammy awards won by a female artist. She has 28, which is also the most Grammy awards won by a vocalist.
She didn’t stop there though…
Beyoncé featured on Megan Thee Stallion’s (USA) viral song “Savage” and they became the first female artists to win Best Rap Performance at the Grammys.
Randy Orton (USA) is best known for his “RKO outta nowhere”, but his world record certainly didn’t come out of nowhere.
After 18 years in the WWE, Randy Orton made his 177th pay-per-view appearance at Survivor Series 2021. He broke Kane’s record for the most WWE PPV appearances (male). 🤼
Natalya (Canada) also set the record for most WWE PPV appearances (female) with 68. 💪
In 2021, BLACKPINK member Rosé (Republic of Korea) released her own solo single "On The Ground". She became the first artist to reach number one on a Billboard Global chart as a soloist and as part of a group. 🥇
The song’s music video premiered via YouTube on the same day, becoming the most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours by a solo K-pop artist with 41.6 million views. However, this record was soon broken by her BLACKPINK bandmate Lisa.
In October, Lisa also released her first solo single “LaLisa”, which quickly racked up 73.6 million views. 😵
The huge popularity of Lisa’s song wasn’t just limited to k-pop though – “LaLisa” became the most viewed YouTube music video by a solo artist in 24 hours overall, with 12 million more views than the previous record set by Taylor Swift’s "ME!". 🤩
Another megastar who launched his solo career was One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson (UK). 🕺
Louis sold 160,000 tickets worldwide for his 2020 Live from London charity concert, which is the most tickets sold for a livestreamed concert by a solo male artist.
Louis performed 18 songs from his album Walls, raising over $1 million (£755,000), which was donated to four different charities. ❤️️
On Spotify, she is more popular than every other female singer! 🥇
Dua Lipa (UK) has the most monthly listeners on Spotify (female), with 66,686,104 (as of December 2021).
Similar to Louis Tomlinson, she also broke the record for the most tickets sold for a livestreamed concert by a solo female artist. 284,000 tickets were sold for Dua Lipa’s Studio 2054 concert. 😃
We can’t wait to see how many of these records will be broken in 2022, as these superstars show no signs of slowing down.
Who do you think will make it onto this list next year?
Can you get a high score in the Celebrities quiz? 🤔