The Guinness Book of Records, as it was initially called, was essentially an old-timey search engine. It was created in the 1950s by Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of the Guinness brewery, who was sick and tired of people arguing over facts when no one knew the correct answer. He wanted to put together a book where one could find the definitive answer to any question containing a superlative. Here are six music albums that made the Guinness cut and can boast of an official entry in the Guinness World Records.
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1. Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Elton John’s ninth studio album was the first album ever to debut at No. 1 of the Billboard 200 album charts. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy was released in May 1975. The record was a concept album that told the story of John’s early life with the help of his lyricist Bernie Taupin.
The most popular song from the album was “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” which was inspired by John’s early relationship with a woman. The two got engaged, but he didn’t want to get married and attempted suicide. In 2006, the songwriting duo of John and Taupin released a follow-up album. The Captain and the Kid picks up where the 1975 album left off.
2. Michael Jackson’s Thriller
In the beginning of the 1980s, Michael Jackson needed to reinvent himself. He was still settling into his solo career, although he’d already released Off the Wall in 1979 to great success. But this would be his first album since leaving the Motown label. Together with his new collaborator, producer Quincy Jones, he continued on his quest for a new sound.
Thriller was released in 1982 and, very simply, blew people’s minds. Michael Jackson became a global superstar and Thriller became the best-selling album of all time. It still holds the record with an estimated 67 million copies sold worldwide.
3. The Bodyguard: The Original Soundtrack Album
When the movie The Bodyguard was released in 1992, the reviews were not kind. Most critics disliked the plot as well as Whitney Houston’s and Kevin Costner’s performances. Audiences, however, loved the film, and the soundtrack became the best-selling soundtrack of all time.
Houston, who was making her debut as an actress, plays Rachel Marron, a superstar who receives death threats from a stalker. Costner plays the reluctant bodyguard who is hired to protect her. The soundtrack features 13 titles, six of which are performed by Houston. Among them is the famous cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
4. Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon
Before the release of The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd was already a successful psychedelic-minded rock band. But after Dark Side, they became superstars. Released in 1973, The Dark Side of the Moon was the band’s eighth studio album. It’s considered a masterpiece by most, and features an array of inventive and idiosyncratic sounds woven into songs that would be exceptional played on an acoustic guitar. Each side of the record contains five tracks, but the band omitted the conventional gaps between songs and instead opted for a seamless flow of rock music enabled by innovative textures and modulation effects.
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No other album has been present on the Billboard 200 album charts the way The Dark Side of the Moon has. As of March 24th, 2018, the album spent a total of 937 weeks (more than 18 years) on the charts. No other album even comes close to this record.
5. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s Cheek to Cheek
Tony Bennett, born in 1924, was the oldest person to release an album of new material that went on to become a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts. Bennett was 88 years and 69 days old when his collaboration album with Lady Gaga was released in 2014. The pair had performed together a few times, and decided to record an album of jazz standards.
With Cheek to Cheek, they wanted to share their love for the classics with a younger audience. The album features Irving Berlin’s song “Cheek to Cheek,” Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” and “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn. Bennett and Gaga toured together as well, and went on to record another joint album in 2021. Love for Sale was Bennett’s last album before he passed away in July 2023.
6. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti
Bad Bunny’s fourth studio album, Un Verano Sin Ti, became the most streamed album ever on Spotify in 2023. It replaced Ed Sheeran’s album Divide, which held the previous record with over 12.8 billion streams.
Bad Bunny, who is Puerto-Rican, released his first song on SoundCloud at the age of 19. A few years later, his music received enough attention that a label signed him. Since then, the singer/rapper has reached massive audiences with his mix of pop, reggaeton, and Latin trap music.
While other artists who rap and sing in Spanish have often been confined to the world of Latin music, Bad Bunny has been able to break barriers and cross over into mainstream territory. His 2020 album YHLQMDLG was the highest-charting Spanish-language album in history. Un Verano Sin Ti was the first album in Spanish to be nominated for a Grammy in the Album of the Year category, as well.
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