LONDON – HBO's Game of Thrones will join the likes of Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Taylor Swift in the 2016 edition of Guinness World Records.
The series has won the award for "largest TV drama simulcast," thanks to the second episode of its fifth season. The episode was broadcast to a whopping 173 countries at the same time — just pipping CSI, which had been broadcast in 171 countries only five weeks previously.
Maisie Williams collected the award on behalf of Thrones and her co-stars.
“So pleased for Game of Thrones to be a part of Guinness World Records," said Williams. "I'm not going to tell my step brother, as he gets the book every year for Christmas. I can't wait to see the look on his face!”
Williams wasn't the only celebrity picking up an award: Taylor Swift earned the title of "most million-selling weeks on the US albums charts" after selling 1.287 millions units of her album 1989, while Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" helped him earn "longest time to reach Number 1 on the UK singles charts." It took 19 weeks for the song to snag the top spot.
Elsewhere, Brad Pitt was awarded "most bankable Hollywood actor," Dr Dre's £398 million pre-tax earnings bagged him "highest annual earnings ever for a music artist," and One Direction earned no fewer than six awards — "most followers on Twitter for a music group," "most subscribers for a band on YouTube" and "highest debut by UK group on US singles chart," to name a handful.
Finally, Richard Linklater's Boyhood cemented its place in the record books for "slowest film production (script to screen) –- drama." Linklater spent 12 years on and off filming the same group of actors for his coming-of-age epic.
