It's official: "Avatar" is now the biggest money-making movie of all time. James Cameron's massive, technological envelope-pushing 3-D depiction of the planet of Pandora and the struggle of the race known as the Na'vi has been helped out a bit by inflation and the high cost of an IMAX ticket, but it's still a remarkable feat. It stands on top of the mountain once topped by "Titanic" (another James Cameron epic).
When the "Titanic" phenomenon happened back in 1997, most movie industry professionals thought that no film would ever touch the film's box office record. But "Avatar" managed to eclipse it, and it did it relatively effortlessly. Records are obviously made to be broken, and though it'll probably take years (or whenever Cameron gets around to making another movie), there will be another film that will come along and take the number one place in the line. But there are a handful of numbers that will, without a doubt, never be touched again. Here are six number-based records that will be safe forever.
Michael Jackson's Thriller As The Best-Selling Album Of All Time
When you consider the state of the music industry, and how even albums that are super-successful can only be considered modest victories when taken in historical context, it seems impossible that there will ever be an album with the sort of worldwide sales clout, universal appeal and staggering longevity as Michael Jackson's legendary opus Thriller. Though sales figures are rough, some estimates put the record as having sold 110 million copies worldwide — a staggering, completely untouchable number.
202,000,000 Tickets To "Gone With The Wind"
Though "Avatar" takes the raw money title, "Gone With the Wind" remains the sales leader after numbers are adjusted for inflation. According to Box Office Mojo, the numbers become even more dramatic when you take into account the number of tickets sold. Though the statistics are loose, "Gone With the Wind" sold over 202,000,000 tickets during its various theatrical runs, which is 24,000,000 more seats than its nearest competitor moved (that would be the original "Star Wars"). For all its economic success, "Avatar" checks in way down the list with a respectable but not-even-close-to-threatening 76,000,000.
Cy Young's 511 Career Wins
Baseball has a handful of records that seem relatively untouchable (like Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak), but the one number in America's pastime that will never be equaled is 511. That's the number of career wins pitcher Cy Young had over his lifetime. That's nearly 100 wins more than the player in second place (that would be Walter Johnson, who retired in 1927). Two recently-retired players — Roger Clemons and Greg Maddux — had Hall of Fame careers but only finished with 354 and 355 wins respectively. Young played in a completely different era that didn't treat pitching the same way, but it's a remarkable (and untouchable) feat nonetheless.
Scott Skiles' 30 Assists In A Game
Some people will tell you that nobody will ever equal basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game in 1962, but considering Kobe Bryant scored 81 by himself a few seasons ago, the 100 point plateau seems reachable (if not entirely likely). No, the number that nobody will ever hit again is the record held by the Orlando Magic's Scott Skiles, who doled out 30 assists in one game in 1990. Most NBA teams don't pick up that many assists in a single game.
The Beatles' 20 #1 Hits
John, Paul, George and Ringo topped the U.S. singles chart 20 times over the career of the Beatles, which puts them in the top position for sheer volume. Mariah Carey is close behind with 18 chart-toppers, but her momentum seems to be slowing (though to be fair, she had a #1 in 2008 with "Touch My Body"). The real uphill battle will be for rock bands, as there aren't even that many groups sniffing the record (the Supremes have 13 and won't be adding any more any time soon), let alone anybody with guitars. Also, there was a week in 1964 when the Beatles held the top five spots on the singles chart with "She Loves You," "Twist and Shout," "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me." Nobody will ever come even vaguely close.
57 Years Of "Guiding Light"
The CBS soap opera debuted on television in 1952 and just wrapped up its 56 season run last September. Along the way, it amassed nearly 16,000 episodes over its run (and that's not counting the nearly two decades it spent as a radio program). It's the longest-running fictional program in U.S. television history, and the only thing nipping at its heels is "As the World Turns," which remains four seasons and over 2,000 episodes behind the mark set by "Light."
What records do you think will never be broken? Leave your suggestions in the comments!