7 rankings
Athletics
Track, field and road records. Athletics is the sport in which records are most closely tied to measurement. Time is measured to the hundredth of a second, distance to the centimetr…
Browse Records by Sport
Each sport has its own record-keeping traditions, governing bodies and quirks. Choose a sport to see its rankings together with background on how its records work.
2 rankings
Swimming
Pool records and Olympic swimmers. Swimming records are measured in pools of a fixed length with touchpads that register each finish. Because the sport is so dependent on equipment and …
2 rankings
Olympic Games
Medal leaders across the Games. Olympic medal tables are a favourite of statisticians because they cover many sports over more than a century. They are also complicated: the programm…
1 ranking
Multi-Sport Records
Records that cross disciplines. Some of the most interesting records do not belong to one league or federation. They compare the endurance of records across sports, such as how long …
3 rankings
Basketball
NBA career leaders. The NBA keeps detailed records back to its first season in 1946-47, though some statistics, such as blocks and steals, were not officially recorded un…
3 rankings
Baseball
MLB career leaders. Baseball is a sport of statistics, with a record-keeping tradition that stretches back to the nineteenth century. Career totals such as home runs, hit…
3 rankings
American Football
NFL career leaders. NFL career lists are dominated by quarterbacks and running backs, positions where individual statistics are easy to count. They are strongly affected …
2 rankings
Ice Hockey
NHL career leaders. The NHL, founded in 1917, is the oldest of the major North American leagues with a continuous statistical record. The league's career lists feature pl…
2 rankings
Soccer
World Cup scoring records. The FIFA World Cup is the sport's biggest stage, and its scoring records span more than ninety years. The tournament format has changed repeatedly, wi…
2 rankings
Tennis
Grand Slam singles titles. Grand Slam singles titles are the standard measure of greatness in tennis. Because the tournaments were closed to professionals until 1968, and becaus…
2 rankings
Motorsport
Formula 1 wins and titles. Formula 1's world championship dates from 1950. Its records depend on the car as much as the driver, and on factors such as calendar length, points sy…
1 ranking
Golf
Major championship wins. In men's golf, the four majors, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, carry more prestige than any other events.…