These insane sports records are unbreakable! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for those sports records so impressive that they probably won’t ever be broken.
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00:00Wayne played chess and he was playing 5, 6, 7, 10, 20 moves ahead of everybody.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for those sports records so impressive that they probably won't ever be broken.
00:12Stockton stole the ball! Stockton stole the ball! He's the all-time leader in the history of the game!
00:20Number 20. 40,474 plus career points. LeBron James.
00:26Now, we understand that there was probably a time after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989
00:31that people thought his career points mark of 38,387 was a record that would never be broken.
00:36We'd just like to say thank you for letting us share in your great, great career.
00:42And while Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant made runs at it, they both ended their careers about 2,000
00:47and 5,000 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, respectively. Then along came LeBron James,
00:52and on February 7, 2023, he scored the 38,388th point of his career and took over the top spot on the career points list.
01:01LeBron James, a shot in history, and there it is! LeBron stands alone!
01:09A spot that now stands at over 40,400 points and growing.
01:13The closest active player to James is Kevin Durant, and he's about 12,000 points behind.
01:2019. 200 NASCAR Wins – Richard Petty
01:23Richard Petty's nickname is The King, and looking at what he did on the racetrack,
01:28that moniker looks to have been well-earned.
01:30It's been wonderful. I mean, 35 years, the good Lord's looked after us all these years,
01:35and I'm still walking around.
01:36Petty has a whole host of racing records that will probably never be broken,
01:40including most wins in a season, 27, most Daytona 500 wins, 7, and most consecutive wins, 10.
01:47But the one that stands above all others, the king of his records,
01:51has got to be his 200 NASCAR wins.
02:08The consistency needed to get that many victories over a long career is impressive.
02:13But even more impressive is how far ahead of the pack he is.
02:16David Pearson sits in second place, and he ended his career with 105 wins.
02:2218. 11 Stanley Cups – Henri Richard
02:25The Montreal Canadiens were a dominant force in the NHL throughout the 1950s,
02:3060s, and 70s, taking home 16 Stanley Cups throughout those decades.
02:34One player who was a key part of those teams from 1955 to 1975 was Henri Richard.
02:46He led the league in assists twice, and was the ninth player to tally 1,000 career points.
02:51And over the course of his 20-year career, Richard won 11 Stanley Cups as a player,
02:57a record that we feel is unlikely to ever be broken.
03:01The only other players close to 11, like Jean Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer with 10,
03:05were teammates of Richard's for most of their wins.
03:08Richard led Montreal to the 1973 championship, a record 11th Stanley Cup as a player.
03:14Even Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player of all time, only has four Stanley Cups.
03:2017. Seven no-hitters – Nolan Ryan
03:23It's true that there have been more no-hitters in Major League Baseball over the past few years.
03:27In fact, 2021 saw nine no-nos, which is the most ever for one season.
03:33However, while there have been more of them league-wide,
03:36there hasn't been one pitcher racking them up like Nolan Ryan did decades ago.
03:45Ryan pitched his first five no-hitters between 1973 and 1981.
03:49The current active pitcher with the most no-hitters is Justin Verlander with three,
03:53and it took him 12 years between 2007 and 2019 to do that.
03:58Ryan also got his sixth and seventh when he was 43 and 44 years old,
04:02respectively, which on its own is also pretty amazing.
04:11There's no breaking this no-hitter record.
04:1416. Seventy-four consecutive match wins – Martina Navratilova
04:19On February 15, 1984, Martina Navratilova lost to Hanna Mandlikova in the finals of
04:25the Silicon Valley Classic. She wouldn't lose again until December.
04:29Starting with her next match on February 20,
04:32Navratilova would spend the next 10 months defeating everyone in her path.
04:44A path that included 74 consecutive matches and three majors – the French Open,
04:50Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. She also made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open,
04:54which is where her streak ended, two matches away from a possible Grand Slam.
04:58Biggest upset of the year in tennis. Sakoda wins the semifinal from Navratilova,
05:04and she's into the final of the Australian Open.
05:06Not only is she the only player to reach 74 match wins in a row, no one else has even gotten to 50.
05:13Bjorn Borg got to 49 once, and the great Serena Williams' longest streak was 34.
05:1915. Eighty-seven consecutive wins – Julio César Chávez
05:23Sure, Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s career record of 50-0 is impressive,
05:35but it isn't as impressive as 87-0, which was Julio César Chávez's record before
05:41he fought to a draw against Purnell Whitaker in 1993. In February of 1990,
05:45when Buster Douglas shocked the world and ended Mike Tyson's 37-fight win streak,
05:50Chávez was already 68-0, and would go on to win 19 more before that draw.
05:55The decision is a majority decision draw.
06:01A draw, and you can see the reaction of Sweet Pea Whitaker. He can't believe it,
06:06and frankly, I can't either.
06:08These days, most boxers don't have more than 50 or so fights in their career,
06:12let alone win them all as Mayweather did, which makes Chávez's record feel extra safe.
06:1814. 1,406 Stolen Bases – Ricky Henderson
06:23While the Stolen Base isn't a big part of the Major League game these days,
06:26that definitely was not always the case. Up until the turn of the century,
06:30the Stolen Base was a very important part of the game,
06:33and Ricky Henderson is the greatest player to ever do it.
06:38He stole it! The American League record for Ricky Henderson!
06:44Henderson played 25 years from 1979 to 2005, and led the league in Stolen Bases 12 times.
06:50He ended his career with 1,406 of them, which is almost 500 more than Lou Brock,
06:56who sits in second place. Now, maybe with the slightly bigger bases and the new limits on
07:01throws to first base, steals will begin to rise. But they'll never rise to Henderson's level again.
07:0713. 208 Career Touchdowns – Jerry Rice
07:21When it comes to wide receivers and NFL records,
07:23Jerry Rice could be a complete list all by himself. From receptions to receiving yards,
07:28Rice had more in his career than any other player in history.
07:32It's almost a consensus that the best wide receiver in football is number 80, Jerry Rice.
07:36Some wide receivers can catch it deep, some can catch it short,
07:39some can catch intermediate routes, some guys are possession receivers,
07:43but Jerry Rice can do it all.
07:44But the unbreakable record we wanted to focus on here was his career touchdown mark of 208,
07:50an impressive number made even more so because of the era in which Rice played,
07:54which unlike today, didn't have the same strict rules against certain
07:58defensive plays and protection for quarterbacks.
08:00Highway 101 belongs to Jerry Rice, next exit, Hall of Fame, as Jerry Rice
08:07stands all alone as number one in pro football history in touchdown reception.
08:13But even with this being what some might call a golden age of receiving,
08:16Rice still stands over 100 TDs ahead of Devontae Adams, who is the highest among active players
08:23with 95. 12. 11 NBA Championships – Bill Russell
08:28Bill Russell played 13 seasons in the NBA for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969.
08:34For all his accolades, one aspect of his transcendent career stands out.
08:39He has more titles to his credit than any other player in NBA history.
08:44And during those 13 years, not only was he one of the most dominant players in the league,
08:49but there were also only two seasons in which he didn't win the championship.
08:53And one of those years, his Celtics lost in the finals.
08:56So he only missed going to the finals one time.
08:59Add to that a stretch of eight championships in a row,
09:02and Russell's 11 wins is as safe as safe can be.
09:05Russell is the greatest winner of all time, the most valuable player of all time,
09:13and no one can equal his record of 11 championships in 13 years.
09:18Michael Jordan would have needed two more three-peats to surpass Russell's ring count.
09:23That's air even Jordan could never reach.
09:26Number 11.
09:26427 weeks at number one.
09:29Novak Djokovic.
09:30In case you didn't realize that this century you've been watching three
09:34of the three best tennis players to ever play the game,
09:37allow us to give you some number one numbers.
09:39Oh, stop it!
09:42Novak Djokovic, what are you doing?
09:46That is outrageous!
09:49Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic all have 20 or more Grand Slam titles.
09:55Numbers we are not likely to ever see again.
09:58But Nadal is the only player to ever be world number one in three separate decades.
10:02Federer spent a record 237 straight weeks at number one,
10:06and Djokovic has held the top spot 427 times as of the last week of May 2024.
10:12One of the most difficult things to do in our sport, obviously, you know,
10:16winning Grand Slams and being number one in the world are probably the pinnacles of the sport.
10:20There's more likely to be 427 more seasons of Grey's Anatomy than for
10:25any player to reach that many weeks at number one again.
10:28Number 10.
10:2918 major titles.
10:30Jack Nicklaus.
10:32After Tiger Woods won his 14th major, there were probably a lot of people in 2008 who were pretty
10:38confident that it was only a matter of time before he surpassed Jack Nicklaus on the all-time majors
10:42leaderboard.
10:4318. Say the number to any golf fan in the world and they know what it represents.
10:48The unsurpassed major championship victory total of Jack Nicklaus.
10:52But here we are over 15 years later, and Woods sits at 15 titles,
10:56and Nicklaus's record seems safer than ever.
10:59There are some great players out there winning majors, but that's the problem.
11:03They're all winning them.
11:04If Tiger couldn't surpass the Golden Bear, then we're pretty sure no one ever will.
11:08With typical humility, he insists that his record will someday be broken,
11:13but Jack Nicklaus's major championship presence will always stand the test of time.
11:17Number 9.
11:182,632 consecutive games played.
11:22Cal Ripken Jr.
11:23Can you think of something you've done consistently for over 16 years?
11:27A moment that will live for 2,131 years.
11:34We will never see anything like this again.
11:37Well, Cal Ripken Jr. can, because from May 30th, 1982 to September 19th,
11:431998, Ripken played in every single baseball game for the Baltimore Orioles.
11:48In 1995, he broke Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 games,
11:53and with the 501 he added onto it, this thing will stand tall forever.
11:58Let it be said that number 8, Cal Ripken Jr. has reached the unreachable star.
12:05Especially given all the emphasis on load management and
12:07athletes getting rest throughout the long season.
12:10Exhibit A.
12:10Witt Merrifield's 553-game streak, which is the longest streak that began since 2010,
12:16spanning four years from June 25th, 2018 to July 10th, 2022.
12:22Number 8.
12:23104 total pole positions.
12:25Lewis Hamilton.
12:27Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest F1 drivers ever,
12:30and in his 308 races, he earned the pole position an impressive 68 times.
12:35Or at least that was an impressive number until Lewis Hamilton came
12:38along and blew it away with his 104 poles.
12:41Wow, was that fast!
12:43You done it, mate.
12:46That was an epic burst, that.
12:47And as of 2024, Hamilton is still racing and could see even more pole positions in his future.
12:54While Max Verstappen seems to be winning everything these days,
12:57he stands about 65 poles behind the leader,
12:59and would need to pole in 44% of his next 147 entries to match Hamilton's totals,
13:06which is a whole lot more than the 20% average he currently enjoys.
13:10It feels like an out-of-body experience.
13:11I feel like I'm back here watching this going on.
13:14It's not really happening.
13:15This record is Hamilton's to keep.
13:18Number 7.
13:19Three World Cups.
13:20Pelé.
13:21Soccer fans today might just assume that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo hold
13:25every record in the sport.
13:26But as older fans know, there was a guy named Pelé from Brazil who
13:30might just be the greatest to ever play the game, and has a few records to his name as well.
13:35Pelé, real name Edson Arantes do Nascimento,
13:38is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever exponents of the sport.
13:42He helped become known as the beautiful game.
13:44This includes his almost unbreakable record of three World Cup championships.
13:49Even more impressive is the fact that only three countries have more World Cup trophies
13:53than Pelé does.
13:54Brazil won the right to keep the Jules Rimet trophy after winning it for the third time,
13:59and Pelé's FIFA World Cup career ended on a high.
14:03So if it's almost unheard of for a country to win three,
14:06especially within the span of any player's career,
14:08then how is any one player going to win that many, let alone a fourth to break the record?
14:13It's not going to happen.
14:15Number 6.
14:1618,355 Career Rushing Yards.
14:19Emmitt Smith.
14:20Walter Payton's 16,726 career rushing yards might have looked unreachable when he retired in 1987.
14:27But three years later, a guy named Emmitt Smith made his debut in the NFL and started
14:31rushing towards the record, eventually amassing a career total of 18,355 yards on the ground.
14:38When he took that football field, it was like he turned into Superman.
14:42He was an incredible talent.
14:43And why won't this record also be broken?
14:46Because the game has changed.
14:47It's much more of a passing league than it's ever been.
14:50And while quarterback stats have continued to rise, running back stats have gone down.
14:55That should do it!
14:57Emmitt Smith has eclipsed Walter Payton as the NFL's all-time rushing leader.
15:02And somewhere, sweetness is smiling.
15:07The torch is passed!
15:10Long live the king!
15:11Also, Smith played for 14 seasons,
15:14something most players, let alone running backs, don't do very often these days.
15:18Especially at a level high enough to rack up so many yards.
15:22Number 5.
15:232,857 Career Points.
15:26Wayne Gretzky.
15:27Wayne Gretzky is another one of those athletes who can have an entire list like this all to himself.
15:32Upon his retirement in 1999, the Great One held 61 NHL records.
15:38He retired with a mind-boggling 2,857 points.
15:42No one else has eclipsed 2,000.
15:46He holds or shares dozens of NHL records, many of which appear unbreakable.
15:51And today, over two decades later, he still holds 58 of them.
15:55One of those records that stands out from the crowd is his career points total of 2,857.
16:01Yes, it looks like Alex Ovechkin has a good chance of surpassing Gretzky's career goals
16:05record of 894, but Ovi is still 1,300 total points behind Gretzky.
16:11Not only is Gretzky the only player to ever score more than 2,000 points,
16:15but his 1,963 career assists are more than any other player's total career points.
16:22Even if he had never scored a goal, Gretzky's 1,963 assists
16:27would rank above all other players in career points.
16:302,857 is here to stay.
16:344.
16:35683 Weeks World No. 1 – Tiger Woods
16:39Tiger Woods will probably never surpass Jack Nicklaus for the most majors,
16:42but there are plenty of records that Woods will likely hold forever.
16:46These include his time spent as World No. 1.
16:52We're talking 683 total weeks.
17:07And if that number sounds huge, it is.
17:09Only three golfers have ever spent a full calendar year at No. 1.
17:14And while Nick Feldo and Greg Norman each did it once, Tiger did it eight times in the aughts.
17:19His 683 weeks is 352 more than second-place Norman.
17:24And his record streak of 281 consecutive weeks
17:27is more than any golfer's career total besides Norman.
17:30Between 1998 and 2005, Woods also made 142 straight cuts,
17:36another record that we think is pretty safe as well.
17:39That was just another Tiger moment.
17:413.
17:42511 Wins – Cy Young
17:45Cy Young isn't just the name of the award given to the best pitcher in each league.
17:49The award is named after a former pitcher,
17:51a pitcher who won 511 games throughout his career from 1890 through 1911.
17:57That's right, this is a record that stood from pretty much the beginning of the sport
18:02and will forever.
18:03With health concerns and Moneyball analytics,
18:06they just don't pitch as many games or as many innings within games.
18:10Only seven pitchers had 20 win seasons between 2017 and 2023,
18:15whereas a couple of decades ago, it wasn't uncommon to have six in one year.
18:20This also means Young's 749 complete games is also safe.
18:24The active leader on that front is Justin Verlander with a paltry 26.
18:292.
18:3015,806 Career Assists – John Stockton
18:34If it wasn't for John Stockton,
18:36Jason Kidd could have seen his name atop a couple of NBA records lists.
18:40But alas, when Jason Kidd ended his playing career in 2013,
18:43his 2,684 steals and 12,091 assists left him far behind the aforementioned Stockton.
18:50A new NBA assists king, John Stockton!
18:54Stockton played all of his 19 seasons with the Utah Jazz,
18:57and the team made the playoffs every year.
19:00They also reached their only two NBA finals in that time,
19:03losing both times to Michael Jordan's Bulls.
19:06But while he never got a ring,
19:08he stands 600 steals and over 3,000 assists ahead of second place.
19:12But the way Stockton plays the game forces him out of the dark
19:15and into the bright lights of stardom.
19:18Last night, the NBA's all-time assists leader became the league's all-time leader in steal.
19:23And when it comes to the assists, we don't see anyone ever catching him.
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19:431. 23 Olympic Gold Medals – Michael Phelps
19:48When it comes to domination,
19:50no athlete has ever dominated their sport like Michael Phelps.
19:54But Phelps' records don't just stand above all swimmers.
19:57They're also tops among every other athlete to ever compete in the Olympics.
20:10Before Phelps showed up,
20:11the record for most career Olympic gold medals was nine.
20:15And it was held by four different people.
20:17At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Phelps won six.
20:21Then in 2008, he competed in eight events and won eight gold medals.
20:25But he wasn't done yet.
20:26In 2012, he won four.
20:29And in 2016, he took home five more.
20:32Phelps' 23 gold medals is more than any other athlete's.
20:42His reign as the gold medal king should last longer than Queen Elizabeth's.
20:48Which of these records are you most confident will never be eclipsed?
20:52Let us know in the comments.
20:53What was once thought as an unbreakable record has just been broken by 38-year-old LeBron James.
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