Top 12: Dance music record breakers

12. Longest DJ set
Respect is due to DJ Hertz, aka Matt Aitken (pictured). The Australian mixed tunes solidly for six and a half days – the time it takes most of us to fit in a whole week at the office in between raves. Even more impressively, he managed it without playing 'Pon De Floor' once.

11. Most ecstasy consumed
We all know someone who's claimed it, but the title belongs to 'Mr A'. The anonymous wreck-head made medical history after necking an estimated 40,000 pills. Doctors reckon his 25-a-day habit resulted in sustained paranoia and memory loss. Possibly why he can't remember his real name.

10. Youngest club DJ
Ever feel like DJs are getting younger? Jack Hill made his club debut at the tender age of seven, and has since bagged a radio show and given a mixing tutorial on Newsround. His tastes span electro, dubstep and hip hop, but he's been known to drop 'Bob The Builder' on request.

9. Fastest rapper
In 2008, Spanish motor-mouth El Chojin scooped the crown from ragamuffin Daddy Freddy after rapping 921 syllables in under a minute on national TV. Audience members in the front row were issued with umbrellas to protect them from spitting (probably).

8. Loudest mobile soundsystem
The Nissan Juke Box may look unthreatening, but it boasts a 150dB rig that would have Dillinja crying onto his dubplates. Chuck in its own lighting, PA system and DJ booth courtesy of Ministry of Sound, and this is mobile DJing for the 21st century.

7. Fastest track
Before he opened a tea shop, Moby was a darling of the US techno scene. By racking up the tempo to a fit-inducing 1000bpm for '93's 'Thousand' he simultaneously broke the speed barrier and set the unofficial record for most annoying dance track ever. It's since been sampled by Skrillex.

6. Biggest club
With a capacity of 10,000, a swimming pool,and a golf ball-shaped sun lounge, no wonder Ibizan superclub Privilege attracts the biggest names in both mainstream and underground dance music from Armin van Buuren to Marco Carola. This is clubbing on an epic scale.

5. Highest paid DJ
According to Forbes' not entirely reliable DJ rich list, Tiësto's music sales, endorsements and a hectic touring schedule meant he clocked up a cool $22 million (£14m) last year. It probably helped that Mixmag readers voted the Dutch star the Greatest DJ of All Time. We're still waiting for a cheque…

4. Longest non-stop dancing
Nightclub manager Steve Stevens busted moves for 131 hours straight to become the world's disco dancing champion. Steve says he kept himself raving on a diet of protein shakes, porridge and lasagne – a lot healthier than what fuels our clubbing marathons.

3. Longest-running UK club night
Celebrating 21 years last November, Dave Beer's Back To Basics is as established a part of the Leeds calendar as losing at football. And it's never let venue changes or fickle music trends get in the way of championing great house music.

2. Oldest raver
In his 40-year career, Brighton's 'Disco Pete' Turner has been hospitalised for excessive dancing and awarded a lifetime pass to local venue Creation. Despite being the only clubber to have danced through both Summers of Love, the septuagenarian reckons "the music has got better". Amen.

1. Biggest crowd

Trance titans Above & Beyond have never been ones to do things by halves, but they became record-breakers when they took to the decks at Bara de Tijuca Beach in Rio on NYE 2007 in front of a whopping one million people for the biggest DJ gig in history. "It was quite daunting," Jono told Mixmag. "It wasn't like a club gig where you can pick out individuals in the crowd; it was just a sea of people without end." Sounds incredible, but just imagine the queue for the toilets!

[ Published in Mixmag February 2013]