This Is The Longest Song Ever Recorded

Throughout the history of recorded music, musicians have been limited by the technology available when it comes to recording and distributing their pieces. For example, a classical piece (such as this Mozart symphony, via YouTube) can last upwards of 30 minutes, meaning fans of classical music – at least in the early days — would sometimes have to use two or more discs to be able to listen to a full opera or suite. However, as recording technology progressed, the amount of music that could be pressed into a cassette tape or CD increased.

These days, with music being mostly digital, the length of a song can effectively be infinite, limited only by the amount of storage space on whatever computer the song is stored. And while most popular songs continue to check in at about three to four minutes long (per Billboard), that doesn't mean some composers haven't tried to push the limits when it comes to song length.

The longest officially-released song, according to Guinness World Records, was composed and released by a Canadian artist named Earthena. "Symphony of the Crown" was released on October 1, 2021, and took a year to compose. It would also take quite a while to actually listen to the song — 48 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds, to be exact. If you're interested, the song is available on YouTube, in 25 parts, roughly two hours each. A cursory listen to various snippets reveals that the song is a mix — which can most charitably be described as "eclectic" — of jazz, electronica, and New Age music reminiscent of Mike Oldfield or Ray Lynch.

However, another song could theoretically shatter that record. As Classic FM notes, a German church has, for a few years now, been playing John Cage's song "As Slow As Possible" in the most literal possible sense, playing the piece over the course of 639 years. However, it's not clear if anyone is recording it, meaning that Earthena's record is likely to stand.