What is the longest song ever created?

For the Guinness category “longest officially released song,” the record listing reviewed in October 2026 names Dr. Jagadeesh Pillai's Shri Ram Charit Manas at 138 hours, 41 minutes, 20 seconds, achieved on April 12, 2023. That is a specific release record—not the longest chart hit, the longest live performance, or every imaginable musical composition.

The category determines the answer

Question	Relevant distinction
Longest officially released song	A recording assessed under the record authority's release category
Longest song on a singles chart	A recording with a qualifying entry on that named chart
Longest performance	How long an actual performance lasts, rather than a released audio file
Longest composition	A work whose prescribed or possible duration may differ from any completed performance

This is why a list can contain recordings measured in minutes, hours, and centuries without those entries being directly comparable. Before calling one a winner, establish whether you are comparing releases, chart appearances, or performances.

What the Pillai record measures

Guinness identifies the recording as an extended musical rendition based on Shri Ram Charit Manas, the epic poem associated with Tulsidas. Its reported duration is five days, eighteen hours, forty-one minutes, and twenty seconds. That conversion describes playback time; it does not mean a listener must complete it in one sitting.

The authority's feature about the project explains its multi-year production. The time spent making a recording and the duration of the finished work are different quantities. A project that took years to produce is not automatically years long when played.

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Why older answers name other recordings

Record pages and older news reports can describe different holders at different dates. An article naming The Rise and Fall of Bossanova should not be treated as current merely because it still appears in search. Check its date and compare it with the current category listing.

Our separate 2021 longest-song article keeps the historical question distinct. It should not be silently updated into a 2023 answer while retaining a title that promises information about 2021.

Does the 639-year John Cage performance count?

The Halberstadt ORGAN²/ASLSP project is planned as a 639-year performance. The project's own organizers document that timescale. It belongs in a discussion of long-duration performance, but it is not a completed 639-year officially released recording that displaces the record above.

Similarly, a loop, an algorithm that can continue indefinitely, or a playlist of separate tracks needs its own definition before it can be compared with a finite release. This is a classification issue, not a judgment about whether the work is worthwhile music.

For a concise answer, use the named Guinness category, its listed holder, duration, and record date together. Record authorities warn that updates may not appear online immediately, so those details are more defensible than an unqualified claim to have compared every musical work ever created.

Sources and verification

Sources checked October 7, 2026.

• Guinness World Records: Longest officially released song
• Guinness World Records: The 138-hour song project
• John Cage Organ Art Project: The Halberstadt ORGAN2 ASLSP project