The Mermaid is the highest-grossing romantic comedy named in the available record evidence: Guinness World Records reported a worldwide gross of US$552,198,479 in an entry dated January 12, 2018. That is a dated record claim, not a verified current ranking. A complete, current top-ten list cannot be established from the available worldwide genre data, so ranking other films would risk presenting unverified figures as fact.
What are the highest-grossing rom-coms of all time?
The only supported ranked result here is Guinness World Records’ historical record entry for The Mermaid (Mei Ren Yu). Guinness identifies it as the highest-grossing romantic comedy and reports US$552,198,479 worldwide, attributing the figure to The Numbers. The record entry is dated January 12, 2018; it does not establish that the film remains the current leader. See the Guinness World Records entry.
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A current top-ten order and comparable worldwide totals for other titles are not verified by the sources available here. Rather than fill the gaps with numbers from different charts or genre lists, this article keeps the dated record separate from a current leaderboard.
What counts as “highest-grossing”?
This ranking question needs a consistent yardstick. The Guinness figure is a reported cumulative worldwide gross in nominal dollars, not an inflation-adjusted comparison of ticket sales. It reflects the record entry’s date and should not be read as a present-day total or as proof of the most tickets sold.
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- Worldwide versus international: Worldwide totals include domestic and foreign markets. The Numbers defines its “international” chart as territories outside the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam. That figure is not a worldwide gross. The Numbers’ international romantic-comedy chart is updated daily from studio reports and is not adjusted for inflation.
- Reported versus inflation-adjusted: Nominal grosses are not adjusted for ticket-price changes. They can favor more recent releases and films with broader theatrical reporting; an adjusted domestic chart would not, by itself, provide an adjusted worldwide ranking.
- Re-releases: A cumulative lifetime total may include theatrical re-releases, but the cited Guinness record entry does not state its re-release treatment. The figure should be understood as the total Guinness reported, not as a re-release-free comparison.
- Genre boundaries: “Rom-com” can include films that are also fantasy, adventure, or another genre. Guinness categorizes The Mermaid as a romantic-comedy record holder while describing it as a fantasy adventure, illustrating why a genre ranking depends on its inclusion rule.
Why there is no verified top ten here
The Numbers’ worldwide romantic-comedy chart could not be retrieved for a consistent current comparison. Its available international chart cannot substitute for worldwide grosses. Box Office Mojo’s worldwide lifetime-gross page shows worldwide, domestic, and foreign totals with release years, but the available page view was not a genre-specific ranking and does not establish the highest-grossing rom-coms. View Box Office Mojo’s worldwide lifetime-gross chart.
The Numbers says its movie pages include international territory details and historical information, according to a July 22, 2026 update. Read The Numbers’ update. Those features do not resolve the missing current worldwide genre ranking by themselves.
Rank #2
Guinness also cautions that “Records change on a daily basis and are not immediately published online.” Its 2018 entry is therefore useful as a historical anchor, not as a live leaderboard. A defensible ranked list would need current worldwide cumulative grosses drawn from one source and definition, with release years and re-release treatment made clear for every title.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the record does—and does not—tell you
The evidence supports a precise answer to which romantic comedy was named by Guinness as the record holder: The Mermaid, with a reported worldwide gross of US$552,198,479 in the entry dated January 12, 2018. It does not support the exact current order, totals, or membership of a top ten. Nor does a nominal box-office gross show which film sold the most tickets; that would require comparable attendance data.
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