General numbers: The previous record was RSA-160 (160 digits), which was factored into two 80-digit factors by F. Bahr, J. Franke, T. Kleinjung, M. Lochter and M. Böhm on April 1st, 2003 (sic).
The previous record was 2⁹⁵³+1 (158 digits) on Jan 19, 2002.
The previous record was RSA-155 (22 August 1999) with 512 bits (155 digits).
The previous record was RSA-140 (2 February 1999).
The previous record was RSA-130 (10 April 1996) with 130 digits.
The previous revord was RSA129, which was factored using the Multiple Polynomial Quadratic Sieve (MPQS) from August 1993 to April 1994 by a "factor-by-mail" project, using about 5000 mips years, 600 volunteers from more than 20 countries, on all continents except Antarctica. The two factors have 64 and 65 digits.

ECM. The previous record was 66 digits, found by B. Dodson on April 6, 2005. The previous record was 59 digits (10²³³-1) found by B. Dodson on February 20, 2005. The previous record was 58 digits (8*10¹⁴¹-1), found by R. Backstrom on November 1st, 2003 (however with a p52 cofactor, thus it could have been found by NFS, thus this record was not taken into account in Richard Brent champions list). The previous record was 57 digits (2⁹⁹⁷-1), found by B. Dodson on 21st June 2003. The previous record was 55 digits (93⁵⁶+56⁹³) found by P. Gaudry on 13 December 2002. The previous record was 54 digits [(6^43-1)^42+1, factored by Nik Lygeros and Michel Mizony on December 26, 1999]. The previous records were: a p53 factor from 2^677-1 c150 found by Conrad Curry on September 14, 1998; a p49 factor from 2^1071+1 c132 found by Paul Zimmermann on June 19, 1998; a p48 factor from 24^121+1 c130 found by Richard P. Brent on October 9, 1997; a p47 factor from 30^109-1 c89 found by Peter Montgomery on February 25, 1996 (however from a c89, thus not taken into account in Richard Brent champions list); a p47 factor from 5^256+1 c134 found by Peter Montgomery on November 27, 1995; a p44 factor from p(19069) c99 found by Berger-Mueller on June 21, 1995; a p43 factor from p(19997) c139 found by Berger-Mueller on March 20, 1993; a p42 factor from 10^201-1 c111 found by D. Rusin on April 5, 1992; a p40 factor from p(11279) c89 found by Lenstra-Dixon on October 28, 1991 (graphical representation). See a description of the algorithm(s).

Special Numbers. The previous record was 248 digits, with 2,1642M factored by Aoki/Kida/Shimoyama/Sonoda/Ueda (CRYPTREC) on April 04, 2004. The previous record was 244 digits, with 2⁸⁰⁹-1 factored by Franke/Kleinjung/Bahr/CWI on January 3, 2003. The previous record was 233 digits for the special number field sieve or SNFS ( 2^773+1 by The Cabal in November 2000).