its a record amount in a single quarter

Not necessarily relevant to this specific theme, buybacks, this brings to mind a general problem I am having with the terms "highest X ever" (revenue/profit/costs/investments; whatever), "record Y", "best quarter ever". Why? Because they are so overused in economics/finances for something which is not even worth mentioning.

Longterm everything is nearly always a record as long as economies are growing. In 10 years the S&P will set a new record, will be as high as never before in it's history. What´s special on that?

Of course Apple, John Deere, Costco will have a record quarter then (and many times before), with revenue higher than ever. Of course Berkshire´s book value will set new records (mostly) year after year. Of course tax revenue will be higher than ever before. And of course the absolute amount of buybacks at Berkshire will be higher than ever before (which is why % is a better measurement than $).

I have no idea what´s special in all those records which are constantly mentioned in the financial news/press. They are a given, they are unavoidable as long as economies continue to grow. It´s not as something extraordinary did happen. Au contraire, something very ordinary did happen: Growth, which brings with it higher numbers. If there were no new records/highs for a long long time, now that would be the extraordinary thing worth mentioning.