VEI 8 eruptions have happened in the following locations.

• Lake Taupo, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - Oruanui eruption ~26,500 years ago (~1,170 km³)
• Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia - ~74,000 years ago (~2,800 km³)
• Whakamaru, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - Whakamaru Ignimbrite/Mount Curl Tephra ~254,000 years ago (1,200-2,000 km³)^[7]
• Yellowstone Caldera, Lava Creek Tuff, Wyoming, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - 640,000 years ago (1,000 km³)^[8]
• Island Park Caldera, Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, Idaho/Wyoming, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - 2.1 million years ago (2,500 km³)^[8]
• Cerro Galan, Catamarca Province, Argentina - 2.5 million years ago (1,050 km³)
• Atana Ignimbrite, Pacana Caldera, northern Chile - 4 million years ago (2,500 km³)^[9]
• Heise volcanic field, Kilgore Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - 4.5 million years ago (1,800 km³).^[10]
• Heise volcanic field, Blacktail Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - 6.6 million years ago (1,500 km³).^[10]
• La Garita Caldera, Colorado, United States - Source of the enormous eruption of the Fish Canyon Tuff ~27.8 million years ago (~5,000 km³)

The Lake Toba eruption plunged the Earth into a volcanic winter, eradicating an estimated 60%^{[11][12][13][14][15]} of the human population (although humans managed to survive, even in the vicinity of the volcano^[16]). However the coincidental agreement in above sources about percentage value of extinction is contrary to differing estimates of human population size at that time.

VEI-7 volcanic events, less colossal but still supermassive, have occurred in the geological past. The only ones in historic times are Tambora, in 1815, Lake Taupo (Hatepe), around 180 CE,^[17] and possibly Baekdu Mountain, 969 CE (± 20 years).^[18]

• Tambora, Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia - 1815 (160 km³), the following year 1816 became known as the "Year Without a Summer"
• Baekdu Mountain, China/North Korea - ~969 CE (96±19 km³)
• Lake Taupo, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - Hatepe eruption ~181 CE (120 km³)^[17]
• Kikai Caldera, Ryukyu Islands, Japan - ~6,300 years ago (~ 4,300 BCE) (150 km³)
• Macauley Island, Kermadec Islands, New Zealand - ~6,300 years ago (~ 4,300 BCE) (100 km³)^[19][20]
• Aira Caldera, Kyūshū, Japan - ~22,000 years ago (~110 km³)
• Rotoiti Ignimbrite, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - ~50,000 years ago (~240 km³)^[21]
• Campi Flegrei, Naples, Italy - 39,280 ± 110 years ago (500 km³)
• Aso, Kyūshū, Japan - four large explosive eruptions between 300,000 to 80,000 years ago (last one > 600 km³)
• Reporoa Caldera, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - 230,000 years ago (~100 km³)* I. A. Nairn; C. P. Wood and R. A. Bailey (December 1994). "The Reporoa Caldera, Taupo Volcanic Zone: source of the Kaingaroa Ignimbrites". Bulletin of Volcanology 56 (6): 529–537. doi:10.1007/BF00302833. http://www.springerlink.com/content/mu1970l8163tp006. Retrieved 2010-09-16. 
• Mamaku Ignimbrite, Rotorua Caldera,Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - 240,000 years ago (>280 km³)^[22]
• Matahina Ignimbrite, Haroharo Caldera, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - 280,000 years ago (~120 km³)^[23]
• Long Valley Caldera, Bishop Tuff, California, United States - ~760,000 years ago (600 km³)
• Valles Caldera, New Mexico, United States - ~1.15 million years ago (~600 km³)^[24]
• Mangakino, Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand - three eruptions from 0.97 to 1.23 million years ago (each > 300 km³)^[25]
• Henry's Fork Caldera, Mesa Falls Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - 1.3 million years ago (280 km³)^[8]
• Pastos Grandes Ignimbrite, Pastos Grandes Caldera, 2.9 million years ago (>820 km³)^[26]
• Heise volcanic field, Walcott Tuff, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - 6.4 million years ago (750 km³).^[10]
• Bruneau-Jarbidge, Idaho, United States, Yellowstone hotspot - ~10-12 million years ago (>250 km³) (responsible for the Ashfall Fossil Beds ~1,600 km to the east^[27])
• Bennett Lake Volcanic Complex, British Columbia/Yukon, Canada - ~50 million years ago (850 km³)