Cristiano Ronaldo has one of the most popular Instagram accounts as of April 2024. The Portuguese footballer is the most-followed person on the photo sharing app platform with 628 million followers. Instagram's own account was ranked first with roughly 672 million followers. How popular is Instagram? Instagram is a photo-sharing social networking service that enables users to take pictures and edit them with filters. The platform allows users to post and share their images online and directly with their friends and followers on the social network. The cross-platform app reached one billion monthly active users in mid-2018. In 2020, there were over 114 million Instagram users in the United States and experts project this figure to surpass 127 million users in 2023. Who uses Instagram? Instagram audiences are predominantly young – recent data states that almost 60 percent of U.S. Instagram users are aged 34 years or younger. Fall 2020 data reveals that Instagram is also one of the most popular social media for teens and one of the social networks with the biggest reach among teens in the United States. Celebrity influencers on Instagram Many celebrities and athletes are brand spokespeople and generate additional income with social media advertising and sponsored content. Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo ranked first again, as the average media value of one of his Instagram posts was 985,441 U.S. dollars.

As of January 2024, India had a total of 362 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 169 million users, and Brazil had 134 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Brunei is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 92 percent of the population using the social media service. Guam came in second, with a penetration rate of 79.2 percent and the Cayman Islands ranked third, with 78.8 percent, followed closely by Kazakhstan, Iceland and Montenegro. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of May 2021, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of December 2021, roughly a third of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of February 2022 with over 470 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 401 million followers on the platform and media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 309 million followers. National Geographic (@natgeo) had over 206.9 million followers, sharing educational content through its renowned photojournalism.

As of June 2023, Virat Kohli, an Indian cricketer, had the most followed Instagram account among individuals from the Asia-Pacific region, with over 253 million followers. Chris Hemsworth, an Australian actor, enjoyed the largest following among Australians, with approximately 57 million Instagram followers.

Instagram influencers in the Asia-Pacific region

Instagram influencers have established a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to the platform's growing popularity and influence. Considered one of the greatest batsmen in cricket history, Virat Kohli, the most followed person on Instagram in the APAC region, has played a crucial role in India's sports achievements. In 2023, he was among the most expensive players of the Indian Premier League, with his salary amounting to 150 million Indian rupees. Among the other prominent Instagram trendsetters in the APAC region are members of Blackpink, a popular South Korean girl group. In 2022, Blackpink sold over 2.8 million album copies, solidifying their position as one of the most successful and popular K-pop bands, despite having released fewer albums than other groups in a similar timeframe.

Instagram as a part of the social medial landscape

Instagram has experienced significant usage and popularity in the Asia-Pacific region, becoming the preferred social media platform for Asian influencers, with over 38 percent of influencers in the region utilizing the platform. As of January 2023, China displayed a significant online presence with an estimated 1.03 billion active social media users, clearly surpassing other markets in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of social media engagement. Following China, India and Indonesia secured second and third positions, respectively, with 467 million and 167 million active social media users. As mobile internet usage and smartphone ownership continue to rise in the Asia-Pacific region, Instagram is expected to further expand its user base and solidify its position as a dominant social media platform in the region.

This statistic shows the most followed Instagram accounts by Malaysia celebrities, influencers or public figures as of March 2019, by the number of quality followers. As of that time, the Instagram account for the Malaysian comedian Zizan Razak (@zizanrazak869) had the most quality followers, with approximately 3.62 million quality followers. In comparison, the Instagram account with the highest engagement rate, @theyusufiskandar, had approximately 1.53 million quality followers.

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was the most-followed athlete on Instagram with over 481 million followers. Ronaldo is also the overall most-followed person on Instagram, as well as on Facebook. Second-ranked Lionel Messi had over 361 million Instagram followers.

Athletes on social media Athletes are celebrities in their own right and have long since managed to make social media work for them. Many athletes use social media to connect with fans, but this is only one of the benefits of social media usage: most professional sportspeople have advertising and sponsorship contracts and social media provides them with an outlet to promote their preferred brands even further. Instagram posts of top athletes are big business. In January 2020, the average media value of an Instagram post by Cristiano Ronaldo was 985,441 U.S. dollars. In second place was Messi, whose posts were worth more than half a million dollars.

Social media marketing Due to the visual nature of the platform, Instagram is a particularly attractive channel for brands and marketers to promote their products. According to an industry survey, Instagram is the second-most popular social media platform used by marketers worldwide. The leading benefits of using social media for marketing purposes are increased exposure and traffic.

In September 2024, the most popular Instagram account by number of followers in Iceland was strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, with 4.2 million followers. Content creator laufey was the second-most followed Icelandic Instagram account.

As of February 28, 2025, Angela Yeung Wing, an actress known by her stage name Angelababy, had the most popular Instagram account from Hong Kong with over 11.53 million followers. Other most-followed accounts were Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, and BTS.

As of March 2025, Jennie of Blackpink was the most followed South Korean celebrity on Instagram with approximately 86.3 million followers. The most followed individual male celebrity was V of boy group BTS. The group account of Blackpink, BTS and both groups' individual member accounts made up all the leading Instagram accounts, highlighting the overall popularity of the two Kpop idol groups. More than just Instagram followers The popularity of Kpop stars were not limited to just Instagram posts. For example, EXO was one of SM Entertainment company’s leading idol groups with a prominent presence on SM Entertainment’s Youtube channel. The meteoric rise and popularity of Bangtan boys (BTS) also translated into strong album sales and revenue growth for Big Hit Entertainment, which was the company that managed BTS. Kpop fans did much more than following their favorite stars’ Instagram accounts. The global appeal of Kpop Kpop grew from a niche genre of music to a market with worldwide appeal and popularity. There were various reasons behind Kpop’s power to draw in fans; the overall package that was presented by Kpop artists offered something both new and impressive to behold for consumers. The various mediums of media through which Korean celebrities could be accessed also provided a strong connection between stars and their fans.

As of March 2025, Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina was the most followed Instagram account in Indonesia, with a total of approximately 76.4 million followers. Joko Widodo was the second most followed account on the platform, with around 59 million followers.

With a total amount of 255 million followers, Cristiano Ronaldo was the most followed influencer on the photo and video social network Instagram worldwide as of January 2021. However, Lionel Messi had more Spanish followers as of January 2021. The first Spanish account that can be found on the list is that of the football club Real Madrid, which ranked fourth on the list with nearly 19 million Spanish followers.

Profile of Spanish users

Despite his current popularity, daily use of Instagram is not the highest compared to other social networks in Spain, with users spending over an hour on the platform in a given day. Anyway, this is considerable, given that the country's audience size exceeds 20 million users. At a local level, Madrid has the highest number of active Instagram users, followed by Barcelona, in large part because they are two of the country's most populated cities.

Influencers: the new phenomenon

Companies, such as a football club, can reach a wide range of fans through the network. But individual accounts are increasingly gaining large followings, and those who run these accounts are deemed "influencers". There are several types of social media influencers, including musicians, actors, and athletes. Through both direct and indirect advertising, they are part of a multi-billion U.S. dollar global Instagram influencer market. Direct advertising includes posts openly endorsing a product, but the market includes product placement, endorsements, and other indirect methods.

This statistic gives information on the most influential and active world leaders on social media as of April 2020, ranked by Instagram followers. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ranked first, having aggregated almost 38 million Instagram followers on his account.

In September 2024, the most popular Instagram account by number of followers in Norway was first and at top the professional football player Erling Haaland's account, with almost 39 million followers. Artist Alan walker was the second-most followed Instagram account in Norway, followed by footballer Martin Ødegaard.

In 2024, LISA's Instagram account had the highest number of followers in Thailand, amounting to almost 102.54 million followers. LISA is Lalisa Monaban's Instagram account. She is part of the K-Pop girl group band Blackpink.

As of March 2025, Lena Mantler was the German influencer with the most Instagram followers at around 20.7 million. Lena rose to fame by making lip-syncing videos with her twin sister Lisa on Musical.ly, which later became TikTok. Younes Zarou and Pamela Reif were the second and third most followed German influencers. Influencers and influencer marketing have become one of the most prolific types of online marketing as such.

In 2023, Instagram influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers accounted for 76.86 percent of influencer accounts worldwide. The second most popular group was that of micro-influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 subscribers, accounting for 18.23 percent of all influencers. Mid-tier influencers with 50,000 to 500,000 followers represented 4.56 percent of the total, while mega-influencers and celebrities with more than one million subscribers accounted for 0.16 percent.

As of November 2024, Burak Özdemir reached about 53.6 million followers and became the most popular Turkish Instagram account in Turkey. Nusret Gökçe followed with his account named Nusr_et#Saltbae as the second most-followed Instagram account in the country with 53.3 million followers.

As of October 12, 2024, Amber Na, a DJ from Malaysia, had the most popular Instagram account in Taiwan with around 16.7 million followers. Other most-followed accounts were Mr. Kenneth Tong, Jay Chou, and Tia Lee.

In 2024, the most popular Instagram account by number of followers in Denmark was model Josephine Skriver, with 8.7 million followers. Actor Nikolaj Coster Waldau had 2.9 million Instagram followers and was the third most followed Instagram account from Denmark.

This statistic presents a ranking of leading luxury brands on Instagram in 2020, based on the number of followers. The French high-fashion powerhouse Chanel and The Kering Group's Gucci were the leading luxury brands on Instagram with 41 million followers each. With 39 million followers on Instagram, Louis Vuitton, known for its signature luxury bags and luggage came in third place. Luxury brands on Instagram – additional information As one of the leading social networks worldwide, Instagram is an important platform for brands. The photo-sharing social network service offers opportunities for brands to reach the public, manage its reputation, and positively shape the discussion about products. Instagram is also powerful platform for celebrity endorsements, considering singers such as Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, and television personalities and socialites Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner are some of the most followed Instagram accounts worldwide.

Aware of this opportunity, brands are strengthening their presence in this social media platform to engage the community. In this context, Instagram has proven to be particularly valuable for fashion and beauty brands. Nearly all fashion, beauty, watches and jewelry brands have an Instagram profile.

The French high-fashion powerhouse Chanel is the leading luxury brand on Instagram, with 21.6 million followers as of May 2017. Louis Vuitton, known for its signature luxury bags and luggage, is the second most followed luxury brand on Instagram – 17.1 million followers as of May 2017. With 15.5 million followers on Instagram, Dior ranks third. Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Prada, Michael Kors and Louboutin also have a strong presence in the platform, as all these luxury brands have over eight million followers on Instagram.

As of March 2024, the Czech football legend Petr Čech was the most-followed person on Instagram in Czechia, with over 2.7 million followers.