The most popular social media accounts have millions of followers and, as a result, huge influence.
The top accounts differ significantly across platforms, however similar persons appear on numerous lists.
We'll look at the most followed accounts on each of the major social media platforms, as well as the top five most-followed persons overall, in the sections below.
Who is the most followed person on social media?
With approximately 870.2 million total followers, Cristiano Ronaldo is comfortably the most-followed person across social media platforms.
Overall, the top 5 most-followed people on social media are:
Cristiano Ronaldo - 870.2 million followers
Selena Gomez - 679.4 million followers
Justin Bieber - 597.1 million followers
Taylor Swift - 513.4 million followers
Ariana Grande - 504.2 million followers
Despite no TikTok presence, Ronaldo’s unrivaled Instagram following of approximately 600 million coupled with 100 million followers on both Facebook and Twitter puts him at #1
MOST FOLLOWED ACCOUNTS ON TIKTOK
Khabane Lame is the most followed person on TikTok with well over 150 million followers.
Charli D’Amelio is the only other TikToker with over 100 million followers.
Between July 2022 and July 2023, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) more than doubled his followers from around 40 million to 85 million.
Just two (MrBeast and Will Smith) of TikTok’s top 10 most followed people feature in any of the other top 20 social media lists.
| Rank | Account | Followers | 1-Year Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khabane lame | 161.4 Million | 16.4 Million |
| 2 | Cahrli d'amelio | 151 Million | 7.6 Million |
| 3 | Bella Poarch | 92.6 Million | 2.2 Million |
| 4 | Addison Rae | 88.5 Million | 0.4 Millio |
| 5 | Mrbeast | 85 Million | 45.3 Million |
| 6 | Zach King | 78 Million | 8.9 Million |
| 7 | Kimberly Loaiza | 76 Million | 11.2 Million |
| 8 | Tiktok | 73.6 Million | 9.9 Million |
| 9 | Will Smith | 73.1 Million | 0.8 Million |
| 10 | cznburak | 72 Million | 12.4 Million |
| 11 | The Rock | 71.2 Million | 17 Million |
| 12 | Domelipa | 67.1 Million | 11.3 Million |
| 13 | BTS | 60.6 Million | 9.4 Million |
| 14 | Selena Gomez | 58.7 Million | 16.7 Million |
| 15 | Jason Derulo | 58.1 Million | 5.6 Million |
| 16 | dixie | 57.1 Million | 0.3 Million |
| 17 | Wonjeong | 56 Million | 10.3 Million |
| 18 | Spencer X | 55.1 Million | — |
| 19 | Loren Gray | 54.2 Million | 0.4 Million |
| 20 | Kylie Jenner | 53.9 Million | 12.3 Million |
Aside from Instagram’s own account, Cristiano Ronaldo has the most followers on Instagram with around 600 million.
Another soccer star Leo Messi currently ranks third for most Instagram followers, just over 100 million behind rival Ronaldo.
| Rank | Account | Followers | 1-Year Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 649.2 Million | 123.2 Million | |
| 2 | Christiano Ronaldo | 596.3 Million | 133.9 Million |
| 3 | Leo Messi | 478.7 Million | 134.3 Million |
| 4 | Selena Gomez | 426.1 Million | 93.3 Million |
| 5 | Kylie | 397.4 Million | 42.3 Million |
| 6 | Dwayne Johnson | 387.4 Million | 61.6 Million |
| 7 | Ariana Grande | 377 Million | 56.8 Million |
| 8 | Kim Kardashian | 362.5 Million | 39.7 Million |
| 9 | Beyoncé | 314.6 Million | 49 Million |
| 10 | Khloé Kardashian | 310.8 Million | 52 Million |
| 11 | Nike | 301.9 Million | 74.7 Million |
| 12 | Justin Bieber | 293.7 Million | 47.7 Million |
| 13 | Kendall | 292.9 Million | 48.3 Million |
| 14 | National Geographic | 281.7 Million | 50.8 Million |
| 15 | Taylor Swift | 268 Million | 50.8 Million |
| 16 | Virat Kohli | 255.1 Million | 50.7 Million |
| 17 | Jennifer Lopez | 249.3 Million | 32.5 Million |
| 18 | Kourtney Kardashian Barker | 223.8 Million | 36.4 Million |
| 19 | Miley Cyrus | 212.5 Million | 34.9 Million |
| 20 | NJ?? | 210.6 Million | 34. Million |
Twitter owner Elon Musk has the most-followed account on Twitter, accumulating over 30% of his 147.9 million followers since July 2022.
In contrast to other popular social media platforms, 6 of the top 20 Twitter accounts have experienced a net loss of followers between July 2022 and July 2023.
In total, 5 of the top 10 most-followed accounts belong to music artists. While 3 belong to current or former heads of state.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the only athlete in the top 10 with Neymar ranked #19. And Elon Musk is the only business magnate in the top 10 with Bill Gates at #18.
| Rank | Account | Followers | 1-Year Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elonmusk | 147.9 Million | 47.6 Million |
| 2 | BarackObama | 132.1 Million | 0.2 Million |
| 3 | Justinbieber | 112 Million | 2.2 Million |
| 4 | Christiano | 108.9 Million | 7.4 Million |
| 5 | rihanna | 108.9 Million | 1.2 Million |
| 6 | katyperry | 107.4 Million | 1.5 Million |
| 7 | taylorswift13 | 93.5 Million | 3 Million |
| 8 | narendramodi | 90.2 Million | 9.9 Million |
| 9 | realDonaldTrump | 86.6 Million | n/a Million |
| 10 | ladygaga | 84.1 Million | 0.7 Million |
| 11 | YouTube | 79 Million | 3.4 Million |
| 12 | EllenDeGeneres | 75.4 Million | 2.1 Million |
| 13 | Kimkardashian | 75 Million | 2.1 Million |
| 14 | NASA | 75 Million | 15.9 Million |
| 15 | selenagomez | 66.8 Million | 0.8 Million |
| 16 | tter | 65.7 Million | 3.7 Million |
| 17 | cnnbrk | 63.8 Million | 0.5 Million |
| 18 | BillGates | 63 Million | 3.3 Million |
| 19 | neymarjr | 62.3 Million | 5.2 Million |
| 20 | jtimberlake | 61.6 Million | 1. Million |
Facebook’s most liked pages have little overlap with other social media followings. In fact, 13 of the top 20 do not feature on any other list.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the most-liked person on Facebook with well over 150 million likes.
Shakira (124 million likes) is the only other non-fictional person to feature in the top 5.
| RANK | ACCOUNT | LIKES | 1 - YEAR CHANGES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 183.3 Million | 6.6 Million | |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 164.9 Million | 13 Million |
| 3 | Samsung | 162.5 Million | 0.7 Million |
| 4 | Mr Bean | 138.6 Million | 8.4 Million |
| 5 | Shakira | 124 Million | 8.5 Million |
| 6 | CGTN | 120.3 Million | 1.9 Million |
| 7 | Will Smith | 116.2 Million | 4.7 Million |
| 8 | Leo Messi | 115.1 Million | 9.2 Million |
| 9 | Real Madrid C.F. | 113.9 Million | 1.7 Million |
| 10 | Coca-Cola | 109.1 Million | - |
| 11 | Vin Diesel | 107 Million | 1 Million |
| 12 | China Daily | 105.2 Million | 0.2 Million |
| 13 | Rihanna | 104.9 Million | 2.7 Million |
| 14 | FC Barcelona | 103.6 Million | 0.3 Million |
| 15 | Tasty | 95.8 Million | 0.8 Million |
| 16 | Eminem | 95.5 Million | 0.9 Million |
| 17 | China Xinhua News | 95.1 Million | 2.4 Million |
| 18 | Justin Bieber | 92.3 Million | 1.2 Million |
| 19 | Neymar Jr. | 90.9 Million | 1.9 Million |
| 20 | Netflix | 87.9 Million | 5.6 Million |
Music and kids content is king on YouTube with 7 channels regularly uploading music videos and 6 frequently posting child-friendly content.
T-Series is the largest channel by subscribers with around 250 million subscribers - almost 100 million more than any other channel.
India is represented twice in the top four channels with SET India ranked 4th.
Just 4 channels (MrBeast, PewDiePie, Like Nastya, and Justin Bieber) are primarily based around a single person.
| RANK | ACCOUNT | SUBSCRIBERS | 1 - YEAR CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T - Series | 245 Million | 26 Million |
| 2 | Mrbeast | 166 Million | 68.2 Million |
| 3 | Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes | 162 Million | 24 Million |
| 4 | SET India | 159 Million | 23 Million |
| 5 | Kids Diana Show | 112 Million | 15.1 Million |
| 6 | PewDiePie | 111 Million | — |
| 7 | Like Nastya | 106 Million | 8.9 Million |
| 8 | Vlad and Niki | 98.9 Million | 15.6 Million |
| 9 | Zee Music Company | 96.7 Million | 11.4 Million |
| 10 | WWE | 96 Million | 6.8 Million |
| 11 | BLACKPINK | 89.9 Million | 14.9 Million |
| 12 | Goldmines | 86.9 Million | 15.1 Million |
| 13 | Sony SAB | 83 Million | 13.9 Million |
| 14 | 5 - Minute Crafts | 80.1 Million | 3.1 Million |
| 15 | BANGTANTV | 75.6 Million | 6.7 Million |
| 16 | Justin Bieber | 71.6 Million | 2.3 Million |
| 17 | HYBE LABELS | 71.3 Million | 4.1 Million |
| 18 | Zee TV | 70.5 Million | 7.8 Million |
| 19 | Pinkfong Baby Shark - Kids' Songs & Stories | 68.2 Million | 9.6 Million |
| 20 | Canal KondZilla | 66.5 Million | 0.7 Million |