Nowadays, the basis of a celebrity's popularity is not about his or her accomplishments or even talent. It's about who has the most followers on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
According to Statista, the following are the top ten Instagram accounts with the most followers:
1. Instagram
The first one is by default since everyone on Instagram is also probably following the app. An estimated 201.28 million Instagram users follow Instagram.
2. Selena Gomez
Now starts the juicy part. The petite singer/actress/model tops the list with 104.18 million followers. That's 10 million more than the next Instagram star. Vanity Fair wrote a feature on Selena's feat back in March and it mentioned that Gomez' 69.7 million followers at the time were "more than the entire population of France". The article also said that Gomez does not post on her IG account as often as other celebrities. This makes each post something of an event which, in turn, gets her more attention and more followers. Other factors seen as reasons for her numerous followers are her fans' high engagement rate and her relationship with Justin Bieber, another IG star.
3. Taylor Swift
Swift follows her best bud with 94.26 million followers. The main reasons why Swift is number two in this list is because young people could supposedly relate to her. Make Use Of sees her as any typical female cousin, daughter, or sister on Instagram. She only happens to be a millionaire with a successful singing career and an intriguing love life. Speaking of, some followers probably followed her account to keep up-to-date on who she's dating.
4. Ariana Grande
The petite singer and former Nickoledon star has 90.88 million followers. Being a celebrity since her (even) younger days has its perks. Those who watched her show grew up with her and discovered Instagram the same time she did. Grande has also garnered quite a following from the older generation thanks to her shift to a sexier image. And her talent, of course.
5. Beyonce
The singing superstar has 89.66 million followers so far putting her in the fifth place. Beyonce usually posts about her fashion choices, musical career and that of Jay-Z, and the standard artist promotional materials. While her posts lack the "sexiness" that most on this list have, her IG account got this many followers because she is said to be "classier".
The next five celebrities with the most IG followers are Kim Kardashian (88.73 million), soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo (83.48 million), Kylie Jenner (80.62), pop singer Justin Bieber (77.87 million), and wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (72.01 million).
Because of the popularity of Instagram and other social networks, some have taken to hacking the accounts of celebrities to gain their own 15 minutes of anonymous fame, steal some info and photos, or to bribe some money out of them. The police, meanwhile, wants to use IG and others like it as a surveillance tool.
