Lionel Messi Becomes Second Human To Hit 500 Million Followers On Instagram

Inter Miami forward, Lionel Messi has become the second human being to hit 500 million followers on Instagram as at Sunday, February 26, 2024.

This means that Lionel Messi is the second most followed person on Instagram after his career-rival, Cristiano Ronaldo who has a massive 622 million followers.

Only Instagram itself has more followers than 39-year-old Ronaldo (669 million) and all things being equal, the Portuguese footballer could surpass the platform in the nearest future.

As for Lionel Messi, his followers increased massively when he left FC Barcelona for Paris Saint Germain in 2021 and the growth continued when he led Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

When the 36-year-old Argentine footballer moved to Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer, he added more millions of followers to his Instagram followers.

His performance in the MLS since August 2023 has now taken his total Instagram flowers to over 500 million.

As it stands, only him and Ronaldo are the active sports people in the top ten of the most followed people on Instagram.

According to brand data platform KORE, 20 percent of the 2.5 billion monthly active Instagram users are now following Lionel Messi who has the most liked post on Instagram. Recall that over 75.5 million accounts liked his 2022 FIFA World Cup celebratory post which is a record to date.

Below are the top ten most followed people on Instagram as of Sunday, February 25, 2024:

Instagram: 669 million

Cristiano Ronaldo: 662 million

Lionel Messi: 500 million

Selena Gomez: 429 million

Kylie Jenner: 400 million

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: 397 million

Ariana Grande: 380 million

Kim Kardashian: 364 million

Beyoncé: 320 million

Khloe Kardashian: 310 million