Instagram has reached the 1 billion monthly active users mark, and more than 500 million people are using the platform daily.
But what makes an Instagram post popular? Yep, you guessed it: Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, babies, and deceased rappers.*
In this article, you’ll learn all about the top 20 most liked Instagram photos and the story behind the most liked Instagram picture ever.
I’ll see you on the other side.
* If you’re not a fan of Selena Gomez or Kylie Jenner, proceed with caution.
Post Contents
- 20. Selena Gomez: A Selfie
- 19. A Photo of an Egg with a Slight Crack
- 18. Ronaldo’s Family Christmas
- 17. Ariana Grande’s Tribute to Mac Miller
- 16. Kylie Jenner’s Daughter Dressed for Halloween
- 15. Kylie and Stormi
- 14. Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr.
- 13. Kylie’s Birthday Post for Travis Scott
- 12. Justin Bieber Gets Engaged
- 11. Kylie Jenner’s Daughter Snowboarding
- 10. Kylie & Her Family
- 9. Kylie Jenner & Travis Scott
- 8. Selena Gomez in Florence
- 7. Selena Gomez With Her Friends
- 6. Dwayne Johnson’s Wedding
- 5. Jennifer Aniston and Her Friends
- 4. Plant Trees on Earth Week
- 3. XXXTentacion First and Last Instagram Post
- 2. Kylie Jenner and Stormi’s Reign Ends
- 1. The Most Liked Instagram Picture Ever: An Egg
- Summary
- Want to Learn More?
20. Selena Gomez: A Selfie
Owner: Selena Gomez
Date Posted: April 5, 2019
Account Name: @selenagomez
On the 20th spot in our list we have a simple selfie by Selena Gomez. This post shows us the power of a selfie, if you’ve got a following as strong as Selena’s.
19. A Photo of an Egg with a Slight Crack
Owner: Chris Godfrey
Date Posted: January 18, 2019
Account Name: @world_record_egg
The 19th most liked Instagram photo features an egg with a slight crack in it.
To be fair, that’s pretty much all anyone knew about the mysterious World Record Egg Instagram account when this post was shared.
After the original post of an egg went viral, the Instagram profile began sharing a series of photos that gradually showed the egg cracking.
This was the first of those posts and it generated a huge amount of engagement, despite the lack of caption or explanation.
The series of photos culminated in a video that racked up 20.5 million views and revealed that streaming service Hulu has partnered with the egg to raise awareness around mental health issues.
The final video and now the Instagram account actively promote the website talkingegg.info which details where people can find help for mental health conditions in many different countries.
I think we can all agree that this viral sensation was eggstremely eggciting.
18. Ronaldo’s Family Christmas
Owner: Cristiano Ronaldo
Date Posted: December 24, 2018
Account Name: @cristiano
On Christmas Eve in 2018, Ronaldo shared this whimsical photo of his family dressed in Santa hats.
Captioned “Merry Christmas” in both Portuguese and English, the photo was an instant hit and rocketed up to become the 18th most liked photo on Instagram.
Now, is it just me, or does the Christmas joy expressed increase as you look at the faces from left to right?
17. Ariana Grande’s Tribute to Mac Miller
Owner: Ariana Grande
Date Posted: September 8, 2018
Account Name: @arianagrande
Pop singer Ariana Grande met rapper Mac Miller way back in 2012 and the couple revealed their relationship in 2016.
The relationship came to an end at the beginning of 2018, only for Miller to die unexpectedly a few months later in September 2018.
News of Miller’s death shocked both fans and the music industry, and many stars paid tribute to the rapper.
Grande didn’t include a caption and the comments are turned off.
However, a week after this post, Grande shared another Instagram tribute to Miller. The post featured a video of Mac Miller laughing and wearing a black sweatshirt bearing the words “Everything will be okay.”
In the post’s caption, Grande calls Miller “my dearest friend” and writes, “I adored you from the day I met you when I was nineteen and always will… I can’t believe you’re not here anymore.”
16. Kylie Jenner’s Daughter Dressed for Halloween
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: October 27, 2019
Account Name: @kyliejenner
Stormi dressed up as her mother’s famous outfit at the Met Gala in 2019.
Let’s be honest. Stormi wins this one.
15. Kylie and Stormi
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: March 1, 2018
Account Name: @kyliejenner
This photo celebrates one month since Stormi’s birth.
It’s such a special occasion that Jenner writes far more than usual saying, “my angel baby is 1 month old today.”
We can’t see Stormi’s face in the photo, but she does appear to be wearing an incredibly cute onesie.
Jenner is dressed in her standard Fall camouflage gear – which makes no sense because this image was posted in Spring.
14. Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr.
Owner: Tom Holland
Date Posted: August 22, 2019
Account Name: @tomholland2013
This is Tom Holland’s only appearance in the top 20 most liked photos of Instagram. We see him hanging out with MCU co-star Robert Downey Jr.
Fans are clearly not holding back their love for the two co-stars hanging out together.
13. Kylie’s Birthday Post for Travis Scott
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: April 30, 2019
Account Name: @kyliejenner
Kylie’s back on the list, and this time she’s celebrating Travis Scott’s birthday.
12. Justin Bieber Gets Engaged
Owner: Justin Bieber
Date Posted: July 9, 2018
Account Name: @justinbieber
The twelfth most liked Instagram photo features pop singer Justin Bieber announcing his engagement to model Hailey Baldwin.
And unlike Kylie Jenner, the Biebs is a fan of long captions – this one is almost 250 words.
In it, he proclaims his love for Baldwin, writing, “Hailey I am sooooo in love with everything about you! So committed to spending my life getting to know every single part of you loving you patiently and kindLY… My heart is COMPLETELY and FULLY YOURS and I will ALWAYS put you first!”
The engagement announcement came after a twelve-week romance and nearly a decade of friendship.
A few months later in September 2019, the couple got married in New York at a lower Manhattan courthouse.
11. Kylie Jenner’s Daughter Snowboarding
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: December 6, 2019
Account Name: @kyliejenner
Stormi steals the spotlight again. This time Kylie Jenner shows off her daughter Stormi’s adorable snowboarding skills.
10. Kylie & Her Family
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: April 26, 2019
Account Name: @kyliejenner
Kylie Jenner is back on the list with a post of her family dressed up as Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Thor. With all the excitement surrounding Avengers: Endgame, we get why this post made it to our top 20 list.
9. Kylie Jenner & Travis Scott
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: September 10, 2019
Account Name: @kyliejenner
On the ninth place in our list, we have Kylie Jenner again. This time accompanied by rapper partner, Travis Scott. We all know that Kylie is no stranger to a bikini picture, but in this Instagram post she’s entirely naked. Well, in a cowboy hat.
Her Playboy photo garnered over 12 million likes in a matter of hours, and now is up to 14 million likes.
8. Selena Gomez in Florence
Owner: Selena Gomez
Date Posted: September 10, 2019
Account Name: @selenagomez
Selena’s back on our list. This time it’s a beautiful shot from her trip to Italy, where she was on vacation celebrating her 27th birthday. Selena started the trip in Rome and moved south to the Amalfi Coast with her friends.
Selena captioned the photo, “Me, Italy -trying desperately to look like a Fellini film.”
7. Selena Gomez With Her Friends
Owner: Selena Gomez
Date Posted: February 11, 2019
Account Name: @selenagomez
And Selena’s back again. The superstar and her crew took a bachelorette trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
She captioned the picture, “My best friend is getting married, so we celebrated her! Future Mrs. Lopez.”
Selena shared a series of snaps of her and her besties soaking up the sun on the beach, living her best, most Instagrammable life.
6. Dwayne Johnson’s Wedding
Owner: Dwayne Johnson
Date Posted: August 19, 2019
Account Name: @therock
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson surprised fans all over the world when he revealed he had married his long-term girlfriend Lauren Hashian. The private ceremony took place in Hawaii in August 2019.
Dwayne also revealed how he managed to keep his high-profile wedding a secret. He shared that everything for the wedding was created by hand, by staff and family only, which helped him carry out his goal of complete privacy.
It’s worth to mention that The Rock has one of the most followed Instagram accounts, with a whopping 167 million followers (and still counting).
5. Jennifer Aniston and Her Friends
Owner: Jennifer Aniston
Date Posted: October 15, 2019
Account Name: @jenniferaniston
Okay get ready for this one. Jennifer Aniston set a Guinness World Record when she joined Instagram in early October 2019, setting the time for the fastest Instagram account to reach 1 million followers. Her account reached 1 million followers in only five hours and 16 minutes. The record was previously held by royals Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, with the launch of their @sussexroyal account.
Aniston’s appearance on social media made news all around the world with her fans and many of her celebrity friends, including castmates who took to their social media accounts to welcome her to the social media platform.
Although she had just joined Instagram, she mastered the platform pretty quickly when she shared her debut selfie with the cast of Friends, making her photo the 5th most liked picture on Instagram.
4. Plant Trees on Earth Week
Owner: tentree
Date Posted: October 15, 2019
Account Name: @tentree
This Instagram profile is a newcomer to the list. At a time when the environment is a matter of huge concern, it comes as no surprise that this post made it to our top 20 most liked photos on Instagram.
The post itself is part of a venture to plant more trees, by promising to convert likes into trees.
What do you think? Will this post continue to get more likes in the future?
3. XXXTentacion First and Last Instagram Post
Owner: Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, AKA: XXXTentacion
Date Posted: May 19, 2018
Account Name: @xxxtentacion
The third most liked Instagram post comes from rapper XXXTentacion.
It was his first and only Instagram post before his unexpected death in June 2018. The 20-year-old died of a gunshot wound he received in a robbery at a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
Bizarrely, XXXTentacion created a music video for his song “Sad” in which he attends his own funeral and the video was released after his death.
2. Kylie Jenner and Stormi’s Reign Ends
Owner: Kylie Jenner
Date Posted: February 6, 2018
Account Name: @kyliejenner
This is Kylie Jenner’s seventh appearance in this list of the 20 most liked Instagram photos. And this post, in particular, held the top spot for quite a while before dropping to silver place.
The photo announces the birth of her daughter Stormi and reveals her surname: Webster. The name is taken from her father Travis Scott, whose real name is Jacques Webster.
1. The Most Liked Instagram Picture Ever: An Egg
Owner: Chris Godfrey
Date Posted: January 4, 2019
Account Name: @world_record_egg
Yep, the most liked Instagram picture ever is an egg.
This photo of an egg poached the top spot from Kylie Jenner by a long shot with almost 59 million likes – that’s nearly three times as many as the second most liked photo on Instagram.
The World Record Egg account began as a simple campaign to set the world record for the most liked photo on Instagram and went on to beat the previous world record set by Jenner.
Obviously, people loved the idea and scrambled to get on board.
The record-breaking egg even provoked a response from Jenner herself, captioned, “take that little egg.”
Summary
Here’s a quick round-up of the key facts:
- The most liked Instagram picture ever is an egg and has a whopping 54 million likes.
- The most liked Instagram picture ever has nearly three times as many likes as the second most liked Instagram photo of Kylie Jenner and her daughter Stormi, which has 18.7 million likes.
- Seven of the 20 most liked Instagram photos are from Kylie Jenner.
- Three of the 20 most like Instagram photos are from Selena Gomez.
Now, based on the themes featured throughout this list, here’s how to create a record-breaking Instagram post that will beat the egg and win the top spot:
First, get Cristiano Ronaldo to announce his engagement to his newly pregnant girlfriend on Christmas Eve while holding baby Stormi.
Then, make sure they’re all on a boat, holding eggs.
Instagram is a strange place.