In a year of trials and tribulations, Instagram has been a source of great entertainment for many of those stuck indoors and has provided us with many interesting moments to keep us busy. It has certainly been a year of ups and downs, so what better than to summarise it with a list of celebrities and how much attention they got.
Cristiano Ronaldo exercising, 21st October – Likes: 14.1m
Starting off the list, what’s not to like about about being reminded how unfit you truly are. Crisitiano Ronaldo was there to let us know with a video of him exercising whilst recovering from COVID-19. Arguably the world’s most impressive athlete, Cristiano Ronaldo never ceases to amaze us with his endlessly-liked Instagram posts. It makes me think he could post a picture of literally anything and his loyal followers would lap it up.
Biden beats Trump, 7th November – Views: 22.4m
A moment of positivity many of us savoured this year was Donald Trump finally losing his job. Joe Biden’s victory video racked up an impressive 22.4 million views as people rejoiced in the news that the orange twerp would finally be removed from office. Despite resistance (and a lot of it at that), the United States will be getting a new president come January.
Announcement of Chadwick Boseman’s death, 28th August – Likes: 19.1m
A notably sad moment of the year was the loss of actor Chadwick Boseman back in August, at the age of 43. There was an outcry of love and affection towards the Black Panther star, with millions of people expressing their sadness over his passing on his Instagram page.
Sir David joins Instagram, 24th September – Views: 18.1m
Just when you thought there was nothing more you could see on Instagram, 94-year-old legend Sir David Attenborough joined the social media club. Sir David’s account broke the record for the fastest time to reach 1 million followers on Instagram (however this was sadly broken 2 months later when Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasley, joined the platform).
Kylie Jenner’s birthday post for Travis Scott, 30th April – Likes: 15.9m
This list wouldn’t really make sense if it didn’t feature a member of the Kardashian-Jenner family. Kylie Jenner celebrated her ex-husband (dad of her daughter Stormi) Travis’s 28th birthday. Raking in the likes from her 204 million followers, it shot Jenner up in the charts for popular posts of the year.
LeBron James’ post in remembrance of Kobe Bryant, 27th January – Likes: 15.5m
A second sad moment of the year was the tragic passing of renowned basketball player Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna. As a result, LeBron James’ post in remembrance of his former LA Lakers teammate became the 10th most-liked Instagram post of all time.
Jennifer Aniston hangs out with friends…Again, 13th January – Likes: 10.8m
In 2019 one of the most prolific moments was Jennifer Aniston’s debut Instagram post of her hanging out with her ‘Friends’. Well early this year she did it again. Instead of attending the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards, Aniston shared a picture of herself hanging out with Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow (or Monica and Phoebe as you may know them). Her post went viral again, receiving 10.8 million likes to date.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s tribute to Diego Maradona, 25th November – Likes: 19.6m
It’s not a massive surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo features on this list twice, with his 247 million followers showering every single one of his posts in likes. A huge event in the football world was the loss of acclaimed Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona, and Ronaldo’s tribute to his footballing hero quickly became the third most-liked post ever on the platform.
Ariana Grande is engaged, 20th December – Likes: 15.0m
A very recent contender for the most popular post, American singer Ariana Grande announced that she was engaged to real estate agent Dalton Gomez to her 211 million followers. I’m not sure it’s the news to round my year off as an overall positive one, but at least Grande will have a pick of all the best houses with her new fiancé.
An all-star rendition of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, 18th March – Views: 10.3m
Here we round the list off with one of the most laughable Instagram moments of the year. Led by Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot, a great host of top-tier celebs decided the best way to help the thousands of people suffering during the pandemic was to give us their rendition of John Lennon’s classic ‘Imagine’ whilst sat in their million-dollar mansions, and oh how they were wrong. The out of touch song, which also included the likes of Jimmy Fallon, Natalie Portman and Will Ferrell, received a lot of backlash and even a parody spoof from Ryan Reynolds and various comedians.