Selena Gomez lost an Instagram title today, although just barely. The singer has been dethroned as the platform’s most followed woman and second most followed user by Ariana Grande.
Gomez was Instagram’s most followed user period up until the end of October when Cristiano Ronaldo took her top spot. Ronaldo has held his place as the most followed celebrity on the platform and now has 155 million followers.
When looking at post output, it’s not entirely surprising that Grande increased her following by over 13 million users since October. Grande has more than double the posts Gomez does on her Instagram. Grande posts Instagram stories and new permanent grid posts multiple times daily on most days. She also just released a new album and has been heavily promoting her projects on the platform.
Gomez, in contrast, has been largely off the platform. A month ago, Gomez has made a conscious decision to post very rarely on her account. “She isn’t going to be posting much on social because she is more aware of how social takes a toll on her mental health, but she will be updating her fans once in a while,” the source said.
And Gomez also spoke during an Instagram Live in late September about how she doesn’t really care about having the most followed title anyway. “Numbers don’t matter,” she said. “None of this matters. I don’t care how many followers I have. I don’t. It’s insane so many people are obsessed. Like, chill out.”
Despite losing her most followed woman ranking to Grande, Gomez did set a personal record earlier this month. Her post with photos from her friend’s bachelorette party is now her own most liked Instagram. It got over 11.8 million likes in just 19 hours and has become the 4th most liked photo ever posted on the platform. It now has over 13.9 million likes:
Ranking-wise, Dwayne Johnson is the fourth most followed person on the platform with over 132 million followers while Kim Kardashian is the fifth most followed person with 128 million followers. Her younger sister Kylie Jenner is right behind her with 127 million followers.
