Musicians are major players in the realm of social media, and that remained true in 2021: A good chunk of the most-liked Instagram posts from the past year were by musicians or were music-related.
Ariana Grande has the top post among musicians and the second most-liked one overall, as a May 26 post featuring photos from her wedding with Dalton Gomez has over 26 million likes (according to Wikipedia, with data accurate as of December 23 and updated by Uproxx on December 27 for this post). It could be argued, though, that Billie Eilish actually fared better on the list: While the aforementioned Grande post is her only one in the top ten, Eilish has two posts on the list, the most among musicians. A post revealing her blonde hair ranks at No. 4 with 23 million likes and a photo from her Vogue photoshoot is No. 6 with 22.1 million likes.
Other musicians make cameos on the list as well. Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy announcement post from September, in which she tagged Travis Scott, is No. 3 with 24.6 million likes. Meanwhile, Iron Shore Mermaid, a professional mermaid performer, had a post in the top ten, a video set to The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay.”
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez had the honor of having the year’s top post, as their pregnancy announcement racked up over 32 million likes since it was shared in late October. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi had three posts in the top ten, making him the person with the most top-ten posts this year.
In terms of the people involved, this year’s list looks similar to the 2020 ranks, as Ronaldo, Messi, Grande, and Jenner all had some of last year’s top posts, too.
Check out the top ten list of the year’s most-liked Instagram posts below.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez — pregnancy announcement (October 28; 32.3 million likes)
2. Ariana Grande — photos from her wedding with Dalton Gomez (May 26; 26.7 million likes)
3. Kylie Jenner — second pregnancy announcement (September 8; 24.6 million likes)
4. Billie Eilish — blonde hair reveal (March 17; 23 million likes)
5. Lionel Messi — First post after signing with Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (August 11; 22.1 million likes)
6. Billie Eilish — Vogue photoshoot (May 2; 22.1 million likes)
7. Lionel Messi — photo with the Copa América trophy (July 11; 22 million likes)
8. Lionel Messi — post announcing his departure from Barcelona during a press conference (August 8; 21.2 million likes)
9. Mermaid Montana — Iron Shore Mermaid (August 18; 20.2 million likes)
10. Tom Holland — birthday post for Zendaya (September 1; 19.6 million likes)