The year 2018 was a great year for singer Selena Gomez. The young star took some much needed time off from the social media frenzy and sought treatment for her anxiety and depression issues, but now she’s back, fully rested, and feels better than ever. Selena has been spotted out and about after her treatment, but her continued social media absence led her to lose her title of “Most Followed Person on Instagram (female).” Obviously, absence does not make the heart grow fonder.
The ex-Disney star was dethroned by another popular singer, Ariana Grande, who has 146,286,173 followers, while Selena is just a little bit behind with 146,267,801 of her own. This 2019 is already a big hit for Grande, who released her second album titled Thank U, Next. Fans could have started following her to keep themselves updated with the latest goings-on, as she recently broke up with SNL comedian Pete Davidson. Ariana apparently called off their engagement late 2018 and they both have been the center of media attention ever since.
Though Grande’s followers have multiplied significantly, she still falls way behind soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, having more than 155 million followers. Cristiano overtook Gomez in October of 2018. Having a huge number of Instagram followers may not mean much to us, nor does the number of likes on a particular photo (okay fine… it does feel good to get multiple likes on a photo we post!). But to celebrities, followers most likely mean making more money, apart from reaching out to millions of their fans, updating them on their work and life.
Now, because of endorsements and sponsored posts, celebs and influencers get paid by big brands and companies to promote their products with an image and post on Instagram. So naturally, the brands only reach out to people with a huge following on social media. Hence, the massive follower count helps.
Are you shocked to know that Ariana’s followers outnumber those of Selena’s? And that Cristiano has many more people following him than BOTH the singing divas, combined? Instagram fame is fickle, indeed!
