The 10 most followed people on Instagram – in pictures

As Ariana Grande becomes the most followed woman on Instagram, we take a look at the most popular people on the 'Gram

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  1. The most followed person on Instagram is Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) who had 156,533,473 followers at the time of writing. His account is a round up of cute family moments, on-pitch highlights and major career achievements.

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  2. Singer Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) is now the most followed woman on Instagram, with 146,962,479 followers, to be precise. If you click follow, expect a lot of filters, selfies and BTS moments with the 'Thank u, next' singer.

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  3. Formerly the most followed woman on the 'Gram, Selena Gomez's title has been stripped of her by fellow American songstress, Ariana Grande. It's a close race though, as Gomez (@selenagomez) has 146,527,198 followers, meaning there is a difference of 435,281 followers between the two. Family, fashion, friends and promo material makes up the majority of snaps over on Gomez's grid.

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  4. The second most followed man on Instagram is Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson (@therock), with 133m followers. Not one to just snap and post, the majority of The Rock's Insta pics come with a pretty inspiring caption to accompany it.

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  5. It makes sense that the most followed of the Kardashian/Jenner women is arguably most famous, Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian). The mother-of-three shares selfies aplenty, some taken in mirrors that could do with a good clean, with her 129m followers.

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  6. Close on Kim Kardashian's tail is the youngest Kardashian/Jenner woman, Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner), who has 128m followers. Jenner's Instagram is a veritable smorgasbord of snaps of baby Stormi, lipstick promo-shots and plenty of #sponcon, paid for posts.

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  7. Beyonce's (@beyonce) 125m followers will know to expect regular outfit of the day posts from the 'Halo' singer. The mother-of-three posts styled and edited photos in her many high fashion looks, often tagging the designers behind the looks. Very rarey fans are treated to a photo of children, Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir, or husband, Jay-Z.

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  8. If you're on Instagram for cat pictures, Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) is a must-follow, and as of right now there are 114m people doing just that. Before her very public fallout with Kim Kardashian in 2016, Swift's Instagram was a very candid insight into her life, now it is used mainly to promote new music, with the odd photo of her home life thrown in.

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  9. Brazilian footballer, Neymar (@neymarjr) comes in at number 9 with 111m followers. Family and football make up the bulk of the Paris Saint-Germain player's posts.

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  10. Rounding out our list is Lionel Messi (@leomessi), who boasts 110m followers. The Argentine footballer, who is currently the captain of Spanish team Barcelona, mainly posts photos of his three sons and on-pitch highlights.

With a staggering 146,962,479 (and climbing) followers, Ariana Grande is now the most followed woman on Instagram, having overtaken Selena Gomez and her 146,527,198 followers this week.

The two singers come in behind Portuguese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who boasts over 156 million followers on Instagram – second only to Instagram itself, which has 282m followers.

The rest of the list, however, may surprise you. Click through the gallery above to see who the 10 most followed people on Instagram are. 

According to statistics site, Statista, it was estimated that Instagram hit 1 billion users in June 2018, up from 800 million in September 2017.

Here are some of the highlights from Grande's 'Gram: 

Note: All numbers were correct at the time of publishing.