What is the most liked Instagram post?
Lionel Messi’s post of 18 December 2022, a carousel of photos of him lifting the FIFA World Cup trophy and celebrating with his Argentina teammates at Lusail Stadium in Qatar. Guinness World Records verified 75,471,947 likes on 24 March 2023 [2]. Wikipedia’s list gave about 74.5 million when we checked in November 2026 [1]; like counts can fall a little over time.
The post broke records almost immediately. It reached 10 million likes in its first 39 minutes and 50 million within a day. Two days after it went up it passed 56 million and overtook the egg, and within 48 hours it was above 64 million, which made it the most liked post on any social media platform, ahead of the “Despacito” video on YouTube and Bella Poarch’s lip-sync video on TikTok [1].
Top 10 most liked posts on Instagram now
This is the top 10 on Wikipedia’s list of most-liked Instagram posts, read on 3 November 2026 [1]:
| Rank | Account | Post | Likes | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @leomessi | Messi celebrating the 2022 World Cup win | 74.5m | 18 Dec 2022 |
| 2 | @world_record_egg | A photo of an egg | 60.5m | 4 Jan 2019 |
| 3 | @justinflom | Reel of a Las Vegas fun house | 54.0m | 1 Feb 2026 |
| 4 | @leomessi | Messi in bed with the World Cup trophy | 53.2m | 20 Dec 2022 |
| 5 | @kishore_mondal_official | Reel singing “Jeene Laga Hoon” | 51.4m | 11 Apr 2025 |
| 6 | @Insta360 | Tiny camera filming a toddler walking | 47.0m | 2025 |
| 7 | @isabellastricklandd | Child wearing a POV camera | 46.5m | 13 Apr 2026 |
| 8 | @bredypett | Reel of children with dogs | 45.0m | 12 Oct 2025 |
| 9 | @epicflipzandkickz | Three children doing a bottle flip | 44.2m | 24 Nov 2025 |
| 10 | @cristiano | Ronaldo and Messi playing chess for Louis Vuitton | 41.1m | 19 Nov 2022 |
Just outside the top 10 are Messi on the plane home with the trophy (40.9 million), Messi’s visit to Camp Nou in November 2025 (39.1 million) and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement announcement of August 2025 (37.5 million) [1].
How the most liked posts have changed since 2024
The infographic by ViralMango shows the top 20 as they stood in August 2024, and at that point the list was almost all football. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo held 14 of the 20 places between them, seven each (counting Ronaldo’s joint posts with Al Nassr and with Georgina Rodríguez), and nine of the 20 posts went up in December 2022, around the World Cup final and Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia. The only non-football posts were the egg, a sunset video, XXXTentacion’s final post, Zendaya, Selena Gomez and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man photo [3].
Two years on, the list looks very different. Short video reels, many of them of children, music or stunts by people who were not famous before, now fill most of the top 10. Messi has five posts in the current top 20 and Ronaldo four, including Ronaldo’s wedding to Georgina Rodríguez in August 2026 (34 million likes) [1]. Celebrity photos that made the 2024 list, such as Zendaya’s and Selena Gomez’s, no longer make the top 20.
Some posts have also lost likes. The sunset reel by @jiangzhibin24 was eighth in August 2024 with 33.9 million likes, but Wikipedia now lists it at 32.3 million and describes it as AI-generated [1][3].
The story of the egg
The world record egg is the most famous post on the list. On 4 January 2019 an account called @world_record_egg posted a plain stock photo of a brown egg with one aim: to beat the most liked post at the time, Kylie Jenner’s photo of her daughter, which had 18.6 million likes. It managed that in ten days, on 14 January 2019 [1].
The account was set up by Chris Godfrey, an advertising creative, with friends CJ Brown and Alissa Khan-Whelan. The photo was taken by Serghei Platanov and uploaded to Shutterstock in 2015 as “eggs isolated on white background”. Jenner replied with a video of herself cracking an egg [1]. The egg held the record for nearly four years until Messi’s World Cup post overtook it in December 2022, and it is still second.
Why football dominates the most liked list
Messi and Ronaldo have some of the biggest followings on Instagram. When Guinness verified Messi’s record in March 2023, Ronaldo’s was the most followed personal account, and Messi’s was third overall behind Instagram’s own account and Ronaldo’s [2]. A huge following, a sport watched around the world and a moment like winning a World Cup go a long way to explaining why their posts reach tens of millions of likes.
The newer entries show that a big following is no longer essential. Instagram recommends reels to people who do not follow the account, so a short video by an unknown creator can now collect as many likes as a post by a world-famous footballer.
Questions about the most liked Instagram post
What is the top 10 most liked post on Instagram?
As of November 2026: Messi’s World Cup celebration, the egg, Justin Flom’s fun house reel, Messi in bed with the trophy, Kishore Mondal’s singing reel, Insta360’s toddler video, Isabella Strickland’s POV camera reel, Bredy e Guci’s children and dogs reel, EpicFlipzAndKickz’s bottle flip and Ronaldo’s Louis Vuitton chess photo with Messi [1].
Who has the most liked post on Instagram?
Lionel Messi, with his World Cup post of 18 December 2022 [1][2].
How many likes does the Instagram egg have?
About 60.5 million in November 2026, down from 61.1 million in August 2024 [1][3].
What was the most liked Instagram post before the egg?
Kylie Jenner’s photo of her baby daughter, with 18.6 million likes [1].
Is Messi’s post the most liked on any social media?
Yes. It overtook the most liked YouTube video and the most liked TikTok within 48 hours, and remains the most liked post on any platform [1].
Sources
- Wikipedia, List of most-liked Instagram posts, read 3 November 2026.
- Guinness World Records, Most liked image post on Instagram, verified 24 March 2023.
- ViralMango, Top 20 Most Liked Instagram Posts, August 2024 (the infographic).
Last reviewed 3 November 2026
