CULTURE

Instagram Queen Selena Gomez Just Hit a New Record on the App

What, like it’s hard?


Selena Gomez Just Topped Her Own Instagram Record lead
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

If you’re an avid Instagram user, statistically there’s a very good chance you’re one of the 142 million people who follow Selena Gomez. And if you’re among that group—comprising approximately 2 percent of the entire world’s population (assuming some of those accounts aren’t bots or Finstas)—there’s also a pretty good chance you double-tapped one of Gomez’s recent posts, which, in less than a week, has already managed to become one of the most-liked uploads on the app. It’s all in a day’s work for the 26-year-old, who has upheld the illustrious title of most-followed person on Instagram since early 2016.

The post in question appeared late Saturday night. It’s something of a double whammy, a slideshow of two photos showing Gomez first posing with and then actually drinking a bright red cocktail. She wears a simple black strapless tube top and silver hoop earrings, has her long brown locks slicked back into a high ponytail, and sports peachy-pink lip gloss and a fierce cat-eye flick of eyeliner. As of press time, the captionless post had garnered nearly 10.7 million likes, thus securing the 13th spot on the list of most-liked IG posts, Harper’s Bazaar reports. In doing so, the diptych knocks another of Gomez’s own posts down a peg: The previous record-holder for her most-liked pic was a shot she posted almost exactly a year ago that showed her and close friend Francia Raísa holding hands across hospital beds, and explained in the caption that Gomez had undergone a kidney transplant with Raísa serving as her donor. With just over 10.6 million likes, that sentimental shot now falls about 27,000 short of Gomez’s latest record-setting upload.

In case you were wondering, the number-one most-liked post in Instagram’s history comes from yet another young and powerful brunette: one Kylie Jenner, whose first photo of daughter Stormi Webster just a few days after her February birth currently clocks in at a casual 18 million likes.

Perhaps surprisingly, considering her immense online reach, Gomez has previously professed to taking a very hands-off approach to her social media presence. Most recently, in the October 2018 issue of Elle, she claimed that she hasn’t even been on the Internet in quite some time. “I don’t have my password for Instagram. I have no apps on my phone, no photo editing apps. I have Peak, a brain game,” Gomez said, giving new meaning to the term “effortless.” She explained, “The reason why is, it’s not real to me. I know my voice is very prominent, but I’m not careless with it. I’m selective. As far as my personal life, someone sees me having a glass of wine? I could give two shits. I’m not trying to hide. That’s my life. I’m living it the way I want to live it. But it’s about making a conscious effort—if I can have a moment to be with my friends, I’ll take that time. So I don’t have any of it. I had to make that decision.”

Related: Inside Coach’s Fashion Jurassic Park, Where Kaia Gerber and Selena Gomez Roamed Free

Inside Coach’s Fashion Jurassic Park, Where Kaia Gerber and Selena Gomez Roamed Free

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Dree Hemingway backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Kaia Gerber backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

Backstage at the Coach SS19 show during New York Fashion week on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018. Photograph by Michael Beckert for W Magazine.

1/22