Star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is no stranger to milestones, and this time, the Juventus forward has become the first person ever to reach 250 million followers on image- and video-sharing platform Instagram. He is also the most followed person on Facebook and the most followed sportsperson on Twitter.
The only account which has more followers than Ronaldo on the platform is Instagram’s official account, which has 382 million followers.
With the new achievement on social media, Ronaldo leaves behind popular celebrities, including singer Ariana Grande (214 million followers) and actor and wrestling icon Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (209 million), who are second and third respectively in terms of followers on Instagram.
The Portuguese footballer is also the highest earner on Instagram through his paid posts. As per reports, Ronaldo earns between USD 466,000 and USD 777,000 for each post on the platform. The 35-year-old reportedly earned USD 47.8 million from paid posts on Instagram in 2020.
Interestingly, the TV show ESPN FC has stated that Ronaldo has more followers than the combined tally of all 20 Premier League clubs that are on Instagram. The combined numbers of all 20 clubs comes to around 159 million followers—91 million, give or take, less followers than Ronaldo.
Ronaldo’s biggest rival and Argentina star footballer Lionel Messi is said to be ranked second among sportspersons on Instagram with 174 million followers.
In 2020, Ronaldo had also reached the milestone of having the most-liked photo on Instagram. His post on Argentine legend Diego Maradona, following his death, received 19.7 million likes.