A post by football superstar and now-World Cup winner Lionel Messi has become the most-liked post on Instagram, with over 58 million likes (and counting!)
Messi, who plays his club football with Paris Saint-Germain in France, was Argentina’s talisman as they went on to lift the men’s World Cup for the third time on Sunday, following a penalty shoot-out win over France.
The post that led Messi to secure this record features several pictures of him holding the famous Jules Rimet trophy, as well as images of him celebrating with teammates.
World_record_egg was the previous record holder of this title, with 55.7 million likes when last verified by Guinness World Records.
Messi played the majority of his club career for Barcelona in Spain, setting multiple records there before moving to PSG in the summer of 2021.
This was the 35-year-old’s self-confessed ‘last chance’ to win a World Cup – he had already announced before the tournament that it will be the last time he represents Argentina at the global event.
This didn’t stop him from playing sensationally throughout the tournament, setting five other Guinness World Records titles in the process:
Most Man of the Match awards won at the FIFA World Cup: 11
First person to assist at five different FIFA World Cups
Most FIFA World Cup matches played in by a player: 26
Most FIFA World Cup appearances as captain: 19
Most appearances in FIFA World Cup tournaments by a player (male): 5
Fellow football icon and long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo recently became the first person to reach 500 million followers on Instagram; he was already the most followed person on the app.
Before the World Record Egg had the most liked post on Instagram, influencers Kylie and Kendall Jenner both held this record, as well as Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé.
A brief history of the most liked image on Instagram:
Will Smith and Justin Bieber jointly set the record back in 2014 with 1.5 million likes.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West then took the title with 2.4 million likes with their wedding photo in 2014.
In 2015, Kendall Jenner broke the record with 2.6 million likes, which continued to rise to 3.5 million.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s announcement of her pregnancy with Sir and Rumi Carter then received 7.3+ million likes in 2017
Kylie Jenner’s photo of her newborn daughter Stormi received 18+ million likes in 2018.
