Selena Gomez has 400 million followers on Instagram, making her the most followed female user just three months after starting to post again. On March 17, the “Only Murders in the Building” star reached the significant figure. She had previously eclipsed Kylie Jenner, who had 382 million followers and had held the title of most followed woman.
Gomez has more Instagram followers than any other female celebrity, yet she is not the platform’s most popular user. Football player Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 562 followers, is the winner of this award. Another football player, Lionel Messi, has 442 million followers and is followed by him. Jenner is now ranked fourth overall. With 369 points, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is not far behind her.
The actor posted a carousel of images from various fan interactions she’s had over the years on Instagram on March 19 along with a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped her accomplish such a significant milestone on the platform. She captioned her image, “Wishing I could embrace all 400 million of you.” Gomez has previously been open about her problematic connection to Instagram. The “Calm Down” singer admitted to removing the app from her phone in 2019 during a 2021 interview with Vogue. She would send her assistant items to post on her behalf rather than doing it herself.
She made the decision to stop using the app after realizing how it was impacting her emotional state. “At one point Instagram became my whole world, and it was really dangerous,” she told InStyle in 2022. “In my early 20s, I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough. There was a whole period in my life when I thought I needed makeup and never wanted to be seen without it. The older I got, the more I evolved and realized that I needed to take control of what I was feeling. I wanted to be able to look in the mirror and feel confident to be who I am.”
