Fresh off of capturing the World Cup championship that eluded him his entire career, Lionel Messi has accomplished yet another astonishing feat, surpassing a photo of an egg to become the most-liked post on Instagram.
The pictures that the Argentinian superstar posted after defeating France in the 2022 World Cup final have gathered almost 64 million likes. That total outmatches the previous record holder, a stock photo of an egg with a white background that was posted in early 2019, which has around 57 million likes.
The eggs caption reads, “Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram.” The post took down previous record holder Kylie Jenner, who in 2019 held the title with a post like 18 million times.
The list of the top 20 most-liked posts on Instagram has recently been dominated by Messi and other footballers, giving early warning signs for the egg’s fate. Messi holds eight spots on the list, seven of which were posted before, during, and after this year’s World Cup.
Messi, 35, scored twice before converting in the penalty shootout in the World Cup final that has been dubbed as one of the best ever. A seven-time Ballon D’or winner, Messi also became only the second individual to reach over 400 million followers on Instagram. He had 376 million followers before the start of the FIFA World Cup.
Messi’s rival Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the most-followed individual on Instagram with 520 million followers. The two soccer greats recently featured together in a picture of them playing a game of chess. Before Tuesday, it was the most-liked Instagram post by an athlete with over 40 million likes.
