LV ad helps push Ronaldo past 500-million followers mark on Insta

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first person to pass 500-million followers on Instagram after posting a Louis Vuitton ad featuring himself and fellow football icon, Lionel Messi.

The only account with more followers is Meta Platforms-owned Instagram’s official page, a spokesperson for the social media website confirmed. Argentina’s Messi is the second-most-popular celebrity with 376-million followers, according to his account’s statistics. He’s closely followed by Kylie Jenner, with 372-million.

In the ad, Ronaldo and Messi, who are competing for their national teams at the World Cup in Qatar, lean on Louis Vuitton-branded trunks while playing chess. The Portuguese player posted the image, shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz, on Saturday.

The photo had gathered more than 36.8-million likes by Monday. The most-liked photo ever on the platform remains the post of the World Record Egg, with 55-9 million likes accumulated since 2019, a spokesperson for Instagram said, adding that the company only keeps data for the past three months.