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Lionel Messi's Instagram post is the most liked thing on social media – ever

Messi beat the egg! πŸ₯š
By Meera Navlakha  on 
A footballer wearing an Argentina uniform kisses the World Cup trophy.
Messi's World Cup post smashed all the records. Credit: Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images

Lionel Messi — also known as the Greatest of All Time — led Argentina to win the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this year. Now, his Instagram post celebrating the team's historic win has broken records of its own.

Messi's post, which includes a gallery of the footballer with the trophy and with his teammates, is now the most-liked Instagram post ever. Sitting at over 67.7 million likes at the time of writing, the post has passed a record once held by the infamous egg.

A mysterious post of a simple egg garnered 57 million likes after being posted in 2019. The internet was captivated by the image, perhaps given how little was known about the post and its account holder. In response to Messi overtaking the crown, the account (aptly titled @world_record_egg) posted a Story acknowledging the win.

“Four years ago we set out on a mission, nine days later we made internet history. Together 🤍," reads the egg's Story text "Today @leomessi has taken the crown (for now 👀)."

With this, Messi's 57 million likes has also seemingly surpassed the most-liked post on every prominent social media platform. On Twitter, the record is 7 million, for a tweet announcing the tragic death of Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman. On YouTube, Luis Fonsi's music video for "Despacito" has 50 million likes. The post also beat Bella Poarch's wildly-viral TikTok from 2020, which has over 60 million likes.

In essence, Messi's celebratory photo dump is the most-liked thing on the internet.

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Social media has been hooked on Messi throughout the World Cup, so it's no surprise that fans flocked to like his post after Argentina's win against France in the final. Messi has broken several records since this win, as the Guinness World Book of Records points out. This includes the record of most World Cup matches played and most World Cup Man of the Match awards. Instagram's crown is just the tip of the iceberg for the 🐐.

Meera is a Culture Reporter at Mashable, joining the UK team in 2021. She writes about digital culture, mental health, big tech, entertainment, and more. Her work has also been published in The New York Times, Vice, Vogue India, and others.


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