Thank u, Selena Gomez. Next: Ariana Grande. Nearly three years after Gomez, 26, became the most-followed person on Instagram, Grande, 25, achieved a larger fan base on the social media network.
The “No Years Left to Cry” singer became the most-followed woman on Instagram on Monday, February 25, by surpassing Gomez’s 146.3 million follower count.
Gomez had held the record since July 2016, when she became the most-followed Instagram user with 89.2 million fans. Two months later, she became the first Instagram user to reach 100 million users. The “Wolves” singer took a break from social media in September 2018, saying she wanted to “live my life present to the moment I have been given.”
Currently, both Gomez and Grande trail Cristiano Ronaldo, who surpassed Gomez in October 2018. The football star, 34, boasts 155.9 million followers.
It’s been a banner month for Grande. Last week, the former Nickelodeon star became the first recording act since the Beatles to hold the top three spots of the Billboard Hot 100, with her hits “7 Rings,” “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” and “Thank U, Next” topping the chart.
“Thank u from the bottom of my heart,” Grande wrote on Instagram at the time. “For so many reasons. first time since the beatles huh (and first time for a solo artist?). that’s wild. i thought this was a joke when i saw it i’m not kidding. i love u. so much. always have n will. thank u for everything. i cant believe this is real fr. thanks for making history w ya girl today. and for making me feel loved. bye crying.”
In a subsequent post, she joked, “It’s all downhill from here, kids.”
Additionally, Thank U, Next, Grande’s fifth studio album, is the first album by a solo woman to spend more than one week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in more than a year.
