Nicki Minaj Hits 50 Million Followers on Instagram

Nicki Minaj is the latest in a team of powerhouse celebrities that has hit 50 million followers on Instagram. She joins the likes of Taylor Swift, with 68.5 million followers, and Kim Kardashian, with 62.3 million followers, and is now one of the most followed people in the world. Nicki celebrated in true Minaj, and Instagram, style by posting a selfie.

Minaj’s Instagram is mostly filled with photos of herself and her many hairstyles. The 33-year-old singer follows only 414 people and had made a whopping 3,693 posts when she hit 50 million followers on the weekend.

Minaj hit the 50 million followers mark on Saturday and is now the 11th most popular account on Instagram. The most popular account is Instagram’s own account, followed by Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner according to Statista.

Although singers and reality stars take out the top spots for followers, sporting stars have also hit over 50 million followers including Cristiano Ronaldo, who celebrated the milestone by sharing a cute video on Instagram featuring his son.

The most ‘liked’ photo of all time is one on Kendall Jenner’s account, which received 3.5 million likes and was posted nine months ago.

The popular photo sharing platform has over 400 million users and has quickly become on of the top ten most used social media sites in the US and globally. It is a place for celebrities to interact with their fans but is also a platform people have used to get “Instafamous.”

The rise of the social media star has launched regular people into stardom. They do not act, sing, play a sport, or have famous parents yet have hundreds of thousands of followers. Instagram has also launched the careers of models, artists and “foodies.”

According to TechCrunch, Instagram now exceeds Twitter in monthly users, but still trails behind Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Half of all Instagram users use the site on a daily basis, with most users aged between 18 and 29 years old. The age of users is the most likely reason celebrities seek out the title of most followed.

Instagram gives fans a way to interact with their heroes in a more candid way. Celebrities now let their fans have a glimpse into their everyday lives and post photos of their children, their holiday locations, their meals, and new loves as never seen before.

Australian Model Miranda Kerr posted a photo of herself and her new beau, Snapchat creator Evan Spiegal, two days ago, making the couple “official.” The picture received over 151,000 likes in days. Previously, fans would have waited for pictures such as this one to come out in gossip magazines.

The popular use of ‘hashtags’ also allows users to find photos they are interested in even if they do not follow the person. The top most used hashtag of all time is #fashion, used 273,581,353 times, followed by #like4like, #friends, #smile, and #instamood. Instagram users can also find inspiration from fellow users by searching for tags as broad as #fitspo or as particular as #whatveganseat to find images and people who have the same ideas, goals and lifestyles as they do. It is a way for people to connect with like-minded people if they wish to, or they can just sit back and look.

Popular accounts and celebrities tend to drop the use of hashtags once they have a huge following as the use of too many tags can seem as a desperate attempt to get more likes and followers. Celebrities tend to stick to using hashtags only when promoting their own music, products or events.

Currently only 15 Instagram accounts have more than 50 million followers, 14 of which are celebrity accounts, which shows that despite all the beautiful and artful photos put on the platform each day, users mainly want to see celebrities and go abuzz when a great celebrity photo appears.

Two years ago, Ellen posted one of the most talked about selfies to hit the internet, and it is easy to see why users like the relaxed and real photos they get to see of their celebrities. This image received 1.3 million likes and was widely shared.

Instagram has not changed too much since launching but now enables users to share videos as well as photographs. Nicki Minaj shares both with her 50 million followers, as well as quotes.

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]