If someone tells you that an image of a plain little egg on a white background is the most liked Instagram post of all time, you probably won’t believe it – but, it’s true. This egg image has overtaken reality TV star Kylie Jenner’s picture of her daughter Stormi as the most liked Instagram post ever.
How an egg became the most liked Instagram post
The egg image was posted on Jan. 5, 2019 by the account world_record_egg, and so far, it has gotten over 25 million likes. It’s the only post from this account. Until now, the most liked Instagram post was the photo of Jenner’s newborn daughter, and it was posted on Feb. 6, 2018.
On Jan. 13, the egg photo jumped from 14 million likes to 18 million in less than three hours to bag the title of the most liked Instagram post. It also became the first non-human image among Instagram’s top 20 most-liked posts. The list is dominated by images of celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo, Beyonce and Selena Gomez.
What’s interesting to note is that the egg image was posted with an explicit aim of surpassing Jenner’s post. “Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner,” read the egg post.
After their post became the most liked Instagram post, the account’s owner “Egg Gang” said, “This is madness. What a Time to be alive,” and thanked their followers for the support. Hinting of their next plan, the Egg Gang said, “It doesn’t end here though, we’re only just getting started.”
Kylie Jenner also responded to the egg post with a short video showing her cracking an egg onto the ground. Jenner’s video was titled “Take that little egg.” On the other hand, supporters of the egg are poking fun at Jenner by posting egg emojis in the comments section of the image she posted to announce her daughter’s birth.
Kylie Jenner recently featured on Forbes’ s annual “Top 10 of America’s Wealthiest Celebrities in 2018” list. The 21-year-old with $900 million net worth is on track to become the youngest self-made billionaire ever. She runs and owns 100% of Kylie Cosmetics.
Similar battle’s on Twitter
It is not the first time someone has made a separate account or a post with an intention to gain a huge number of likes or followers. Previously, an account with the name “Half an Onion” was created on Twitter to surpass the popularity of Donald Trump’s account. The account was able to get 635,000 followers.
Another similar incident that became very popular was a plea from a man named Carter Wilkerson, asking the U.S. fast food chain Wendy’s for a year’s worth of free chicken nuggets. In April last year, the teenager asked the fast food chain how many retweets are needed to get him the nuggets. Wendy’s quickly replied “18 million.” To this, Wilkerson replied, “Consider it done.”
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
He then posted the screenshot of his discussion with Wendy’s along with a plea: “Help me please. A man needs his nuggs.” Wilkerson’s tweet didn’t hit the number set by Wendy’s, but it still managed to beat the previous best – Ellen DeGeneres’ viral Oscars selfie tweet from 2014 (3.4 million retweets). Though Wilkerson’s tweet got just 3.5 million retweets, Wendy’s still offered him a year’s supply of chicken nuggets.
Wilkerson’s tweet was able to retain the title throughout the last year and for a few days in the New Year before it was dethroned by a tweet from the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who owns the e-commerce company Zozotown.
ZOZOTOWN新春セールが史上最速で取扱高100億円を先ほど突破！！日頃の感謝を込め、僕個人から100名様に100万円【総額1億円のお年玉】を現金でプレゼントします。応募方法は、僕をフォローいただいた上、このツイートをRTするだけ。受付は1/7まで。当選者には僕から直接DMします！ #月に行くならお年玉 pic.twitter.com/cKQfPPbOI3
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) January 5, 2019
In his tweet, Maezawa promised 100 winners a chance to win up to 100 million Japanese yen if they retweet his tweet. According to Maezawa, his promotion is part of his strategy to thank customers who helped his brand sell 10 billion yen worth of merchandise during the New Year’s sale. Maezawa’s tweet was retweeted more than 5.6 million times.
Maezawa is the same man who booked every seat on SpaceX’s inaugural flight around the moon. The flight is scheduled for 2023 and would take about a week. Maezawa, previously, revealed that he would take up to eight artists with him for a trip to the moon for the creation of artworks “to inspire the dreamer in all of us.”
