Who Joins Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo In The Top 20 Most Followed Premier League Footballers On Instagram?
Your team has just suffered a crippling defeat at home to your fiercest rival. And you know what you want as you silently trudge away from the stadium, jostling with a similarly despondent crowd, probably with that unceasing damp blanket of pouring rain as an extra welcome bit of pathetic fallacy. And what you want, what you most desire right at that specific moment in time, is that groveling apology from your team captain blazing up on your Instagram feed that they’re sorrrrrry and ‘it’ll be better next time’, perhaps captioning an image of them scoring an own goal. That’ll dispel those clouds and that perpetual niggling feeling you’ve had all season as your crunch your season ticket in your hand, that football is actually sh*t.
But like it or not, Instagram is an extremely prominent element of football culture in 2022, and a compulsory tool for the brand and the big bucks for footballers who desire extra off-pitch exposure.
The return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United in the summer of 2021 added even greater wattage to the Premier League spotlight, but the Red Devils also acquired the most-followed Instagram account of an individual in the world when they paraded the prodigal Portuguese across Old Trafford, adding 400million followers to their roster, a rising figure that shows no sign of abating. Indeed, by the time this research began to its completion, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Insta-following increased by 3million to sit at 405million by Thursday 24 February.
However, even without their talismanic five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Manchester United would still sit pretty atop the most followed Premier League club pile on Instagram. Only one of their players - including those out on loan - does not have an Instagram account (Lee Grant for those interested) and does not contribute to Manchester United’s ginormous squad follow fellowship of 587,168,000, or 182,168,000 without Ronaldo, which is still 40million ahead of nearest rivals Liverpool who stand on 141,239,400 at the time of writing. On average, a Manchester United player contributes 15,869,405 followers to the cumulative fanbase (this decreases to 5,060,222 when Ronaldo is removed).
There are 7 Manchester United footballers in the top 20. Ronaldo's teammate Paul Pogba, with 51.8million, places second on the overall list of most followed Premier League players on Instagram in 2021/22.
These figures are purely based on player power alone and does not include the respective club’s official Instagram account. For an individual to be included in the study, a player must be legitimised with the Instagram verified sticker (the infamous blue tick) or cited by the club. We have broken the report into the top 20 most followed Premier League players, the Premier League clubs ranked by number of followers, plus provided the top five most followed players at each Premier League club. Take a look below.
All figures are correct as of February 24, 2022.
Most Followed Premier League Players On Instagram 2021/22
| Player | club | instagram followers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | 405,000,000 |
| 2. Paul Pogba | Manchester United | 51,800,000 |
| 3. Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 48,100,000 |
| 4. Philippe Coutinho | Aston Villa, on loan from Barcelona | 24,200,000 |
| 5. Thiago Silva | Chelsea | 18,700,000 |
| 6. Raphaël Varane | Manchester United | 18,000,000 |
| 7. Gabriel Jesus | Manchester City | 16,300,000 |
| 8. Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City | 16,200,000 |
| 9. Roberto Firmino | Liverpool | 13,100,000 |
| 10. N'Golo Kanté | Chelsea | 12,800,000 |
| 11. David de Gea | Manchester United | 12,700,000 |
| 12. Marcus Rashford | Manchester United | 12,600,000 |
| 13. Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur | 12,100,000 |
| 14. Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool | 11,200,000 |
| 15. Sadio Mané | Liverpool | 10,000,000 |
| 16. Edinson Cavani | Manchester United | 9,500,000 |
| 17. Jesse Lingard | Manchester United | 9,300,000 |
| 18. Raheem Sterling | Manchester City | 9,000,000 |
| 19. Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea | 8,700,000 |
| 20. Thiago Alcântara | Liverpool | 8,300,000 |
Premier League Clubs’ Instagram Followers 2021/22
| club | instagram followers | number of players | average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Manchester United | 587,168,000 (182,168,000*) | 37 (36*) | 15,869,405 (5,060,222*) |
| 2. Liverpool | 141,239,400 | 33 | 4,279,982 |
| 3. Chelsea | 94,426,400 | 35 | 2,697,909 |
| 4. Manchester City | 81,313,200 | 25 | 3,252,528 |
| 5. Aston Villa | 47,320,206 | 36 | 1,314,450 |
| 6. Tottenham Hotspur | 36,209,900 | 29 | 1,248,617 |
| 7. Arsenal | 34,039,400 | 32 | 1,063,731 |
| 8. Everton | 30,277,400 | 32 | 946,169 |
| 9. Wolves | 13,438,262 | 33 | 407,220 |
| 10. West Ham United | 9,928,723 | 33 | 300,870 |
| 11. Leeds United | 8,780,861 | 37 | 237,321 |
| 12. Leicester City | 8,669,726 | 25 | 346,789 |
| 13. Watford | 6,248,714 | 37 | 168,884 |
| 14. Brentford | 5,748,120 | 35 | 164,232 |
| 15. Norwich City | 5,601,374 | 31 | 180,689 |
| 16. Newcastle United | 5,294,860 | 30 | 176,495 |
| 17. Southampton | 5,186,320 | 27 | 192,086 |
| 18. Brighton & Hove Albion | 4,962,000 | 28 | 177,214 |
| 19. Crystal Palace | 4,555,942 | 28 | 162,712 |
| 20. Burnley | 995,339 | 21 | 47,397 |
*with Cristiano Ronaldo removed
2021/22 Premier League Clubs’ Most Followed Instagram Accounts
Arsenal
1. Mohamed Elneny 4,300,000
2. Martin Ødegaard 3,200,000
3. Alexandre Lacazette 3,100,000
4. Héctor Bellerín (on loan to Real Betis) 3,000,000
5. Bukayo Saka 2,500,000
Aston Villa
1. Philippe Coutinho (on loan from Barcelona) 24,200,000
2. Trézéguet (on loan to İstanbul Başakşehir) 8,000,000
3. Emiliano Martínez 3,700,000
4. Ashley Young 2,400,000
5. Lucas Digne 1,900,000
Brentford
1. Christian Eriksen 4,100,000
2. Saman Ghoddos 599,000
3. Mathias Jørgensen 150,000
4. Ivan Toney 139,000
5. Kristoffer Ajer 113,000
Brighton & Hove Albion
1. Adam Lallana 1,800,000
2. Danny Welbeck 727,000
3. Alexis Mac Allister 395,000
4. Joël Veltman 248,000
5. Marc Cucurella 222,000
Burnley
1. Maxwel Cornet 304,000
2. Wout Weghorst 115,000
3. Nick Pope 79,900
4. Phil Bardsley 56,500
5. Jay Rodriguez 48,200
Chelsea
1. Thiago Silva 18,700,000
2. N'Golo Kanté 12,800,000
3. Romelu Lukaku 8,700,000
4. Hakim Ziyech 5,600,000
5. Christian Pulisic 5,000,000
Crystal Palace
1. Wilfried Zaha 1,100,000
2. Nathaniel Clyne 688,000
3. Christian Benteke 680,000
4. Cheikhou Kouyaté 412,000
5. Conor Gallagher (on loan from Chelsea) 349,000
Everton
1. Dele Alli 7,300,000
2. Richarlison 4,600,000
3. Yerry Mina 3,400,000
4. Donny van de Beek (on loan from Manchester United) 2,600,000
5. Moise Kean (at Juventus) 2,500,000
Leeds United
1. Daniel James / Kiko Casilla (on loan to Elche) 1,800,000
2. Raphinha 985,000
3. Kalvin Phillips 723,000
4. Junior Firpo 676,000
5. Rodrigo 402,000
Leicester City
1. Jamie Vardy 1,400,000
2. James Maddison 1,300,000
3. Kasper Schmeichel 1,000,000
4. Kelechi Iheanacho 706,000
5. Çağlar Söyüncü 672,000
Liverpool
1. Mohamed Salah 48,100,000
2. Roberto Firmino 13,100,000
3. Virgil van Dijk 11,200,000
4. Sadio Mané 10,000,000
5. Thiago Alcântara 8,300,000
Manchester City
1. Gabriel Jesus 16,300,000
2. Kevin De Bruyne 16,200,000
3. Raheem Sterling 9,000,000
4. Riyad Mahrez 8,300,000
5. Jack Grealish 4,600,000
Manchester United
1. Cristiano Ronaldo 402,000,000
2. Paul Pogba 51,800,000
3. Raphaël Varane 18,000,000
4. David de Gea 12,700,000
5. Marcus Rashford 12,600,000
Newcastle United
1. Kieran Trippier 981,000
2. Allan Saint-Maximin 719,000
3. Miguel Almirón 708,000
4. Bruno Guimarães 639,000
5. Joe Willock 477,000
Norwich City
1. Mathias Normann (on loan from Rostov) / Brandon Williams (on loan from Manchester United) 1,100,000
2. Billy Gilmour (on loan from Chelsea) 1,000,000
3. Ozan Kabak (on loan from Schalke 04) 842,000
4. Milot Rashica 280,000
5. Teemu Pukki 215,000
Southampton
1. Theo Walcott 2,500,000
2. Willy Caballero 718,000
3. Armando Broja (on loan from Chelsea) 228,000
4. Kyle Walker-Peters 213,000
5. Lyanco 210,000
Tottenham Hotspur
1. Harry Kane 12,100,000
2. Son Heung-min 5,700,000
3. Lucas Moura 4,300,000
4. Sergio Reguilón 2,000,000
5. Giovani Lo Celso (on loan to Villarreal) 1,900,000
Watford
1. Moussa Sissoko 894,000
2. Ismaïla Sarr 739,000
3. João Pedro 594,000
4. Peter Etebo (on loan from Stoke City) 438,000
5. Cucho Hernández 360,000
West Ham United
1. Kurt Zouma 2,000,000
2. Saïd Benrahma 1,700,000
3. Alphonse Areola (on loan from Paris Saint-Germain) 1,300,000
4. Declan Rice 1,200,000
5. Manuel Lanzini 884,000
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1. Nélson Semedo 3,000,000
2. Adama Traoré (at Barcelona) 2,800,000
3. Raúl Jiménez 2,500,000
4. Francisco Trincão (on loan from Barcelona) 839,000
5. Patrick Cutrone (at Empoli until 30 June 2022) 769,000
