Ronaldo climbs Instagram ranks, Selena most-followed

Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo muscled his way into Instagram's top-followed ranks this year as he documented his career and growing family, but pop star Selena Gomez still reigned supreme on the social media platform. Ronaldo, who was named Forbes' highest-paid football player this year with $93m in earnings, climbed to No 2 with 116m followers on Instagram, up from 82.8m followers and the No 6 slot last year. Gomez remained the most-followed person on Instagram with 130m followers this year, up from 103m last year.

#CristianoRonaldo@Cristiano climbs @instagram ranks

➡️https://t.co/JjoMxjsm0J pic.twitter.com/5D8yMICH33— Times of India (@timesofindia) November 29, 2017

Ronaldo, 32, a striker for Real Madrid, has posted numerous photos and videos on Instagram this year both on and off the football field. He notched three of the 10 most-liked posts on Instagram this year, all documenting his growing family. The athlete announced that he was a father to newborn twins born to a surrogate mother in June, in a post that garnered more than 8.2m likes. His most popular post clocked more than 11m likes in November, announcing the birth of his baby daughter with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez. In 2010, Ronaldo said he became father to a son and had full custody. The mother's identity was not publicly announced.

Beyoncé and Selena Gomez are the queens of Instagram in 2017: https://t.co/VCYzdTlfCA pic.twitter.com/yIRPlAY1RT

— MTV (@MTV) November 29, 2017

Facebook Inc-owned Instagram has more than 500m daily active users and 800m monthly active users. The platform allows users to post photos, videos and this year introduced instant "stories", where posted videos and photos disappear after 24 hours. Singers Ariana Grande and Beyonce held onto the third and fourth most-followed spots with 115m and 108m followers respectively this year, while reality star Kim Kardashian West held onto the fifth spot with 104m fans. Beyonce's February photo announcing her pregnancy with twins was the most-liked photo on Instagram this year, with more than 11.1m likes.

Selena Gomez ruled Instagram in 2017. https://t.co/f8djNrNfc2

— Z104.3 Baltimore (@Z1043) November 29, 2017

Taylor Swift dropped from No 2 to No 6 after the 27-year-old disappeared from social media earlier this year after a highly publicized breakup with British DJ Calvin Harris and feuds with Katy Perry, Kardashian and Kanye West. She returned to Instagram in August with a scrubbed profile and promoted her new music on her feed. Among the data compiled by Instagram between Jan. 1 and Nov. 17, the most popular hashtag used was #love, the city most featured in posts was New York and the most-Instagrammed location was Disneyland in Anaheim, California.