SUMMARY
- Dwayne Johnson's light-hearted remark on Cristiano Ronaldo's Instagram following resurfaces.
- Cristiano Ronaldo is the most-followed individual on Instagram.
It is not uncommon to see Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing the front pages and headlines of news outlets. One of the best soccer players to have ever played the game, Ronaldo has always been a larger-than-life figure. Whether it is for his on-pitch or off-the-pitch actions, Ronaldo continues to trend on social media platforms. However, an old comment about Ronaldo from Dwayne Johnson has been making rounds on social media platforms.
Back in 2021, Hollywood stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt appeared in an interview with Heart to promote their film ‘Jungle Cruise’. In the interview, the host mentioned how Johnson was back then the second-most followed person on Instagram with 255 million followers. Johnson was also asked to send a message to Cristiano Ronaldo who was, and still is, the most followed person on Instagram.
‼️Messi fans cropped a Rock clip talking about Ronaldo buying followers
Here’s the full clip. Rock was joking and he would love to meet Ronaldopic.twitter.com/0dExrsyQHv
— fan (@NoodleHairCR7) March 8, 2024
Johnson replied, “Ronaldo has been buying his followers for years now.” The Rock’s comment has been spreading like wildfire on the Internet with several fans raising questions over the Portuguese ace. However, Johnson did clarify after making the comment that he was only joking. Moreover, Johnson’s colleague Emily Blunt also added that the former would love to hang out with the Al-Nassr star.
Nevertheless, since the interview, Dwayne Johnson has been replaced by Ronaldo’s rival, Lionel Messi, as Instagram’s second-most followed person. The 51-year-old former WWE star is currently the fifth-most followed personality on Instagram with 398 million followers. Ronaldo, however, has retained his number-one spot with a whopping 623 million followers.
Cristiano Ronaldo earns £388,000 per post from fake Instagram followers
Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson isn’t the only person who raised questions over the authenticity of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Instagram followers. Last year, a study was carried out on livefootballtickets.com that compiled data regarding the revenue earned by soccer stars from their Instagram account. Ronaldo, being one of the most marketable athletes and boasting the most Instagram followers, undoubtedly topped the list.
Cristiano #Ronaldo has claimed the title of the highest-earning individual on #Instagram, earning a staggering 2.3 million dollars per post 🤯 #ilonsi pic.twitter.com/nlbsaxCPub
— ILONSI (@ILONSI_OFFICIAL) July 21, 2023
However, the data also indicated that out of Ronaldo’s 400 million odd followers back then, around 92 million (23%) were fake accounts. In addition to this, not only Ronaldo but also the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. had fake Instagram followers. Therefore, Ronaldo, who earns around $3 million per Instagram post, £388,000 ($301, 757) came from the former Real Madrid star’s fake followers.
A look at the top five most-followed soccer stars on Instagram
In the meantime, let’s take a look at the top five most-followed soccer stars on Instagram. As already aforementioned, Cristiano Ronaldo dominates the list with 623 million followers. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has 123 million followers more than the next person on the list, Lionel Messi. Messi recently celebrated becoming only the second-ever person to reach 500 million followers on Instagram.
Lionel Messi’s former FC Barcelona and PSG teammate Neymar Jr. comes third on the list. The Brazilian star has 220 million followers. The fourth-most followed soccer star is also Messi’s former PSG teammate, Kylian Mbappe.
The 2018 World Cup winner, who is currently one of the best players in the world, has 112 million followers. Finally, to conclude this list, ex-England skipper and Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham is the fifth-most followed soccer star with 86.9 million followers.