Who Are the Most Followed Artists on Instagram?

Takashi Murakami b. 1962, Japan Follow +

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami passed a major milestone on Instagram yesterday.

'Hooray, I now have 2,500,000 followers on Instagram!（やったー！）🙏🙏🙏,', he posted.

The number dipped to 2.49 million briefly—with several commenters blaming his NFT projects, which include the Murakami.Flowers series he first teased on 17 January—but it soon bounced back to 2.5 million.

Murakami is now tied with Beeple, an artist even more infamous for his NFTs.

Street artists—including Banksy (11.2m), KAWS (3.9m), JR (1.6m), Shepard Fairey (1.3m), OSGEMEOS (1.2m), and Mr. Brainwash (1m)—feature prominently among Instagram's top artists. Others include Joan Cornellà (3.2m), Mr Doodle (2.7m), Daniel Arsham (1.2m), David Shrigley (932k), Damien Hirst (895k), and Studio Olafur Eliasson (745k).

Yoko Ono (616k) has the most followers among female artists, followed by Cindy Sherman (357k), the Marina Abramovic Institute (316k), and Yayoi Kusama (267k).

Other artists with strong followings on the platform include Ai Weiwei (630k), the Bored Ape Yacht Club (558k), David Choe (545k), Kehinde Wiley (​​536k), Refik Anadol (547k), Jeff Koons (477k), Hajime Sorayama (457k), and Yoshitomo Nara (346k).

There are no artists among the 50 most-followed Instagram accounts, which is topped by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (401m) and reality star Kylie Jenner (310m). —[O]

Main image: Takashi Murakami, Tokyo Tower* (2009). Offset print, edition of 300. 68 x 68 cm. Hand numbered and signed. Four-colour offset printing, glossy varnish. Courtesy Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.