These Were the Biggest Trends on Instagram in 2017

By Christian Nathler
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Instagram has just published its Year in Review, revealing the social media giant and blogger’s best friend’s top hashtags, users, cities, locations, filters, and pets.

With over 800 million users across the globe, it offers a pretty accurate snapshot of popular trends. We know people prefer bunny faces over puppy faces in Stories, for example, and that Cristiano Ronaldo was the celebrity of the year (+30 million followers).

Perhaps disappointingly, there are few surprises when it comes to cities and locations. The top 10 for both essentially mirror the world’s most populous cities (China excepted, since censorship) and most visited destinations.

Still, it’s kind of cool to see which posts received the most likes, which stories drew the biggest audience, and whether dogs or cats are the “in” pet of the year.

So without further ado, let’s get to the Year in Review…

Most-liked posts of 2017:

  1. Beyoncé (@beyonce) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BP-rXUGBPJa/
  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BbaImIfFr0h/
  3. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BZBHr4Pg5Wd/
  4. Beyoncé (@beyonce) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BWg8ZWyghFy/
  5. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BV7m0IZFj_p/
  6. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BS7VkPTg0-s/
  7. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BTkzIjIAsRK/
  8. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BYTwfPVFVQY/
  9. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BRv1dAUgba7/
  10. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BW4LoqjgExn/

Most-liked celebrity videos of 2017:

New animal in the building Bugatti Chiron ???✌️?✈️

A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) on

  1. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BZl9v6YFStc/
  2. Leo Messi (@leomessi) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BXSt62SFYWj/
  3. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BY_-Fc7A0jH/
  4. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BYLE2kRFAiG/
  5. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BZx78l3FrZT/
  6. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BagdW4FFMox/
  7. Leo Messi (@leomessi) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BWGv3BWlPMe/
  8. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – https://www.instagram.com/p/Bao3FRQg2Yx/
  9. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BX0cac2lm3B/
  10. Emilia Clarke (@emilia_clarke) – https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5_r1xFWFX/

Top hashtags of 2017:

  1. #love
  2. #fashion
  3. #photooftheday
  4. #photography
  5. #art
  6. #beautiful
  7. #travel
  8. #happy
  9. #nature
  10. #picoftheday

Most-Instagrammed cities of 2017:

  1. New York, New York
  2. London, United Kingdom
  3. Moscow, Russia
  4. Sao Paulo, Brazil
  5. Paris, France
  6. Los Angeles, California
  7. Saint Petersburg, Russia
  8. Jakarta, Indonesia
  9. Istanbul, Turkey
  10. Barcelona, Spain

Most-Instagrammed locations of 2017:

  1. Disneyland, Anaheim, USA
  2. Times Square, New York City, USA
  3. Central Park, New York City, USA
  4. Tour Eiffel, Paris, France
  5. Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo, Japan
  6. Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Orlando, USA
  7. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
  8. Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, USA
  9. Disney California Adventure Park, Anaheim, USA
  10. Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas, USA

Most-followed celebrities of 2017:

all apologies

A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on

  1. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – 130M+ Followers
  2. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – 116M+ Followers
  3. Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) – 115M+ Followers
  4. Beyoncé (@beyonce) – 108M+ Followers
  5. Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) – 104M+ Followers
  6. Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) – 104M+ Followers
  7. Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) – 99.5M+ Followers
  8. Dwayne Johnson (@therock) – 96M+ Followers
  9. Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) – 93.9M+ Followers
  10. Kendall Jenner (@kendalljenner) – 84.8M+ Followers

Celebrities who gained the most followers in 2017:

Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) – 30M+ New Followers
Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) – 24M+ New Followers
Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) – 22M+ New Followers
Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) – 23M+ New Followers
Dwayne Johnson (@therock) – 22M+ New Followers
Leo Messi (@leomessi) – 21M+ New Followers
Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) – 20M+ New Followers
Beyoncé (@beyonce) – 17M+ New Followers
Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) – 16M+ New Followers
Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) – 15M+ New Followers

Hashtags that increased most in popularity throughout 2017:

  1. #photography
  2. #travelphotography
  3. #memes
  4. #summer2017
  5. #naturephotography
  6. #meme
  7. #travel
  8. #fitnessmotivation
  9. #bts
  10. #photographer

Accounts with the Most-viewed Instagram Stories of 2017
Methodology: Verified accounts with over 5 million followers who garnered the most views on Instagram Stories in 2017 (January 1 – present, global)

Tell me something I don’t know ❤️?

A post shared by Lele Pons (@lelepons) on

  1. LeLe Pons (@lelepons)
  2. Neymar Jr. (@neymarjr)
  3. Olga Igorevna Buzov (@buzova86)
  4. Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian)
  5. Amanda Cerny (@amandacerny)
  6. Chiara Ferragni (@chiaraferragni)
  7. Maluma (@maluma)
  8. Anitta (@anitta)
  9. Ariana Grande (@arianagrande)
  10. Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash)

Most-used Instagram Filters of 2017:

  1. Clarendon
  2. Gingham
  3. Juno
  4. Lark
  5. Moon

Most-used Instagram Stories Face Filters:

  1. Puppy
  2. Bunny
  3. Koala
  4. Genius
  5. Love

Most-followed Pets on Instagram in 2017:

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A post shared by jiffpom ? (@jiffpom) on

  1. jiffpom (@jiffpom) – Pomerian, US
  2. nala_cat (@nala_cat) – Cat, US
  3. Doug the Pug (@itsdougthepug) – Pug, US
  4. Marutaro (@marutaro) – Shiba Inu, JP
  5. Grumpy Cat (@realgrumpycat) – Cat, US
  6. Marnie the Dog (@marniethedog) – Shih Tzu, US
  7. Tuna (@tunameltsmyheart) – Chihuahua, US
  8. Juniper&Fig (@juniperfoxx) – Fox, US
  9. Lil BUB (@iamlilbub) – Cat, US
  10. Loki (@loki_the_wolfdog) – Husky, US