A photo posted by soccer legend Lionel Messi celebrating his recent World Cup victory has become the most-liked post on Instagram.
Guinness World Records confirmed on Tuesday that Messi’s photo broke the record for the most liked Instagram post of all time, with 63 million likes and counting.
On Monday, Messi shared a series of photographs showing him holding the Jules Rimet trophy this weekend.
In the images, the soccer superstar is pictured celebrating Argentina’s victory at the World Cup after defeating France on penalties following a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Within a day of uploading the photos, Messi’s posts had already beaten the previous record holder, an account called @world_record_egg.
The photograph of a single egg posted by @world_record_egg has received 57 million likes, after a 2019 campaign to make it the most liked post on the platform went viral.
The online campaign began in an attempt to overthrow then-record holder, Kylie Jenner.
Jenner previously took the record for her 2018 photo announcing her baby boy Stormi, who has since garnered 18 million likes.
The power of the World Cup
According to ForbesMessi has gained 25.8 million Instagram followers in the last 30 days since the start of the World Cup tournament, a 200% increase from the previous month.
Messi has 403 million Instagram followers and has now beaten Kylie Jenner to become the second most followed user on the platform.
However, Messi’s longtime football rival Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be the most followed user on Instagram with 519 million followers.
It’s not Messi’s first Instagram record
Last month, Annie Leibovitz’s photograph of Ronaldo and Messi playing chess on top of a Louis Vuitton bag also broke records to become the second most-liked Instagram post ever.
Leibovitz’s image was posted on Ronaldo and Messi’s Instagram profiles on November 19, where it has received a total of 74.6 million likes so far.
It was the first time that the two football rivals, often compared to each other, had worked together on the same project.
However, fans were disappointed with Leibovitz’s photo when a behind-the-scenes video revealed the two footballers weren’t actually in the same room together.
Messi and Ronaldo were asked to pose in their respective positions before being placed together during editing.
