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14 January 2019updated 01 Jul 2021 12:14pm

Why is a picture of an egg suddenly the most popular ever post on Instagram?

The short answer: literally nobody knows. 

By Media Mole

Toppling the likes of Kylie Jenner, Cristiano Ronaldo, Justin Bieber, and Ariana Grande, literally the most-liked picture in Instagram history is now a humble egg. 

Posted on 4 January, the egg is the sole picture from the self-prophesying account @world_record_egg, and has now smashed Kylie Jenner’s previously record-holding post by over 8 million likes. Breaking the 18.3 million-like barrier in the early hours of this morning, the egg’s global infamy has accrued it 30 per cent more likes in the space of just 12 hours. 

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BuzzFeed News managed to get hold of the account owner, who said that they were a chicken named Henrietta and that the egg was called Eugene. The owner also said the account was created out of the boredom brought on by Dry January. 

With its viral popularity, we should only expect the egg’s like-count to grow ever stronger: on its current trajectory, the egg is set to have double Jenner’s like-count before the week is up. We can also expect the egg’s reign to continue for at least a year, if not several: historically, all of Instagram’s most-liked posts have only been unseated by a post with 5-7 million more likes. 

We can safely say this record-breaking post will stay at the top of the most-liked list for the foreseeable, proving that this is one egg (oh yes, you knew this was coming) that’ll be tough to crack. 

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