With 330 million monthly active users, Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. 

The most followed person on Twitter is currently former US President Barack Obama with more than 122 million followers. 

His large follower base translates to greater visibility for his tweets. It should come as no surprise then that Obama is no stranger to getting his tweets retweeted by millions. Obama’s tweet on Charlottesville in 2017 was, then, the most retweeted tweet of all time, and remains the seventh-most retweeted tweet today. 

That was also the second time Obama achieved such an honor, the first of which was in 2012 with his celebratory re-election tweet

The second on the list of accounts with the most Twitter followers is Canadian singer Justin Bieber. With a follower base of 112.4 million, the 26-year-old has around 9.6 million fewer followers than Obama—a difference of less than one percent. 

US singer Katy Perry is the third most-followed person on Twitter with 108.5 million followers. The singer has fallen in rankings in recent years. Around a year ago, she was the most-followed person on Twitter. 

Despite the dip, the “Fireworks” singer will always hold the honor of being the first-ever Twitter user to hit 50 million and 100 million followers in 2013 and 2017, respectively.

Perry was also able to maintain having one of the most popular Twitter accounts despite the platform wiping millions of fake and locked accounts in 2018, which shaved off 2.8 million from her follower base.

These three most popular Twitter accounts are the only ones to have surpassed 100 million followers. Singer Rihanna, in fourth place, however, is slowly inching her way towards this mark. She currently has just over 98 million followers—just two million shy of that milestone.  

The list of the most popular Twitter accounts is dominated primarily by singers. Of the top ten, more than half are singers. Apart from Bieber, Perry, and Rihanna, the other three singers on the list are Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande.

Obama aside, accounts with most Twitter followers include Portuguese football captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the only sportsperson on the list, current US President Donald Trump, and comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

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