Who Has the Most Followers on X (Twitter)? Top 20 in 2026
Who has the most followers on X, the network still widely called Twitter? In 2026 the answer is Elon Musk, X’s owner, with more than 240 million followers, ahead of Barack Obama, Cristiano Ronaldo, Donald Trump and India’s Narendra Modi. When we first asked this question in 2008, the top accounts had just 65,535 followers each. Here is the current top 20, how the No. 1 spot has changed hands, and how to check follower counts yourself.
Quick answer: Elon Musk (@elonmusk) has the most followers on X, about 241 million as of August 2026. He is followed by Barack Obama (about 119 million), Cristiano Ronaldo (114 million), Donald Trump (112 million) and Narendra Modi (107 million). Follower counts change daily, so treat these as rounded snapshots.
Table of Contents
Top 20 accounts with the most followers on X
Figures are rounded, in millions, from the Wikipedia list of most-followed X accounts (data as of August 2026).
| Rank | Account | Who | Followers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @elonmusk | Elon Musk, owner of X | 241.6 |
| 2 | @BarackObama | Barack Obama, former US President | 118.9 |
| 3 | @Cristiano | Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer | 114.3 |
| 4 | @realDonaldTrump | Donald Trump, US President | 111.8 |
| 5 | @narendramodi | Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India | 107.1 |
| 6 | @rihanna | Rihanna, singer | 98.6 |
| 7 | @NASA | NASA | 92.3 |
| 8 | @justinbieber | Justin Bieber, singer | 91.8 |
| 9 | @katyperry | Katy Perry, singer | 89.9 |
| 10 | @taylorswift13 | Taylor Swift, singer | 83.8 |
| 11 | @ladygaga | Lady Gaga, singer and actress | 75.3 |
| 12 | @imVkohli | Virat Kohli, cricketer | 73.2 |
| 13 | @KimKardashian | Kim Kardashian, TV personality | 70.8 |
| 14 | @YouTube | YouTube | 68.8 |
| 15 | @neymarjr | Neymar, footballer | 66.2 |
| 16 | @BillGates | Bill Gates | 65.0 |
| 17 | @selenagomez | Selena Gomez, singer and actress | 62.9 |
| 18 | @TheEllenShow | Ellen DeGeneres | 62.2 |
| 19 | @CNN | CNN | 61.7 |
| 20 | @X | X (the company) | 60.7 |
Two Indians are in the top 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricketer Virat Kohli. NASA, YouTube, CNN and X are the biggest brand accounts.
How the No. 1 spot changed over the years
- 2008: early top accounts such as CNN, TechCrunch and Leo Laporte all showed exactly 65,535 followers, a number that looked like a counting limit rather than a coincidence.
- April 2009: Ashton Kutcher became the first account to reach 1 million followers, beating CNN Breaking News in a famous race.
- 2010 to 2013: Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and then Justin Bieber took turns at the top.
- November 2013 to 2019: Katy Perry held No. 1 for almost six years and was the first person to pass 100 million followers in 2017.
- August 2019: Barack Obama took the top spot.
- March 2023: Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X in 2023, became the most-followed account and has stayed there since.
Do follower counts tell the whole story?
Not really. Large accounts collect inactive and fake followers over the years, and reporting has suggested that changes to X’s own algorithm boosted Musk’s posts. Engagement (replies, reposts and views) is a better sign of real influence than the raw follower number. You can check any account for bots with the methods in our guide to finding fake Twitter followers.
For how these celebrities actually use X, see our companion guide to the most popular Twitter celebrities.
How to check how many followers an account has
- Open the profile on X (web or app).
- Look under the bio: the number next to Followers is the current count, shortened (for example 241.6M).
- Tap Followers to see the list. Very large lists can’t be scrolled to the end.
Want more followers for your own account? Our tips to get quality Twitter followers work without paying for fake ones.
FAQ
Who has the most followers on X in 2026?
Elon Musk, with about 241 million followers as of August 2026.
Which Indian has the most followers on X?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with about 107 million followers, ranked fifth worldwide. Virat Kohli is the most-followed Indian sportsperson.
Who was the first person to get 1 million Twitter followers?
Actor Ashton Kutcher, in April 2009.
Which woman has the most followers on X?
Rihanna, with about 99 million followers, followed by Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.
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Wow!I have visited lots of website over the past couple of days. Upon looking at the posts of each I do think that this specific site was the only one who had grabbed the apex of my interest.Well done
either that or perhaps there is a maximum number of followers tou can have on twitter?
britney spears have the most follower i think so she rock with more than thousands or lakhs of followers and really people love her
i think barack obama has 3 million plus plus followers..
follow me on twitter @tajhchosen614 or https://twitter.com/TajhChosen614
I think you’re wrong Kim kardashian has 2 million followers
Twitter itself has maximum number of followers
Check it out https://twitter.com/twitter
Great! Are they use some machine to boost their followers number?
no ahston kutcher has ovr 1 million himself
I didn’t think there was a limit?
I’m pretty sure there are atleast 2 people with over 1,000,000 followers. but not sure.
I followed you.
There is a great new forum for all twitter friends to hang out at: tinyurl.com/twitaculous
Come on! Having a real interest in how many followers you have could be, to say the least, awkward. It’s not like you are in a popularity conest (are you?). Even if it is the case, having followers proves nothing at all when it comes to social interaction.
I’m guessing the reason it is 65535 is because it is the highest number which can be represented by an unsigned 16 bit binary number. It’s only a guess but it sounds about right. Not sure why there is a limit on Twitter though.
Bull3t – that was a nice info on the case of the 65536 number. Thanks.
Hmm.
Well multiple accounts might suggest some kind of vanity publishing of the highest order, or simply a mild, or otherwise, case of schizophrenia.
My musings may not reach many in the long term, but 6 followers in the first few days and Stephen Fry https://twitter.com/stephenfry) having been my first (and no I don’t know him personally, in any sense), I am enthralled and delighted at venting like a prolific twit.
How many followers is optimum would clearly depend on what you’re doing there. It would make more sense to only FOLLOW those who post something you can use immediately – and to get FOLLOWERS who want to know what YOU have to share. It appears to me that would indicate the need for multiple Twitter accounts.
Just starting with twitter for my blog. Thanks for the discussion.
There is quantity and then there is quality of the quantity. I have been on twitter for 3 1/2 weeks and hit over 1000 followers today. I figured out how to easily do it, but so what?
You can follow me if you want, I’ll tell you how, after I ask you why? https://twitter.com/Dave_Malby
Hey all!
Help the Twitter Ninja climb to the top of Twitter and become the most popular out there!
Thanks so much!!
oops 6 shouldn’t be there lol
65,536 is the maximum amount you can store using 16bits
(minus 1 because you start at zero)
2,4,6,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192,16384,32768,65536
So it’s a programming bug/feature they did to save memory.
I don’t think that “65,536” was the correct # of top followers! Looking at TwitDir today shows numbers a lot lower. Either a lot were lost, or there was inaccurate counting.
Hi Ravi, I think you can check out these 2 plugins that I know of;
1) “Related Posts” plugin by Malov, Lu & Bourne
2) “Darren’s Related Posts” plugin by Darren Chamberlain.
Anybody has any other related plugins?
Hi there!
Cool article!
BTW, I need a favor from you buddy.
Can you please tell me, which plugin are you using to have that “Related Articles” at the end of your blog posts?
And yes, I follow YOU on twitter :)
Take care!
@Guillermo Twitter’s usefulness (i.e. personal value) is not in how many followers you have anyways – it’s in how many people -you- follow. Think of Twitter as a fancy chat room with only the coolest people. Subscribe to feeds of people you want to be like or want to learn from, and you’ll start seeing the value ;)
@Ed And yes, it is excellent for increasing visibility. Somehow, it allows people like me (I’d call myself an underdog) to break through that celebrity wall, AND catch on to things before they become too old to be useful.
I didn’t know the value of Twitter until I really started using it on Feb 5th. At that time, I had 3 followers. Now, I have over 120 (I haven’t logged in today… I’m probably off by about a dozen).
I’m twitter.com/mayobrains by the way ;)
Twitter’s had a lot of hype, and it’s not quite perfect (ex. not planning for more than 65535 followers is just poor planning), but I’ve found it to be useful both for communicating with a number of friends at once, increasing the visibility of sites, and sometimes just gives me a chuckle when my friends post a witty 140 character snippet.
I still don’t find any useful thing on Twitter, so I really don’t care how much followers I have.