Media

Barack Obama Leads Twitter List With 117.7 Million Followers

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: June 13, 2020 8:22 am

Former President Barack Obama doesn’t tweet much, probably as little as once a day. However, he has more followers on Twitter than anyone else in the world. His total followers numbered 117.7 million, according to Brandwatch.

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@BarackObama describes himself as “Dad, husband, President, citizen” in that order. Most of his tweets recently have been about social justice. He has focused heavily on his optimism for the future, mostly based on the actions of young people:

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen young people in every corner of the country step up and become leaders. Through organization and mobilization, they’re showing us how we can sustain this momentum to bring about real change. https://t.co/UKnowQM2Lj

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 11, 2020

Like many of the most widely followed people or organizations on Twitter, the former president can reach tens of millions of people. No other conduit to the public has anywhere close to those figures.

The people who have the most followers after @BarackObama are an odd mix, mostly singers and entertainers. Second on the list, @justinbieber posts about social justice as well. However, many of his tweets are about the success of his songs, specifically on Spotify. Bieber had 111.7 million followers.

Singer Katy Perry ranks third with 108.5 million followers. She was, according to some sources, the first person to have 100 million followers.

Fourth on the list, Rihanna, had 96.8 million followers. She promotes clothing and cosmetics, as much as anything else.

In fifth place, singer Taylor Swift had 86.1 million followers. Recently she has tweeted about the need to take down the statues of Confederate generals.

Cristiano Ronaldo is sixth on the list and the top sports figure. He had 84.9 million followers. He tweets almost exclusively about his athletic prowess and family life. Many consider Ronaldo to be the best soccer player in the world. By many measures, it is the most popular sport worldwide.

Singer and movie star Lady Gaga ranks seventh on the list with 84.1 million followers.

Skipping down the list, Donald Trump had 80.1 million followers, which put him in ninth place

The highest-ranked media company is CNN Breaking News, with 57.7 million followers. That is good enough for 16th place.

Back at first place, Obama has been out of office since 2017. His public presence and popularity do not appear to have declined much, at least as measured by Twitter.