This Egg Just Beat the World Record for Most Instagram Likes, Because 2019 Is Already Insane

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Shutterstock

Never underestimate the power of an egg on a mission. Specifically, an egg with big dreams of social media superstardom. That's the lesson we should all take away from one particularly ambitious photo of an egg, which shockingly earned the title of the most popular post of all time on Instagram over the weekend.

On January 4, a simple photo of a brown egg was uploaded to Instagram from the account "world_record_egg" with one particular goal: to become the most-liked post ever on the platform. Specifically, it wanted to beat the current record holder, Kylie Jenner, who earned that title when the first photo she posted of her daughter netted an incredible 18 million likes. And guess what? In 10 days, the egg managed to pull it off, after racking up a whopping 32 million likes and 1.3 million comments as of this writing.

The plain ol' photo of an egg on a white background started its quest quietly, getting just 10,000 likes in its first few days. However, it picked up steam as more and more folks caught wind of the campaign to take the egg to the top of the charts, according to TheWashington Post, which spoke to a member of the collective behind the whole idea, who've deemed themselves the "Egg Gang."

“I was sitting at home reading an article online about the top 20 Instagram posts of 2018." they said. “I thought it would be an interesting experiment to try and beat the record with something as basic as possible. Which led to me deciding on the egg. I guess it’s also a comment on celebrity culture and how fragile and easily cracked it is (pun intended).”

And while the egg is still the only post ever on the "world_record_egg" account, the Egg Gang promises the saga may continue. The account teased in an Instagram story that some egg merch may be on the horizon, according to WaPo.

As for how Kylie Jenner is taking all of this, she's keeping a sense of humor about it (and frankly, how could you not). Since her world record was beaten, she posted a video of her cracking an egg onto the pavement with the caption, "Take that, little egg." 

So, just in case you were wondering whether 2019 is going to be as bonkers as 2018, a dumb egg photo with no discernible personality or identity has officially commanded more engagement on Instagram than any celebrity of famous figure ever. Hooray?

h/tWashington Post


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Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.