All Fermi answers
Fermi #76 · Question 2

How many likes does Instagram's most-liked post, Messi's 2022 World Cup photo, have today?

Explore the official answer and the simple reasoning behind this Fermi estimate.

2QUESTION 2 OF 3

Answer & explanation

The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.

Messi's World Cup post, December 2022

Messi's World Cup post, December 2022

Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup trophy in an Argentina shirt, shown as an Instagram post from @leomessi

Illustration from Fermi.gg

Answer & explanation

Official answer

75,000,000

likes

How to estimate it

Fermi’s official “Napkin math”

Instagram has about 2 billion users. How many of them tapped like on Messi holding the World Cup? Soccer is the world's biggest sport, so maybe 1 in 25.

Instagram users
2,000,000,000
Liked Messi's photo
≈ 1 in 25
2B ÷ 25
≈ 80,000,000

Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.

Source calculation & reference
Likes on Messi's World Cup trophy post, Wikipedia list of most-liked Instagram posts, July 2026
74.5 million
Same post, Socialtradia most-liked ranking, September 2026
≈ 75 million
Rounded
≈ 75,000,000

Reference cited by Fermi: Instagram like count, via Wikipedia's list of most-liked Instagram posts (2026)

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