Who Has the Most Followers on Twitter (X)?
One account has held first place since March 2023, and it's roughly twice the size of second. The rest of the top 10 has barely moved in years.
Who has the most followers on Twitter? Elon Musk, with about 241.6 million followers on @elonmusk as of September 14, 2026, according to Wikipedia's tracked list of the most-followed accounts. Barack Obama is second with about 118.9 million, and Cristiano Ronaldo third with about 114.5 million.
Musk took first place from Obama on March 30, 2023, and has held it since. The gap is now wide: the top account has roughly twice the followers of the second, while places two to ten are separated by a few million each. Counts change daily, so treat every figure on this page as a snapshot with a date on it.
The most-followed account on X is the profile with the largest follower count on the platform, the public number shown on every profile under the bio. No official leaderboard exists. X doesn't publish a ranking, so lists like this one are compiled by reading the public counts of the largest accounts, and the Wikipedia list is the most consistently maintained.
Two caveats come with any ranking. First, the numbers are rounded: the Wikipedia list rounds totals down to the nearest hundred thousand, and X itself abbreviates large counts on profiles. Second, a follower count counts accounts, not people. Inactive, abandoned and automated accounts all count until they unfollow or are removed, and X doesn't publish what share of any account's followers are active.
That second caveat is why follower counts are a signal of attention rather than a measure of it. For an ordinary account the count still does work: it's the first number a stranger sees when a reply or post leads them to your profile, and it's the number X followers add to. At the scale of this list, nobody is moving a ranking measured in hundreds of millions.
Who is the most followed person on X?
Elon Musk. As of September 14, 2026, the ten most-followed accounts on X were, in millions of followers, per Wikipedia's list:
- 1. Elon Musk (@elonmusk): 241.6
- 2. Barack Obama (@BarackObama): 118.9
- 3. Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano): 114.5
- 4. Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump): 111.8
- 5. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi): 107.1
- 6. Rihanna (@rihanna): 98.6
- 7. NASA (@NASA): 92.3
- 8. Justin Bieber (@justinbieber): 91.8
- 9. Katy Perry (@katyperry): 89.9
- 10. Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13): 83.8
Who is the only organization in the top 10?
NASA. Every other account in the top 10 belongs to an individual: a business owner, politicians, musicians and a footballer. The agency's place reflects how much of X's audience follows it for launches and images rather than personalities.
How many followers does the top account have?
About 241.6 million as of mid-September 2026, by Wikipedia's count, which rounds down to the nearest hundred thousand. When Musk first took the top spot on March 30, 2023, the same list recorded about 133 million, so the account has added more than 100 million followers since.
That growth is unusual at the top of a platform. Rankings elsewhere tend to settle once the leaders are established, as the most-followed accounts on Instagram shows; on X, the top account kept pulling away after it reached first place.
If you need an exact live figure, open the profile on X. Any site showing a ticking real-time number for a large account is estimating between X's rounded displays.
Has the top account ever changed?
Several times, mostly in Twitter's early years. Wikipedia's list records the succession of first place:
- CNN Breaking News, from April 8, 2009, and Ashton Kutcher, from April 16, 2009, in the race to the first million.
- Britney Spears, from May 23, 2010.
- Lady Gaga, from August 23, 2010.
- Justin Bieber, from January 21, 2013.
- Katy Perry, from November 4, 2013, for 2,110 days, the longest reign until now.
- Barack Obama, from August 15, 2019, for 1,323 days.
- Elon Musk, from March 30, 2023, to the present.
Will it change again soon?
Not on current numbers. Second place would need to more than double to catch first. The more realistic movement is inside places two to ten, where Obama, Ronaldo, Trump and Modi sit within about 12 million of each other.
Who are the most followed X accounts in the US?
Most of the global top 10 is American. On the September 2026 list, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, NASA, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift are all US-based accounts. The other four are Cristiano Ronaldo, who is Portuguese, Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, Rihanna, who is from Barbados, and Justin Bieber, who is Canadian.
That mix says something about X's audience. Politics and entertainment dominate the top, and two of the US accounts are a current and a former president. Modi is the only head of government from outside the US in the top 10.
X doesn't publish follower counts by country, so a ranking of which accounts US users follow most can't be built from public data. Lists claiming to show it are ranking US-based accounts, not US followers.
How do you see follower counts on X?
On any profile, the Following and Followers counts sit under the bio. Large numbers are abbreviated, so a big account shows something like 241.6M rather than the exact total. Tapping Followers opens the list of accounts that follow the profile.
For your own account, X's analytics show how your posts perform with impressions and engagement, and posts from accounts that don't follow you are where most new followers come from. How to get followers on X explains why replies, not the profile, are where that starts, and how the X algorithm ranks posts covers what decides who sees them.
Do inactive accounts count as followers?
Yes. A follower count counts every account that follows the profile and hasn't been removed, whether its owner opened the app today or years ago. X doesn't show anyone, including the account owner, what share of followers is active.
This is true of every large account on the list, and it's one reason the counts drift rather than only climbing. Accounts that are deleted stop counting, and accounts that unfollow quietly leave, so a large total is always the net of arrivals and departures.
For a smaller account, the practical version of this question is whether to clean up followers who look like bots. How to remove followers on X covers how removing a follower works and what the other person sees.
What does a follower count still mean on X?
Less than it used to for reach, more than it seems for first impressions. X's For You feed shows posts from accounts the reader doesn't follow, so a post's reach depends more on how early readers respond than on the size of the account. A small account can be seen by millions with one post.
What the count still shapes is the moment after someone sees that post and taps the name. The profile is where they decide whether to follow, and the follower count is the first number they read there. X followers add to that public number using only your @ handle on a public account, never your password. They don't make X show your posts to anyone. Every X service is listed on the X page.
Questions people ask about the most-followed X accounts
Who has the most followers on Twitter in 2026?
Elon Musk, with about 241.6 million followers on @elonmusk as of September 14, 2026, according to Wikipedia's list. He has been first since March 30, 2023.
Who is second most followed on X?
Barack Obama, with about 118.9 million followers as of September 14, 2026. He held first place from August 2019 until Musk passed him in March 2023.
Who was the most followed on Twitter before Elon Musk?
Barack Obama, who held first place for 1,323 days from August 15, 2019. Before him, Katy Perry held it for 2,110 days from November 4, 2013.
What is the most-followed organization on X?
NASA, the only organization in the top 10, with about 92.3 million followers as of September 14, 2026.
Does X publish an official most-followed list?
No. Rankings are compiled from the public follower counts on profiles. Wikipedia's list is the most consistently maintained, and it rounds totals down to the nearest hundred thousand.
Do fake or inactive accounts count in follower totals?
Yes, until they unfollow, are deleted or are removed by X. X doesn't publish what share of any account's followers is active.
Keep reading
- X followers — For ordinary accounts the follower count is still the first number a visitor reads; X followers add to it with your @ alone.
- How to get followers on X — Why followers on X come from replies, not the profile.
- The most-followed accounts on Instagram — The same question on Instagram, where the top has barely moved.
- How the X algorithm ranks posts — What decides who sees a post, whatever the account's size.