Kim Kardashian takes Instagram crown with record 45 million followers

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Aug 30. PHOTO: REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Reality television star Kim Kardashian is more than ever the queen of social media. She announced on Wednesday that her Instagram account has a record 45 million followers.

"45 million Instagram followers!!!!! I love you guys!!!!!" she told them in a caption for a selfie showing a sidelong smile and copious cleavage.

With that tally, the star of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and wife of rapper Kanye West now has more followers than any other Instagram user.

Pop stars Taylor Swift and Beyonce are close behind with 44.7 million and 44.6 million, respectively, and two other pop stars, Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande, round out the top five.

Instagram, acquired by Facebook in 2012, is a platform for users to share photos, with little emphasis on text. The format may be particularly well-suited to Kardashian's particular genius for self-promotion.

A photo of newlyweds Kardashian and West kissing at their wedding, posted to her account last year, became the most "liked" photo on Instagram before being surpassed by a photo on the account of her younger half-sister, Kendall Jenner, earlier this summer.

Kardashian still has plenty of room for improvement on less photo-centric social media; Katy Perry leads all Twitter users with 74.8 million followers, while Kardashian has a mere 34.9 million.

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