Top 10 athletes on Instagram as Virat Kohli gains 200m followers

Cristiano Ronaldo leads the way with 452 million followers on social media platform

1. Cristiano Ronaldo is the most popular star on Instagram with 452 million followers. AFP

2. Lionel Messi has 336 million followers on Instagram. AFP

3. Virat Kohli - 200 million. Sportzpics for IPL

4. Neymar - 175 million. Reuters

5. Lebron James - 123 million. AFP

6. David Beckham - 74 million. AFP

7. Kylian Mbappe - 71.7 million. AFP

8. Ronaldinho - 66.8 million. EPA

9. Marcelo - 56.2 million. AFP

10. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 54.1 million. Reuters

Virat Kohli may no longer be the captain of the Indian team, but he continues to dominate the social media landscape.

The popularity of the record-breaking batsman continues to rise, and that is evident in Kohli's social media following - the modern barometer of star power.

The Delhi and Royal Challengers Bangalore star crossed another milestone this week, reaching 200 million followers on Instagram. That makes him the third most popular athlete on the platform, behind football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo, in fact, has the most number of followers among all celebrities on Instagram.

Kohli now has combined social media following of 297.7 million, with 48.5m on Twitter and 49.2m on Facebook.

The top athletes on Instagram can be seen in the picture gallery above and the graphic below.