Eric Omondi, Bahati, Akothee: Kenya’s most followed Instagram accounts of 2021

Instagram is easily one of the most popular social media networks globally, what, with roughly 1 billion active monthly users worldwide.

Just over 2 million users, out of this global figure, come from Kenya; forming an approximate near 3% of the country’s population.

The networking site has had most netizens hooked from the moment it was launched as a photo-sharing app sometime in 2010.

Some Kenyan media personalities have taken advantage of the platform and maximized it to the fullest, gaining considerable leaps against their fellow stars.

These individuals have used Instagram to further their own careers, giving their millions of followers a glimpse into their lives, their views, and their goals.

Even fewer of them have transcended the over 2 million follower mark that makes up the number of the app’s users in Kenya, showing just how big they are even outside the country.

Many of these Instagramers are influencers and content creators following the big numbers that they command on the platform.

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, recently rounded up the most followed Kenyan personalities in 2021 and Citizen Digital has broken them down as below:

Eric Omondi is the self-proclaimed president of comedy in Africa, and is known to most as a high-flying entertainer who came up through the ranks to dominate the industry.

He has also emerged as a controversial character in recent times, often featuring on the news for the wrong reasons, very few times for the right.

Lately, he has taken on the hat of ‘saviour’ of the Kenyan music industry, advocating for 75% playtime of local music in all Kenyan media stations and events.

This has, ironically, landed him on the wrong side of the very Kenyan musicians whose rights he is advocationg for. In their defence though, he has called them lazy along the way, more than once.

Tanasha Donna is a model, singer, entrepreneur, and beauty influencer.

Despite falling out with Tanzanian heavy-hitter Diamond Platnumz, with whom she sired a baby, Tanasha came out more popular than she was before.

She has continued to release heavy musical collaborations and land lucrative endorsements.

Bahati came into the Kenyan music industry as a Gospel musician, charming the hearts and souls of Kenyans with his emotion-provoking hits that ruled the airwaves, winning him numerous awards.

However, somewhere along the way, he switched tune and crossed over to the secular side, and it has been controversy after controversy from then on.

The one thing he has maintained, though, is his talent and mastery of the microphone. He still rules the airwaves, even though he sings things like ‘Mtaachana tu’ nowadays.

Esther Akoth, popularly known as Akothee, is one of the most controversial yet highly-sought after Kenyan celebrities.

The musician and businesswoman proudly calls herself the ‘President of Single Mothers’, even though she’s not even single.

Kenyans, however, love her for the bond she shares with her five children, and the mutual respect under which she has managed to raise them with her different baby daddies.

Akothee is also a brand ambassador for several top brands, and arguably one of the most expensive Kenyan musicians to book for an event, having previously recorded collabos with the likes of Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz and Nigeria’s Mr. Flavor, for which she’s said to have forked top dollars.

Betty Mutei Kyallo is an entrepreneur and award-winning media personality.

Betty owns a high-end salon and barbershop in Nairobi’s affluent Kilimani and Upper Hill neighbourhoods respectively, besides being one of the leading influencers and ambassadors of top brands in Kenya.

So interesting are the lives of Betty Kyallo, her baby, and her two sisters that a reality TV show deal has already been inked to put them on the screens and is in production as we speak.