Taylor Swift has more Instagram followers than Spanish population after hitting 50m milestone

She is undoubtedly the biggest pop star on the planet right now with friends all over Hollywood, so it should come as no surprise that Taylor Swift has become the first person to reach 50m followers on Instagram. The achievement comes after the Bad Blood singer became the most-followed celebrity on the photo-sharing app in September 2015.

Overtaking the likes of Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé and Selena Gomez, the 25-year-old has now amassed a following larger than the population of Spain, which has an estimated 46.3m residents. Reacting to the news, Swift wrote on her Instagram account: "50 million followers!! Thanks so much guys. I'm pretty sure this is just because I have cute cats though."

Kardashian, 34, is not too far behind with the Keeping Up With The Kardashians reality star clocking up 48.4m followers so far, while superstar singer Beyoncé is slightly behind with 47.5m. The trio have been battling with each other in the followers race since August 2015 when Beyonce, 34, was crowned the most-followed celebrity. Swift still has some way to go until her Instagram account matches her Twitter record, which is currently sitting at 64.5m followers, more than Italy's population of 60m.

In addition to her new Instagram record, the Shake It Off singer is also celebrating the music video for her single Wildest Dreams reaching 100m views on VEVO. Although it is yet to reach the views of her other recent singles, including Bad Blood that has been watched more than 565m times and Shake It Off that has passed the 1bn mark.

With so many fans watching her every move, Swift admits that she often feels pressure given her intense level of fame. Opening up about her fears in an interview with NME, the US singer said: "I'm in the news every single day for multiple different reasons," she told NME magazine. "And it can feel, at times, if you let your anxiety get the better of you, like everybody's waiting for you to really mess up – and then you'll be done.

"A lot of the time I need to call my mum and talk for a really long time, just to remind myself of all the things that are great and all the things that matter. If you do something that defines your character to be not what the public thought you were, that's the biggest risk."