Virat Kohli among top reel hashtag draws of 2022, even as new stars shine

Interest in Surya Kumar Yadav and musician Shubh surges; films and series, along with sports and music, continue to dominate categories

With 2022 coming to a close, Meta has come up with a report on what has trended on reels during the year.

Virat Kohli continues to be one of the most popular hashtags used on reels, but there is growing interest in Surya Kumar Yadav as well. Musician Shubh has caught the attention of reel-ers too, with his having been one of the most growing hashtags over 2021.

Films and series content continued to make imprints on pop culture, as people shared their interest in ‘Bhediya’, ‘Family Guy’, ‘Ek Villain Returns’, ‘Naagin 6’, ‘Vikram’, ‘Mismatched Season 2’ and the upcoming ‘Pathaan’.

Sports have been a big and growing area of interest, with the recently concluded ICC Men’s cricket #T20WorldCup and #QatarWorldCup. More than 1 million reels on Instagram related to the ICC T20 World Cup were created in India.

Music, both from Meta’s music library and original audio, have been driving trends on reels across Instagram and Facebook. 15 of the top 20 most-used songs on Instagram reels globally came from Indian artists.

Some of the top songs that are popular across reels on both Instagram and Facebook for all age groups are ‘Srivalli’ by Javed Ali and ‘Baarish Main Tum’ by Neha Kakkar. ‘Kesariya’ by Pritam, Arijit Singh and Amitabh Bhattacharya, ‘Gypsy’ by G D Kaur, the KGF 2 theme song and ‘Jhoom’ by Ali Zafar were also among the most popular. Retro music like ‘Tumsa Koi Pyaara’ and original audios like ‘Kacha Badam’ also made the list.

This was part of Meta’s annual report highlighting the top trends on its platforms for the year, but this time primarily focused on Reels. Since launching in 2020, Reels has changed the way people consume and create content on Instagram and Facebook.

Highlights

● 15 of the top 20 most used songs on Reels on Instagram globally, are from Indian artists

● More than 1 million reels on Instagram related to the ICC T20 World Cup were created in India

● From music by artists like Shubh, songs like ‘Srivalli’, to movies like ‘Vikram’, regional artists, music & movies show up prominently