For must of us, getting tens of thousands of retweets is nothing more than a myth. Six RTs and 11 favs is enough to write home about. More than a hundred and you’re basically famous.
But for this lot? Their phones probably haven’t stopped buzzing all year.
Twitter has rounded up the 10 tweets which received more retweets than any others from UK users, and number one will come as no surprise. The 10 below are in no particular order, but number one is number one.
Carter’s Nuggs Demand
Carter Wilkerson was set a challenge: amass 18 million retweets and earn free chicken nuggets for a year. His tally of 3.6 million and counting was considered close enough by the restaurant chain, and with good reason – it’s the new number one across all tweets ever. That 3.6 million tally featured a fair few RTs from the UK.
Ariana Grande’s heartbreak
The shockwaves from the Manchester terror attack hit the country hard, and the response from Grande – whose concert was attacked in May this year – hit home with pretty much everyone. The 1.1 million retweets seen by her heartfelt reaction, coupled with the power of the One Love Manchester concert, points to a country coming together in the aftermath of the incident.
Jermain and Bradley
Jermain Defoe’s relationship with Bradley Lowery captured the nation’s hearts, with the terminally ill Sunderland fan gaining a new best pal in the England striker. When Bradley lost his battle with cancer over the summer, Defoe’s tribute to the youngster hit home with a lot of people.
Everyone misses Obama
As you might have noticed, racial tensions in the United States have been impossible to ignore this year, and the new man in the White House has not helped proceedings. In the era of Trump, predecessor Barack Obama has seen his legacy improved by the day. Even this simple message of tolerance showed the gulf between the 44th and 45th presidents, and was among the most retweeted tweets in the UK as well as the US.
Retweet to save a life
Returning to the mental health theme, police constable David Wise, aka @CopThatCooks, urged people to retweet the UK suicide prevention line. No more and no less. Upwards of 100,000 people did just that, while nearly double that number voted on his poll.
Retweet to save a life, part II
As above, but with breast cancer. @LucidWhim helped make people aware of the many different signs of the condition, in the light of her own daughter being diagnosed. With more than 250,000 retweets, it is almost certain to have reached its intended audience.
Football wakes up to mental health
It feels as though the struggles facing Aaron Lennon alerted a lot more people to football’s battle with mental health issues this year. Former Premier League striker Andy Johnson pledged to donate 10p to mental health charity Mind in the Everton winger’s name, and more than 100,000 showed their support.
Jezza’s dab
If many of the above tweets are on super-serious topics, this is the opposite. It’s just Jeremy Clarkson dabbing. That’s it. Oh, and I guess the caption adds to it a bit. In this July message, the Grand Tour presenter invoked all of our dads at once, and if that’s not relatable content I don’t know what it.
The other Jezza
While some expected Corbyn to lose the election comprehensively and disappear into the ether, Labour ended up attaining a higher share of the vote than anticipated and their leader is still standing. In addition to his popularity among younger voters, Corbyn’s meme potential grew in 2017 and Twitter have confirmed he was mentioned more than Theresa May and Donald Trump among UK users.
Crouchy at it again
Finally we have a third football tweet, but nothing like the first two on this list. Peter Crouch has become known for his hijinks, and he found himself some handy props on a trip to the zoo. He’s very tall. The joke is that he’s very tall. 150,000 retweets.
It has been an eventful year. We’ve seen a nugget-hungry man overtake that Oscars selfie to claim the ‘most retweeted ever’ crown, while more than 100,000 people shared a photo of a 57-year-old man dabbing. If that doesn’t tell you where we’re at as a society, I don’t know what does.
(Main image: Freestocks)
