Virat Kohli, musician Shubh and others dominate Instagram top trends 2022

As per the report, sports is a big and growing area of interest. More than 1 million Instagram Reels related to the ICC T20 World Cup were created in India. While Virat Kohli continues to be one of the most popular hashtags used on reels, but the report highlights that there is also a growing interest in cricketers like Surya Kumar Yadav.

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya were the top three most mentioned Indian cricketers on reels in India. The recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup saw more than 2 billion engagement (likes, comments and shares) on Instagram Reels created in India.

Musician Shubh caught the attention of reel-ers too, as he has been one of the most growing hashtags compared to 2021 as well. The report shows that 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’.

As previously mentioned, 15 of the top 20 most-used songs on Instagram Reels globally came from Indian artists. This includes songs like ‘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 audio like ‘Kacha Badam’ also made to the list.

The annual report also highlights the extensive use of augmented reality (AR) effects in Instagram reels by Indians. Some of the top AR effects used were Enhance, All Soften and Smoke Flare VR.