Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman died this past Friday after a four-year battle with colon cancer. The news came not only as a shock to fans but to close friends and peers of the 43-year-old who opted to keep his health issues a secret for the last four years. The announcement of his passing was shared on his Instagram and Twitter feeds which paired a black and white image of himself alongside the sad statement of his death.
At the time of this publication, the tweet has over 7.3 million likes, 3.1 million retweets, and over 162,000 comments. Yesterday, the official account of Twitter re-tweeted the post, announcing it was the most liked on the platform ever.
“Most liked tweet ever. A tribute fit for a King. #WakandaForever,” the Twitter profile wrote.
Not only was the announcement the most-liked ever, but it also blew away the previous record-holder by almost three million likes. The tweet dethroned Barack Obama’s August 12, 2017 post where he quoted Nelson Mandela.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…” the tweet read which amassed over 4.3 million likes.
Obama also holds the number three spot on the most-liked list, where he paid tribute to Kobe Bryant who also died tragically earlier this year. The former president’s comments on Kobe brought in over four million likes to date.
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020
A post from Andy Milonakius lands at number four after he joked about the astronauts leaving earth on May 30 this year. The young comedian said they made the right decision to leave the planet, given the state of the world in 2020. That tweet racked up 3.8 million likes. Surprisingly enough, the fifth most-liked tweet (3.3 million) of all-time came this week as well, when Macaulay Culkin revealed he turned 40, making millions across the world feel old.
The death announcement is also vastly popular in terms of its retweets. The post ranks number four atop the most retweeted posts of all time with over 3.1 million shares, falling behind two tweets from Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and Carter Wilkerson, the now-famous tweeter who was on a quest to receive a year worth of free chicken nuggets from Wendy’s.
Chadwick’s death announcement continues to bring in likes and re-tweets as the hours pass, and users continue to pile in their condolences in the comment section.
The post is also one of the most-liked ever on Instagram, landing in the number four spot behind the World Record Egg account, Kylie Jenner and XXXTentacion. The announcement from Chadwick’s family currently has over 18.1 million likes on the platform.