Instagram Top 9: How to Get a List of Your Most Popular 2018 Posts
Danny Paez
The end of another year means that Facebook will generate a personalized slideshow for each of its more than 2 billion users who uploaded pictures to the platform, and while the social media giant has been making these year-end retrospectives since 2014, it has yet to release a similar feature for Instagram, the photo-focused app it bought in 2012.
Thankfully, there's a third-party service filling this gap for the 1 billion Instagram users for the third year in a row.
See also: Instagram 2017 Best Nine Photos: The Secret History
Top Nine, an online tool created by app development firm Beta Labs, will generate a collage featuring your most-liked posts of the year. With a few clicks, Top Nine will generate a sharable grid with your most popular post at the top left and add up how many likes you garnered over the course of 2018.
Casual Instagrammers could use this as a fun way to look back at a year of travel, events, and time with friends and family, while influencers could use Top Nine as a way to visualize what 2018 posts resonated with their audience the most. Users can also use the tool to create collages for other accounts that aren't their own; just make sure the account is public.
Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, here's how to get your top nine Instagram posts to end the year with a banger #TBT post.
Get Instagram Top Nine on Your Smartphone
To get started, download Top Nine in the iOS or Android app stores. Once you've downloaded the app, all you have to do it type in your Instagram handle and an email address. The email doesn't need to be tied to your Instagram account; the app will just use it to send you the collage.
The Android app was buggy for me when I tried to get Jeff Goldblum's top nine posts of the year. An error message continuously popped up after I inputted his handle and my email, but it generated the image despite the notification.
The picture should only take a few seconds to get to your inbox, but that depends on how much you post. Once you get an email notification from Top Nine, click download, and your nine best posts should all be compiled in a grid. You'll find how many likes you received in total under the pictures.
Here's what it should look like. My Steve Jobs Halloween costume took the cake this year. Danny Paez
Get Instagram Top Nine on Your Desktop
If you'd rather just see your top nine most popular Instagram posts instead of posting them, opt for the Top Nine desktop website. It doesn't require downloading an app.
Navigate to topnine.co, type in your Instagram handle and email, and then wait a few seconds for your series of pictures to be delivered to you.