Cristiano Ronaldo is now the most-followed person on Instagram

Selena Gomez held the title for more than two years

Cristiano Ronaldo has overtaken Selena Gomez as the most-followed person on Instagram.

The Portuguese footballer now has 144,482,390 followers on the photo-sharing platform, whereas the pop singer had just 144,367,090 at the time of writing.

Considering Gomez has not published a post on Instagram since September, it’s not surprising that she has been dethroned from her honorary “Queen of social media” role.

Writing on 24 September, the “Wolves” singer announced she would be taking a break from social media for a while.

“As much as I am grateful for the voice that social media gives each of us, I am equally grateful to be able to step back and live my life present to the moment I have been given,” she wrote alongside a smiley selfie.

“Kindness and encouragement only for a bit! Just remember- negative comments can hurt anybody’s feelings. Obvi.”

Her post has garnered more than eight million likes, with fans begging for a prompt return.

Some suspected that the break was due to Gomez focusing on her health as a few weeks after the post, reports emerged that she had been hospitalised and is currently undergoing mental health treatment.

The 26-year-old’s popular feed is a mix of candid portraits, travel snaps and promotional shots, with some images acquiring up to 37 million likes.

Ronaldo has been in the news a lot in recent weeks due to rape allegations made against him by a 33-year-old woman named Kathryn Mayorga, who has accused the footballer of sexually assaulting her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

The footballer has consistently and strenuously denied the claims, insisting his "conscience is clear."