30 Jul Ranking Every Premier League Club’s Biggest Instagram Post of 2025/26
Every club has that one post from last season — the one that outran everything else in the feed. We pulled each current Premier League club’s (including newly promoted clubs for 2026/27) top-performing Instagram post from 2025/26 and ranked them by Social Value, the clearest single number for how much that moment was actually worth. Reach told part of the story. Engagement rate and follower interaction rate told the rest.
Here’s how all 20 clubs stacked up.
1. Arsenal
🎬 Reel | 78.0M Impressions | 4.95M Engagements | 6.35% Engagement Rate | 15.53% Follower Interaction Rate | $1,905,268 Social Value
No one came within 26 million impressions of Arsenal. That kind of reach is what turns an unspectacular 6.35% engagement rate into the league’s highest Social Value by more than $300K.
Takeaway: at Arsenal’s audience scale, reach alone can out-earn everyone else’s rate.
2. Liverpool
🖼️ Feed Post | 39.5M Impressions | 452K Engagements | 11.46% Engagement Rate | 9.22% Follower Interaction Rate | $1,591,272 Social Value
Liverpool’s top post wasn’t a Reel — it was a static post that generated the second-highest Social Value in the league on roughly half of Arsenal’s reach.
Takeaway: an 11.46% engagement rate, nearly double what most Reels on this list managed, is proof a single well-timed photo can out-punch video when the moment is big enough.
3. Manchester City
🎬 Reel | 52.1M Impressions | 3.22M Engagements | 6.19% Engagement Rate | 5.70% Follower Interaction Rate | $1,250,031 Social Value
City’s Reel pulled the second-highest impressions in the league, translating that platform size directly into a top-3 Social Value finish.
Takeaway: with reach like that already secured, the next lever for City is content built to turn that scale into deeper, more active engagement.
4. Chelsea
🖼️ Feed Post | 26.6M Impressions | 2.51M Engagements | 9.43% Engagement Rate | 5.68% Follower Interaction Rate | $862,723 Social Value
Chelsea paired real reach with a 9.43% engagement rate — nearly 50% higher than the Reel average on this list.
Takeaway: proof that a top-tier club doesn’t have to choose between reach and rate; this post delivered both.
5. Aston Villa
🎬 Reel | 24.9M Impressions | 1.57M Engagements | 6.29% Engagement Rate | 35.62% Follower Interaction Rate | $604,564 Social Value
Villa’s 35.62% follower interaction rate is one of the standout numbers on this entire list.
Takeaway: that’s real fan attention, not passive reach — exactly the signal a sponsorship partner wants to see.
6. Manchester United
🖼️ Feed Post | 18.4M Impressions | 1.52M Engagements | 8.29% Engagement Rate | 2.34% Follower Interaction Rate | $541,367 Social Value
A strong 8.29% engagement rate paired with the lowest follower interaction rate in the entire dataset.
Takeaway: United’s engagement was driven almost entirely by non-followers discovering the content — great for brand awareness, an opening to build for existing fans.
7. Tottenham
🎬 Reel | 13.2M Impressions | 816.8K Engagements | 6.20% Engagement Rate | 4.66% Follower Interaction Rate | $316,633 Social Value
Tottenham posted the eighth-highest impressions in the league, but a 4.66% follower interaction rate — the second-lowest of any club on this list.
Takeaway: the reach is real; the bigger opportunity is converting that visibility into a more active base of Tottenham’s own followers.
8. Bournemouth
🎬 Reel | 12.4M Impressions | 776.2K Engagements | 6.24% Engagement Rate | 60.72% Follower Interaction Rate | $300,163 Social Value
Bournemouth’s 60.72% follower interaction rate is the second-highest in the entire league.
Takeaway: a comparatively smaller following showing up at that intensity is an outsized share of genuinely invested fans.
9. Newcastle
🎬 Reel | 9.9M Impressions | 616.5K Engagements | 6.23% Engagement Rate | 17.66% Follower Interaction Rate | $238,536 Social Value
Newcastle’s Reel didn’t top any single category, but its 17.66% follower interaction rate quietly beats several clubs with far larger platforms, including Arsenal and Manchester City’s top posts.
Takeaway: engaged performance that didn’t need viral-scale reach to get there.
10. Crystal Palace
🎬 Reel | 7.68M Impressions | 478.5K Engagements | 6.24% Engagement Rate | 21.33% Follower Interaction Rate | $185,132 Social Value
Palace’s 21.33% follower interaction rate outpaces several clubs ranked higher on this list.
Takeaway: a tight, engaged fanbase can rival reach-driven giants on a per-fan basis.
11. Brentford
🎬 Reel | 7.25M Impressions | 451.6K Engagements | 6.23% Engagement Rate | 54.12% Follower Interaction Rate | $174,738 Social Value
A 54.12% follower interaction rate — top-3 in the league — on a fraction of the impressions of the clubs ranked above.
Takeaway: this is what maximizing impact with a smaller footprint looks like in the data.
12. Fulham
🖼️ Feed Post | 3.94M Impressions | 465.0K Engagements | 11.80% Engagement Rate | 37.13% Follower Interaction Rate | $161,097 Social Value
Fulham’s 11.80% engagement rate is the single highest in this entire dataset.
Takeaway: on the lowest reach near the bottom of the list, that’s a case study in maximizing a small footprint — quality over reach, backed by the numbers.
13. Leeds
🎬 Reel | 5.42M Impressions | 338.1K Engagements | 6.24% Engagement Rate | 26.23% Follower Interaction Rate | $130,819 Social Value
A steady mid-pack Reel with a follower interaction rate meaningfully above the format norm.
Takeaway: Leeds’ newly top-flight audience showed up when it mattered.
14. Ipswich Town
🎬 Reel | 5.34M Impressions | 334.4K Engagements | 6.26% Engagement Rate | 54.77% Follower Interaction Rate | $129,187 Social Value
The third-highest follower interaction rate in the league, on some of the smallest reach numbers in the dataset.
Takeaway: the clearest “small club, big fan connection” signal on this list.
15. Nottingham Forest
🖼️ Feed Post | 2.95M Impressions | 340.7K Engagements | 11.54% Engagement Rate | 24.42% Follower Interaction Rate | $118,687 Social Value
Forest’s 11.54% engagement rate is the third-best in the league — again from a static post, not a Reel.
Takeaway: feed posts kept outperforming Reels on rate all season, even as Reels won on raw reach.
16. Sunderland
🎬 Reel | 4.89M Impressions | 306.2K Engagements | 6.26% Engagement Rate | 22.61% Follower Interaction Rate | $118,293 Social Value
Format-typical numbers across the board in a first season back among the league’s top flight.
Takeaway: holding your own against established Premier League social budgets is a real result.
17. Everton
🎬 Reel | 4.45M Impressions | 275.8K Engagements | 6.20% Engagement Rate | 8.28% Follower Interaction Rate | $106,901 Social Value
The lowest follower interaction rate outside the very bottom of the list.
Takeaway: this post reached casual and algorithmic audiences more than Everton’s core base — an opening to build content that speaks directly to existing followers.
18. Coventry
🖼️ Feed Post | 2.68M Impressions | 301.4K Engagements | 11.26% Engagement Rate | 115.30% Follower Interaction Rate | $99,524 Social Value
The standout number in the entire dataset: a follower interaction rate over 100%, meaning engagement outpaced the follower base itself.
Takeaway: the post traveled well beyond Coventry’s own audience while still being anchored by real fans — remarkable efficiency on the smallest impressions total in the league.
19. Brighton
🎬 Reel | 3.50M Impressions | 217.7K Engagements | 6.21% Engagement Rate | 9.93% Follower Interaction Rate | $84,323 Social Value
Brighton’s numbers land almost exactly on the Reel-format median across every metric.
Takeaway: a clean, dependable benchmark for what a solid, on-target Reel performance looks like.
20. Hull City
🖼️ Feed Post | 1.62M Impressions | 14.5K Engagements | 8.98% Engagement Rate | 23.50% Follower Interaction Rate | $50,613 Social Value
The smallest reach and lowest raw engagement total on this list, and still an 8.98% engagement rate that beats most Reels ranked above it.
Takeaway: even at a small audience size, a well-targeted static post can rate well.
Key Takeaways: How Clubs Won on Instagram in 2025/26
Format split was the biggest story in the data. The seven clubs whose top post was a static feed post — Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Coventry, and Hull City — averaged roughly a 10%+ engagement rate. The thirteen clubs whose top post was a Reel clustered tightly around 6.2%. Reels still won on raw reach, but on rate, feed posts had the edge all season.
Reach and Social Value are correlated, but not the same thing. Arsenal’s scale bought the league’s top Social Value figure outright. But Liverpool matched nearly the same value on about half the impressions, purely on engagement rate — a reminder that Social Value rewards the combination, not just the bigger number.
Follower interaction rate is where the mid-table and newly promoted clubs shone. Coventry, Bournemouth, Ipswich, Brentford, and Fulham all posted follower interaction rates well above 35% — several clear of clubs with far larger media budgets. Reach can be bought; a fanbase that engages at that intensity has to be earned.
What to watch heading into 2026/27
A few outside data points worth carrying into the new season:
- Instagram engagement rates fell year-over-year across nearly every industry tracked in RivalIQ’s 2025 benchmark report, but Sports Teams held the second-highest engagement rate of any industry in the study — which means even a “middling” post in this dataset is still outperforming most other sectors on the platform.
- Industry coverage of 2026 sports marketing points to always-on, behind-the-scenes and player-led storytelling as the format gaining ground over pure game-day highlights, with brands increasingly tracked on metrics like video view rates, branded search lift, and fan lifetime value rather than reach alone.
- Short-form video remains a core pillar of team strategy heading into the new campaign, but this season’s numbers suggest the clubs treating static and carousel posts as a real second lane — not an afterthought — are the ones showing up with the strongest rates.
Reach will always matter. But the clubs to watch this season are the ones building for follower interaction rate and engagement rate, not just impressions — because that’s where the fanbase actually lives.
