(REUTERS): The announcement regarding ‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman’s death was the most shared on Twitter worldwide in 2020, and got the most likes of any Tweet ever, Twitter said as it released data of the most shared events on the platform for 2020.
According to details, the August 28 post by Boseman’s family saying the actor had died of colon cancer at age 43 was liked more than 7.5 million times. Moreover, US President Donald Trump who himself is a prolific user of Twitter, was the most tweeted about person worldwide in 2020,
Meanwhile, K-Pop group BTS were the No.1 most tweeted about musicians in the United States for a fourth straight year. The hashtag #COVID19 has been used nearly 400 million times around the world, followed by the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s tribute to Kobe Bryant as a ‘legend on the court’ after the death of the basketball player, was second among likes and retweets. George Floyd, the Black man whose death prompted worldwide protests against racism, was the third most tweeted about person in the world in 2020.
“Dil Bechara”, starring Rajput who died by suicide in June this year, was the most tweeted about Hindi movie for the year as his distraught fans vowed to make the late star’s final movie a hit.
In terms of sports, the new NBA Champion LA Lakers were the most tweeted about team. Even so, soccer dominated the Twitter discussion, with eight of the top ten slots taken up by professional soccer.
On a lighter note, the ‘laughing with tears’ emoji was the most used via tweet. It was also the most used emoji via tweet last year, with the top ten shuffling around only slightly, despite a significantly different period.
Twitter also highlighted that despite the overarching sense of anxiety and sadness throughout the year, tweets that expressed being grateful or thankful increased by 20% globally.
