Who were the most tweeted about people in the UK in 2021?

The annual twitter end-of-year report is here, but what was tweeted about most?

Author: Ellis MaddisonPublished 9th Dec 2021
Last updated 27th May 2022

Twitter's end-of-year report is here, which means it's the only time we can put Boris Johnson, Cristiano Ronaldo and K-Pop group BTS in the same sentence.

Every year, the social media platform takes a look back at the biggest highlights on twitter, revealing what posts, users, moments and talking points saw the most interaction and engagement.

To find out what we engaged with the most on twitter here in the UK, the platform looked at what was liked, retweeted and tweeted about most by us users in Britain.

See the 2021 end-of-year report for UK Twitter:

Most liked and retweeted: Captain Sir Tom Moore's memorial post

The most liked and retweeted post of the year was the memorial message for Captain Sir Tom Moore, Twitter revealed. The tweet announcing his death in February came after Sir Tom had raised almost ÂŁ40m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020.

Biggest sporting tweet: Cristiano Ronaldo's return

The Manchester United tweet which announced the return of Cristiano Ronaldo was the biggest sporting tweet of the year. Ronaldo left United in 2009, two years after Twitter was first launched, but made a surprising return when he re-signed in August.

Biggest twitter moment: Death of Prince Phillip

The tweet from the official royal family account announcing the death of Prince Phillip was the biggest twitter 'moment' of the year - the tweets on one news story that were most interacted with collectively.

Most tweeted person: Boris Johnson

Apparently a lot of people had something to say to the Prime Minister, as Boris Johnson was the most tweeted person of the year, in front of K-Pop group BTS, Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and Kier Starmer.

Most tweeted about TV moment: Piers Morgan walking off GMB

Piers Morgan also made the end-of-year highlights, with the clip of him walking off the Good Morning Britain set being the most tweeted about TV moment. It was instantly turned into a meme on Twitter and if you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch.

The most used hashtag: Love Island

#loveisland was the most tweeted hashtag in the UK, following the ITV reality show's return to screens after being cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Most tweeted about TV series: Sex Education

Love Island came third behind Squid Game as the most tweeted about TV series, but both fell short of top spot in the UK, which went to Netflix series Sex Education.

Twitter UK's head of planning, David Wilding, said: "2021 was a year for people to connect with the communities and conversations they cared about most, and that was reflected on Twitter.

"The sad passing of Sir Captain Tom Moore, someone who uplifted and inspired the nation during Britain's first lockdown, was this year's most retweeted and liked tweet within the UK.

"With the nation adjusting to the new normal, we saw huge excitement for the return of sports and TV shows that were missed in 2020, with Love Island being the most-talked-about show on Twitter and Ronaldo's return to Manchester United being the top tweeted sports moment in the UK.

"We're excited to see the array of conversations that people in the UK bring to Twitter in 2022."

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