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Ellen Breaks Most-Retweeted Record With All-Star Selfie At Oscars

Danny Sullivan on March 2, 2014 at 10:19 pm

Ellen wanted to have the most retweeted photo on Twitter, and she got her wish. Within an hour after taking a star-studded selfie live during the Academy Awards, she passed Barack Obama’s record-setting tweet — and broke Twitter, as well.

Here’s Ellen (well Bradley Cooper) taking the picture during the show, saying she wanted to hit a record:

She got her wish. When we first posted this story, the tweet had over 100,000 tweets. Within an hour, it shot up past 900,000 retweets and has kept going:

If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

Some people have seen lower counts, because Twitter was having capacity issues. Indeed, soon after it was posted, Twitter had all types of problems. People couldn’t post to Twitter, view tweets and other errors.

Until now, the most retweeted tweet ever was when Barack Obama was reelected, which currently has about 779,000 retweets:

Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012

It’s unclear if this now means Ellen takes the office of US president away from Obama. But Twitter has also confirmed it being officially the most retweeted tweet ever.

The photo also went up on Facebook, where it also proved a big hit: Ellen’s Record-Breaking #Oscars Selfie Is Big Hit On Facebook, Too.

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.