Former President Barack Obama’s most retweeted post, number two overall, came on Aug. 12, the day of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images Obama's — not Trump's — tweets make 2017 top 10 retweet list

Twitter may be the preferred social media platform of President Donald Trump, but his 2017 tweets are nowhere to be found among the platform's most popular posts of the year.

Trump did top the list of the world's most tweeted-about elected leaders.


None of Trump’s tweets from 2017 were among the Top 10 most retweeted, according to data released by Twitter on Tuesday, nor did any of his posts crack the Top three tweets with the most likes.

Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama, was responsible for three of the Top 10 most retweeted posts of 2017.

Obama’s most retweeted post, No. 2 overall, came on Aug. 12, the day of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Quoting Nelson Mandela, Obama wrote that "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion” and shared a photo of himself interacting smiling up at a group of toddlers of various races. The post, which was also the most liked post of 2017 on Twitter, has been retweeted more than 1.7 million times and liked more than 4.5 million times.

Obama’s post in support of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after the latter's cancer diagnosis was the third most liked tweet of 2017.

The two other Top-10 posts from Obama came in at Nos. 5 and 8, respectively. The former featured a sentiment echoed from Obama’s January farewell address in Chicago, “Thank you for everything. My last ask is the same as my first. I'm asking you to believe—not in my ability to create change, but in yours.” In the latter, Obama wrote on the day of Trump’s inauguration that “It's been the honor of my life to serve you. You made me a better leader and a better man.”

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A tweet in which NBA superstar LeBron James called Trump a “bum” and added that “going to White House was a great honor until you showed up,” was the seventh most retweeted post of 2017.

Carter Wilkerson, a Nevada high school student who persuaded Wendy’s to give him a year of free chicken nuggets if his post was retweeted 18 million times, was responsible for the tweet with the most retweets. The post has been retweeted more than 3.6 million times, enough for Wendy’s to award him the chicken nuggets.

Following Trump on the list of most tweeted-about elected world leaders were, in order, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Argentine President Mauricio Macri and British Prime Minister Theresa May filled out spots 6, 7 and 8.

Within the U.S., Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were the top tweeted-about elected officials, followed by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Obama. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) was fifth, followed by McCain, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Obama-era officials dominated the list of most-followed new political accounts, led by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by Trump in March. Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, fired by Trump in January, was No. 2, followed by Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes. Obama photographer Pete Souza was fourth, followed by current White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The top political activism hashtags also focused on Trump, with #resist and #ImpeachTrump occupying spots one and three on that top-10 list, while #MAGA and #TrumpTrain landed came in second and fourth, respectively.

