Modi, Vijay, Kohli top Twitter trends in India in 2020

Twitter has released its latest listing of key trends and topics for the year 2020 both globally and also India. The tweets of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil actor Vijay, and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli headline the trend. Not surprising, considering the fact that politics, films and cricket are the staple of Indian masses.

Twitter India's annual report, #ThisHappened2020, was formally released today.

The list is compiled based on the number of retweets, likes, and quote tweets by users from the start of the year till November 15. The number of Twitter users in India is close to 19 million --- the third most in the world. 

Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari has been quoted as saying: "From the fight against this global pandemic, rejoicing in celebratory moments, standing up for those communities impacted by the pandemic, to bonding over rediscovered shows, interests and memes, India came together beautifully on Twitter this year”.

This year's most top trending hashtag was --- no prizes for guessing this ---  #Covid19. The other two widely used hashtags in current affairs were #SushantSinghRajput, and #Hathras.

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Modi's Tweet tops politics

The most retweeted tweet category in politics was topped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi (106.5k) with pictures showing his support for the lighting of lamps at 9 pm for 9 minutes in April.

Globally, too, Narendra Modi was among the Most Tweeted About People of 2020. He was seventh in the list headed by the exiting US President Donald Trump. Modi is the only Asian in the list that is dominated by Americans.

In entertainment, Tamil actor Vijay's tweet, which was a selfie with his fans in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, in February was the most retweeted (145.8k) one.

That an actor from Kollywood trumping Bollywood stars may come as a surprise to some. But the fact is Vijay had topped the most tweeted hashtag for his movie #Bigil in the same category last year, too.

People in the know suggest that he has an army of fans who know how to game the twitter trends.

Dhoni & Kohli ace the charts

The tweet of Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni, who announced his retirement from international cricket this year, topped the sports category. Dhoni's tweet thanking the Indian Prime Minister for his letter acknowledging his contribution to Indian cricket, was among the leaders in the sports category with 73k retweets.

His successor as Indian team captain Virat Kohli's tweet in August about him and his wife Anushka Sharma expecting their first child in January got the most likes (642.8k). Anushka being a top actress in her own right will make the tweet part of both sports and entertainment, as it were. 

Though the Indian Premier League was held in UAE this year, fans got #IPL2020 trending on Twitter, with #WhistlePodu and #TeamIndia being other hashtags widely used in sports.

Big B still dominates

The most 'Liked' and 'Quoted' Tweet in Indian entertainment was Amitabh Bachchan sharing his diagnosis of Covid-19 and spreading awareness about the virus.

Dil Bechara starring Sushant Singh Rajput, who unfortunately took his own life this year, was the most the most talked about movie on Twitter. The recent OTT release Soorarai Pottru, in Tamil, was also among the toppers Mirzapur 2, Money Heist, and Aarya (with Sushmita Sen in the lead) were popular among the web series.

Tata Trust chairman Ratan Tata's tweet in March, announcing Rs 500 crore for necessary resources needed to fight the pandemic, was retweeted 58.1k times in the business category.

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