My most viewed posts and my best posts are not the same posts

I pulled every number Instagram gives me for 64 of my own posts and worked out which ones actually earned followers. The answer was not the one I expected, and the two lists barely overlap.

Data pulled 8 September 2026, covering 16 July to 8 September 2026. Every figure below comes from that file. The method, and what this cannot tell you, are at the bottom.