According to a study that considers celebrities’ following and sponsored posts, beauty queen-actress Pia Wurtzbach was the highest earning Instagram user from the Philippines in 2021.

The Miss Universe 2015 winner is the only Filipino celebrity on the international list, titled “Which Celebrity Earns the Most from Instagram in The World,” published earlier this month by NetCredit.

According to the Chicago-based lender group that created the list, Wurtzbach earned USD 3,669,205 or estimated P216 million through Instagram alone in 2021.

NetCredit explained its methodology, saying it first identified the most followed celebrities on Instagram in each country, then identified which of their posts from 2021 are ads or sponsored.

In cases where the celebrity is not part of the “Rich List,” NetCredit used “Random Forest,” described as a statistical method that calculates the average cost per follower.

The group calculated the earnings by cross-referencing its list with figures from HopperHQ’s “Instagram Rich List,” which indicates the cost a celebrity could charge for an Instagram ad.

Wurtzbach is the Philippines’ top Instagram earner, ranking alongside international stars such as Ellen Degeneres (USD 33,723,706), Justin Bieber (Canada) (USD 4,427,738), Dua Lipa (UK) (USD 13,046,529), Lisa of Blackpink (Thailand) (USD 8,760,460), and Jisoo (South Korea) (USD 18,896,411).

Football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (USD 85,217,365) and Lionel Messi of Argentina are ranked first and second overall (USD 71,963l449).