20. A farewell to BTS’s Jin (870.7k tweets)

At number 20, we have the most recent tweet on the list. “My brother!! Come back safely!! 💜 Love View” is a farewell to BTS’ Jin, whose real name is Kim Seokjin, the first member of BTS to begin 18 months of military duty required by South Korea.

19. BTS makes another appearance on the list (983.9k retweets)

This account has quite a few appearances on our list. K-pop megastars BTS command a huge army of fans on Twitter. Nearly anything they post will get hundreds of thousands of retweets.

In a tweet simply tagging Harry Styles between two heart emojis, BST shared a short video of themselves singing along to Falling at a Harry Styles concert.

18. BTS’s V greets ARMY (1m retweets)

Kim Taehyung, who goes by V, was seen taking a selfie while getting styled by a crew member.

17. Jungkook’s solo couch signing (1m retweets)

BTS Jungkook’s a cappella singing of Savage Love lands the 17th spot on our list. “Your voice is a real blessing,” fans were tweeting. 

16. “Happy birthday Jungkook” (1m retweets)

On Jungkook’s birthday, BTS tweeted a video of another band member seemingly trying to wake him up. 

15. BTS makes the list… again (1m retweets)

BTS grabbed the Best Fan ARMY award at the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards and dedicated it to their fans, also known as ARMY.

14. A Japanese YouTuber makes the list (1.1m retweets) 

The Japanese YouTuber Hikakin hosted a Nintendo Switch giveaway, promising to award 40 lucky people with Nintendo Switch organic EL.

13. Another YouTube giveaway (1.1m retweets)

The Spanish-Norwegian YouTuber Elrubius, whose channel primarily consists of gameplays and vlogs, ran a giveaway. It was simple enough. Retweet his tweet and get a chance to win some prizes, such as games consoles, televisions, and telescopes. Clearly a winning tactic. Stay tuned for more of Elrubius, too.

12. “Teamwork makes the dream work.” (1.2m retweets)

This 2013 tweet from BTS is still accumulating likes, comments, and shares on Twitter, even now, 10 years later! According to Koreaboo, the band has tweeted this phrase 7 times in 7 years, and each tweet represents a milestone in the band’s history.

11. BTS bad guy (1.3m retweets)

It’s just Jungkook dancing to Billie Eilish’s hit “Bad Guy”. Twitter loved it.

10. Obama quotes Mandela (1.4m retweets)

After the appearance of neo-Nazis and fascists in Charlottesville, Va., and the ensuing violence, Barack Obama put out a tweet many saw as a response.The tweet is a picture of Obama with some kids, and a quote from Mandela’s book Long Walk to Freedom.

9. Another YouTube giveaway (1.4m retweets)

Another YouTube giveaway from Elrubius.This was the first version of his LIMONADA giveaway. You already know the drill: Retweet his tweet and get a chance to win some prizes, such as games consoles, televisions, and telescopes. Maybe all Twitter accounts should be doing this. 🤔

8. BTS purple heart (1.4m retweets)

A simple tweet, but with a specific meaning any BTS fan will know.V, a BTS member, says that purple is all about trusting and loving someone for a long time, and this usage has now been adopted by the BTS fandom.

7. A YouTube giveaway from Japan (1.6m retweets)

The Japanese YouTuber and co-founder of the Japanese multi-channel network UUUM, Hikakin hosted his second giveaway, promising to award 103 people with an iPhone.

6. This posthumous tweet makes history (1.9 retweets)

Chadwick Boseman's posthumous tweet announcing the actor's death landed on the #6 spot of the most retweeted tweets list. It also made history as the most liked tweet in the history of Twitter, with 6.9m likes at the time of writing this article.

5. One Direction love-in (2.6m retweets)

One of the most wholesome tweets on this list, it’s Louis Tomlinson sending a message of love to his One Direction bandmate Harry Styles.And that’s it. The band’s huge Twitter following got involved and propelled it to Twitter stardom.

4. Famous people do selfies too (2.8m retweets)

Taken at the Oscars in 2014, this tweet from Ellen DeGeneres includes a bunch of well-known faces, such as Bradley Cooper, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt, and, now controversially, Kevin Spacey.

It’s clear proof that more celebs = more retweets.

3. Retweets mean nugget treats (2.9m retweets)

What started as, we presume, an off-hand joke from Wendy’s social media manager, quickly turned into a massive viral moment. Carter Wilkerson needed his nuggs.

After asking how many RTs it would take to get a year of free chicken nuggets, the restaurant chain put the price at 18m. Carter got to work.

Before long the Twitterverse picked up the tweet and it got support from millions of accounts as #NuggsForCarter went global. Unfortunately, Carter fell far short of the 18m Wendy’s requested.

In the end though, it didn’t matter. For his hard work, and unexpected success, Wendy’s still gave him his years supply of nuggets, plus they donated $100k to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

2. Cash means retweets (2.9m retweets)

At number two we have the most recent tweet on the list. It’s from Yusaku Maezawa, a massively successful Japanese businessman.

It’s another giveaway, with 1bn yen being promises to 1,000 people. A huge amount that explains this tweet’s placement. Money is obviously a motivator.

1. A billionaire and his money is easily retweeted (3.6m retweets)

Here we are. The most retweeted tweet of all time is Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, promising money to 100 people.

In other words, it’s another money giveaway. For this one, it was to commemorate Maezawa’s company, ZOZO, raking in 10bn yen over the 2018/19 Christmas and New Year period. He promised to split 100m yen between 100 randomly chosen people.

A generous end to our list and an insightful lesson to all social media managers: people love free money.