Banksy is officially the most popular street artist in the world based on social media hashtag’s analysis. Banksy comes out on top with 2,100,000 hashtags on Instagram. Second place goes to Kaws with one million hashtags.
The study by creative resource Design Bundles analysed hashtag data from Instagram to discover the top 50 most popular street artists around the world.
The worldwide famous street artist Banksy skyrocketed to the top of the list. Search results for the hashtag reveal how many people he has influenced. Many have taken his most well-known pieces and used them as house décor, such as ‘Balloon Girl’ project which first made an appearance in London 2002.
Kaws
Coming second with half the number of hashtags as Banksy is American artist Kaws (Brian Donnelly), with one million hashtags on Instagram.
In third place with 855,000 hashtags is contemporary artist Swoon. The American artist is known as one of the first female street artists to gain international recognition with her vast and intricate street art pieces found in areas such as London, New York, and Hong Kong.
Keith Haring is known for his controversial piece created in New York (1986) illegally as a warning against the usage of crack cocaine, which he was then arrested for as he had not received permission to do so. The American street artist currently has more than 700,000 hashtags.
| Ranking | Artist | Number of Hashtags |
| 1 | Banksy | 2,100,000 |
| 2 | Kaws | 1,000,000 |
| 3 | Swoon | 855,000 |
| 4 | Keith Haring | 726,000 |
| 5 | Seen | 587,000 |
| 6 | Shepared Fairey | 173,000 |
| 7 | Os Gêmeos | 115,000 |
| 8 | Stik | 86,900 |
| 9 | Ron English | 81,100 |
| 10 | Jenny Holzer | 69,000 |
The famous twins who are known as Os Gêmeos come seventh in the top ten with 115,000 hashtags. They began their adventure into the graffiti world they started in 1987 creating what they call “escapist fantasy” murals.
Jenny Holzer places tenth on the list with 69,000 hashtags. She is known for her unique approach to street art, where she uses projections and light for her enormous word pieces.
The analysis was carried out by Design Bundles which offers high quality premium design recourses and a marketplace where graphic designers can sell their products.
Hanna Kantor
Founder of OpenCall Magazine. Fashion and commercial photographer. A graduate of Journalism and Photography at the University of Warsaw and Universita degli Studi di Milano. Sleeps long, works even longer.
