The algorithm selects your Top Nine Instagram photos based on a number of factors: number of likes, the content of the comments, among others.
We believe your Top Nine Instagram photos should be those which reflect your 9 moments truly worth remembering of 2019. That’s why we think vanity metrics like the amount of likes do not always represent what your most meaningful moments where. They might make a difference on small accounts with a small number of likes per post, but as the likes per post grow, more complex factors start to kick in.
Sometimes a photo with an unusual amount of comments may be more important than one of your 9 most liked photos. This may be the case with influencers and celebrities with millions of likes, where a difference between 100 likes is not as significant as the number and quality of the comments you received.
Another example is when two photos are very similar in terms of the time and place you uploaded them (like when traveling). The algorithm selects only one of those important moments of the year.
The Top Nine algorithm keeps improving, getting better and better, and in the future, more sentiment analysis around comments will be key to determinate which photo should be your Top Moment.