Top LinkedIn Influencers to Follow in 2026 (By Niche)
Bill Gates is the most followed person on LinkedIn, but the creators worth studying are the ones who get engagement in your niche. This guide lists the top LinkedIn influencers by followers, then by niche (founders, B2B marketing and sales, AI, personal branding), with one pattern to copy from each.
The top LinkedIn influencers by reach are Bill Gates (39.3M followers), Richard Branson (18.7M) and Satya Nadella (11.7M), according to Favikon's May 2026 ranking. But reach is the wrong list to study if you post to grow a business. The creators worth copying are the ones whose posts get engagement in your niche, and many of them have under 500K followers.
This guide gives you both lists. First, who has the most followers. Then the top LinkedIn creators by niche (founders, B2B marketing and sales, AI, personal branding), ranked by median likes on niche posts rather than fame, with one thing worth copying from each. If you are still building your audience, read it alongside our guide on growing your LinkedIn followers.
Who Are the Top LinkedIn Influencers in 2026?
There is no official ranking. LinkedIn does not publish a follower leaderboard. Its closest equivalent is the LinkedIn Top Voice badge, an invitation-only program that LinkedIn says "used to be called the LinkedIn Influencer program" (LinkedIn Help, checked October 28, 2026).
So every "top influencers" list depends on what it measures. The two measures used in this guide:
- Followers: Favikon's Top 20 Most Followed LinkedIn Influencers (published May 7, 2026). Good for answering "who is biggest".
- Median likes on niche posts: MagicPost's 2026 niche rankings (updated June 3–4, 2026). Each list only counts creators with at least 10 posts on the topic in 12 months and at least 5,000 followers, and ranks them by median likes on those posts only. Good for answering "who actually lands with my audience".
Follower counts move every week. Treat every number below as a snapshot on the date given.
Who Has the Most Followers on LinkedIn?
Bill Gates has the most followers of any person on LinkedIn. The top 10 by follower count, per Favikon's May 2026 data:
| Rank | Name | Followers | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Gates | 39.3M | Microsoft co-founder, philanthropy |
| 2 | Richard Branson | 18.7M | Virgin Group founder |
| 3 | Satya Nadella | 11.7M | Microsoft CEO, AI |
| 4 | Jeff Weiner | 10.4M | Former LinkedIn CEO |
| 5 | Arianna Huffington | 9.6M | Thrive Global founder, well-being |
| 6 | Simon Sinek | 8.7M | Author, leadership |
| 7 | Mark Cuban | 8.2M | Entrepreneur, investor |
| 8 | Tony Robbins | 7.3M | Author, personal development |
| 9 | Jack Welch | 6.8M | Former GE CEO |
| 10 | Melinda French Gates | 6.7M | Philanthropist |
Most of this list built its audience off LinkedIn, through companies, books or public office. Their follower counts tell you little about what works for a consultant or founder posting three times a week. The niche lists below are more useful for that.
Top LinkedIn Influencers for Founders and Entrepreneurs
From MagicPost's entrepreneurship ranking (571 creators, updated June 3, 2026):
| Creator | Median likes | Followers | What to copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sara Blakely | 6,130 | 2.3M | Posts rarely (13 entrepreneurship posts in 12 months). Her best post is her bootstrap origin story. |
| Ghazal Alagh | 3,761 | 663k | Lessons-learned essays, posted consistently. |
| Anupam Mittal | 3,659 | 1.4M | Personal reversal stories: what he believed, and what changed his mind. |
| Justin Welsh | 2,987 | 853k | Volume: 316 entrepreneurship posts in a year, mostly short. |
| Alex Hormozi | 2,797 | 949k | Failure timelines. Showing the losses makes the win believable. |
The lesson for founders: your own story is the format. The top entrepreneurship posts are origin stories, reversals and failures, not tips.
Top LinkedIn Influencers in B2B Marketing and Sales
Marketing
From MagicPost's marketing ranking (944 creators, updated June 3, 2026), skipping the two celebrity authors at the top (Adam Grant and Simon Sinek):
- Justin Welsh (2,973 median likes, 853k followers): 73 marketing posts in 12 months, the most in the top 10.
- Elena Verna (1,206, 207k): growth leader at Lovable. Her best post was a company milestone, a reminder that operator updates work.
- Chad Janis (1,007, 24k): Grüns founder, ranked #9 with only 24k followers. Marketing is 28% of his feed and he writes from inside his own retail launches.
- Evan Chi (939, 70k): uses a contrarian setup ("Some people think... Others think...").
Sales
From MagicPost's sales ranking (530 creators, updated June 3, 2026):
- Alex Hormozi (1,341 median likes, 949k followers): sales is only 6% of his feed. His best sales post is a meme about being ghosted.
- Matt Gray (925, 912k): reframes. His best post argues for stopping something on purpose.
- Chris Do (915, 623k): difficult-client stories. His sales posts earn 61% more than his average.
- Amelie Kaijo (671, 31k): the highest engagement rate in the top 20 (2.15%) with 31k followers, by arguing that personal branding belongs in sales strategy.
Top LinkedIn Influencers in AI and Tech
From MagicPost's AI ranking (updated June 3, 2026), the AI list splits into two groups. Executives announce things. Creators explain things.
| Creator | Median likes (AI posts) | Followers | Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sundar Pichai | 24,812 | 4.4M | 19 AI posts in 12 months. Few, high-impact announcements. |
| Demis Hassabis | 5,858 | 288k | Very sparse, event-driven research posts. |
| Satya Nadella | 5,479 | 12M | AI opportunity and national partnerships. |
| Andrew Ng | 3,856 | 2.5M | 53 AI posts a year on open science and the AI community. |
| Chris Donnelly | 1,788 | 1.2M | LinkedIn-native business explainers. AI is only 9% of his feed. |
Unless you run a lab, copy Andrew Ng and Chris Donnelly, not the CEOs. They earn attention by explaining, not by announcing.
Top LinkedIn Creators for Personal Branding and Writing
From MagicPost's personal branding ranking (89 creators, updated June 4, 2026). This is the list to study if writing is the skill you want to copy:
- Justin Welsh (3,602 median likes, 853k followers): short, essay-style posts.
- Dr. Elizabeth Lindsey (2,830, 234k): personal, reflective posts about being underestimated.
- Lara Acosta (2,337, 334k): achievement posts with a motivational close. MagicPost notes her story posts beat her how-tos.
- Victor Wendt (1,721, 135k): very short, single-phrase posts.
- Sahil Bloom (886, 709k): frameworks built around one guiding rule.
- Heather Monahan (832, 337k): story-first hooks instead of how-tos.
What the Top LinkedIn Influencers Do Differently (Patterns to Copy)
Across the niche rankings above, four patterns repeat:
- Followers don't predict engagement. Chad Janis (24k followers) out-ranks Jade Bonacolta (476k) on marketing posts. Amelie Kaijo (31k) has the best engagement rate in the sales top 20. A small, focused audience is not a handicap.
- Stories beat tips. The best posts listed for Sara Blakely, Anupam Mittal, Alex Hormozi, Chris Do and Lara Acosta are all stories: origins, reversals, failures, a hard client.
- Short wins. Justin Welsh, Victor Wendt and Jade Bonacolta all lead with very short posts. Write the one line, then cut.
- Either post rarely and big, or post often and narrow. Sundar Pichai and Sara Blakely post under 20 times a year on their topic. Justin Welsh posts hundreds of times. Without a famous company behind you, the second path is the realistic one.
To borrow these structures without starting from a blank page, our free LinkedIn post templates cover story, thought-leadership and milestone formats.
How to Become a LinkedIn Influencer in Your Niche
You don't need millions of followers. You need to be the person your buyers think of first. A workable plan:
- Pick one niche and three creators to study from the lists above. Note their hook, length and how often they post.
- Post 2–3 times a week on one topic. MagicPost's lists only include creators with 10+ posts on their topic in a year. Consistency on one topic is the entry ticket.
- Write from your own work: client stories, decisions you reversed, numbers from your business.
- Reply to every comment in the first hour and comment on the creators you study.
- Review monthly. Keep the formats that beat your median and drop the rest.
A word of caution: full-time creators are on the platform all day because it is their job. If you run a business, copy their formats, not their hours. We explain why in why influencer advice burns founders out. For more on the role itself, see what a LinkedIn content creator does.
Frequently Asked Questions About Top LinkedIn Influencers
Who is the most followed person on LinkedIn?
Bill Gates, with about 39.3 million followers according to Favikon's May 2026 ranking. Richard Branson is second with 18.7 million and Satya Nadella third with 11.7 million. LinkedIn does not publish an official leaderboard, so counts come from profiles and third-party trackers.
What is a LinkedIn Top Voice, and how is it different from an influencer?
Top Voices is LinkedIn's own invitation-only program, which replaced the old LinkedIn Influencer program. LinkedIn vets members for trust, consistent activity and expertise. They get a profile badge and free Premium Business. "Influencer" in general just means anyone with a large, engaged audience.
How many followers do you need to be a LinkedIn influencer?
There is no official threshold. Common marketing tiers count 1,000–10,000 followers as nano, 10,000–100,000 as micro and 100,000–1M as macro (Influentials). Several creators in the rankings above have under 35,000 followers.
Do LinkedIn influencers get paid?
Not by default. LinkedIn's BrandLink program shares video ad revenue with an invite-only group, which started with 30 B2B creators in May 2025. LinkedIn has not published the split (Tubefilter). Most influencers earn through their own business, clients, sponsorships or speaking.
Ready to Build Your Own LinkedIn Voice?
Studying the top creators shows you what works. Writing like yourself, every week, is the hard part. ContentIn is an AI ghostwriter that learns your voice from your past posts and drafts in your style, with a 7-day free trial.
Create Engaging LinkedIn Content
Use ContentIn's AI Ghostwriter to write posts that resonate with your audience and build your personal brand effortlessly.