Wanna One's Kang Daniel breaks Pope Francis's Instagram record

Kang Daniel's first posting on his new social media account. Captured from Kang's Instagram

By Lee Min-young

Boy group Wanna One's Kang Daniel has set a Guinness World Record for gaining one million of followers on Instagram in the shortest time.

London-based Guinness World Records announced on Thursday that the 22-year-old set a record for the fastest time to gain one million followers on Instagram.

Kang joined the social media under the account @thisisdaniel_k on New Year's day ― his first post being a selfie along with a caption that wrote "HELLO." Starting with this simple photo of himself, his account drew one million followers in j11 hours and 36 minutes as of Wednesday 9:36 a.m. PST.

This broke Pope Francis' 2016 record of 12 hours. Before Pope Francis, footballer David Beckham was the record holder in 2015 gaining one million in 24 hours.

Kang debuted as member of project group Wanna One in 2017 formed through the second season of Mnet's idol survival show “Produce 101.” The group has officially been disbanded as of Dec. 31. However, it will complete planned concert schedules slated for the end of January.