Twitter reveals most retweeted tweets of 2017, and Trump isn’t on the list (but chicken nuggets are)

A recent moment on Twitter recounted the "Top 9 most retweeted tweets of 2017." Perhaps surprisingly, no tweets from President Donald Trump made the list, in spite of Trump’s unique ability to grab headlines and shape the national debate with his Twitter account.

What did make the list?

The most retweeted tweet of the year was part of social media gag that went viral when a user engaged the social media account of fast food giant Wendy’s in search of free chicken nuggets.

The Wendy’s corporate twitter account is notorious in the Twitter world for trolling other hamburger chains and playfully participating in Twitter pranks. In response to a user’s request, the account promised user Carter Wilkerson a year’s worth of free chicken nuggets if he could get 18 million retweets, which led to the most retweeted tweet of the year (and in fact, the most retweeted tweet of all time):

HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3

— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017

Although Wilkerson did not reach 18 million retweets, his tweet DID set the all time record for retweets, and Wendy’s decided to give him the nuggets anyway, as well as a $100,000 charitable donation to the Dave Thomas Foundation in his name.

Although former President Barack Obama’s use of Twitter this year did not grab nearly as many headlines as Trump’s, he had three tweets that made the list. In order, they were:

Other tweets that made the list included a campaign from the Penn State Intra Fraternity Council to raise money for Houston flooding victims, Ariana Grande’s sorrowful response to the terrorist bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, and a tweet from basketball star Lebron James that was an apparent swipe at President Donald Trump.

According to analytics site socialbearing.com, the most retweeted tweet from President Trump was this tweet about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un:

Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2017