How to make your Instagram ‘Top Nine’ for 2018

The holidays are upon us and, for Instagram users, that can only mean one thing: it’s time to make your “top nine” collage.

For those not familiar, these are the posts that inundate Instagram feeds and Stories at the end of each year, with users showing off their nine most-liked Instagram posts of the year in a single collage.

The Top Nine tool, which is created by app developer Beta Labs, is available now and has been updated for 2018. You can download the app in the App Store or Google Play Store, or make your collage on the the Top Nine website. You’ll need to use the app if you have a private Instagram account.

This year, the tool also requires users to give their email address before they can get their collage. Beta Labs founder Kevin Natanzon tells me that’s because demand has been so high in past years that the app isn’t always able to generate the collages as quickly as users request them.

Now, instead of waiting for it to load, the company will email users their collages as soon as they’re ready. You can then download the image or export it to your Instagram Story. And, if you use the app, you can also get images printed on physical items like phone cases.

Natanzon also tells me they’ll soon be re-releasing a video feature, which will let you create videos out of your posts.

But regardless of what you do with your collage, it’s a good way to find out what your most popular posts were — and to start planning for next year.