Kanye West's Yeezys helped Adidas blow Nike out of the water as the most popular sneaker brand on Instagram in 2015

This year was an amazing year for sneakers, if Instagram is any indication.

British-based graphic designer Dan Freebairn, who posts his artistic renditions of popular sneakers on his Instagram account @KickPosters, decided to see just how good. He dug into the numbers, and it turns out the most popular sneaker brand by sales, Nike, can't keep up with its European rival on Instagram.

Adidas racked up 78.8 million likes on its account @adidasoriginals, likely due to the insane popularity of its Yeezy Boost collaboration with Kanye West. Nike, even across its @nike, @nikesportswear, and @jumpman23 (Jordan) brands, couldn't keep up with the popularity of Yeezy.

The sneaker's iterations, of which 6 have been released released so far (the most recent on December 31), have all sold out instantly and subsequently sold for thousands on Ebay. In fact, West's collaboration with Adidas is even more popular than his collaboration with Nike he did back in 2009, according to NikeKicks.com.

 Another sneaker, the Adidas Ultra Boost, was also very popular with sneaker fans this year.Adidas made a number of other smart moves in 2015 to put it on top. It invested in proprietary technology and designs and it had a number of popular collaborations including one with Star Wars. It also reinvested in old styles like the Stan Smith.

However, when adjusted for likes-to-followers ratio, the tables turn on Adidas somewhat. It seems Vans actually has the most active users, with more likes per follower than any other sneaker brand.

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