Method
How to make your top nine 2026
Five steps, two export sizes, and one rule: the nine should come from what you published, not from a folder of screenshots.
Step 1 — Know what you are ranking
Decide the metric before anything else. Likes for reach, saves for usefulness, comments for conversation. Changing your mind later means rebuilding the card.
Step 2 — Work from published posts
Instagram exposes per-post counters for Creator and Business accounts only. That is why an automatic recap is an app-side job: the site you are reading cannot read your account, and never asks for it.
Step 3 — Check the grid before exporting
Nine tiles at 3:4, three-pixel gaps, the year somewhere discreet. A preview in the real proportions avoids the classic mistake: a card that looks fine alone and wrong in the feed.
Step 4 — Export both sizes
| Usage | Size | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Story / Reels cover | 1080 × 1920 | 9:16 |
| Feed post | 1080 × 1350 | 4:5 |
| Each tile | — | 3:4, 3 px gap |
Step 5 — Post at the right moment
Between 27 December and the first week of January. Publish the Story when the feed is busy, keep the post pinned on the profile.
What to do if the numbers are missing
Show them as unknown. Never as zero: a zero silently pushes a good post out of the nine, and nobody can tell afterwards.
Open the app, pick the metric, check the grid, export twice, post once. Everything else — palettes, editions, captions — is optional.
What size is a top nine image?
1080 × 1920 for a Story, 1080 × 1350 for a feed post, with 3:4 tiles and a 3-pixel gap.
Can I make one without an app?
You can assemble a collage by hand, but you will pick the photos yourself — which makes it a mood board, not a ranking.
When should I post it?
Late December, ideally between the 27th and the 31st.
Keep reading
The app builds this card from your published posts.
Prevz reads your Instagram account (optional, read-only), ranks your nine by likes, saves or comments, and exports a Story at 1080 × 1920 or a Post at 1080 × 1350.
Open Prevz for iPhone