How to find an Instagram creator's best Reels

A breakout Reel is a Reel with several times its creator’s usual views. A creator’s breakouts are their best Reels: the ones worth watching closely, because something in them worked for that audience. Instagram shows the numbers you need on every public profile, but not in an order that makes the breakouts, or even the most-viewed Reels, easy to spot. This guide shows how to find them by hand, what the numbers mean, and how to do it for a whole profile at once.

Can you see a creator’s most-viewed Reels on Instagram?

Not in one place. A profile’s Reels tab lists Reels newest first, with any the creator pinned at the top, and Instagram has no sort by views or likes (checked October 2026). To find the most-viewed ones, you read each Reel’s count yourself, or use a tool that collects them.

Where do you see a Reel’s views?

On the profile’s Reels tab. Each Reel shows a number in its bottom-left corner, next to a small play icon.

Open the creator’s profile in the Instagram app or on instagram.com.
Tap or click Reels, below their profile info.
Read the number in the bottom-left corner of each Reel. Open a Reel to see its likes and comments.

Instagram’s help calls that number “video plays”: how many times the Reel started to play, not counting replays (See info about your reel). On instagram.com the same number is labelled a view count: when we opened National Geographic’s Reels tab in October 2026, each Reel showed one, such as 1.1m, with a sign-up prompt over the page for visitors who weren’t logged in. Log in to scroll a profile comfortably.

What do Instagram’s view numbers actually count?

Instagram counts views slightly differently in different places, so compare like with like: the numbers on one creator’s Reels tab against each other.

Where	What Instagram says it counts	Who sees it
Reels tab, bottom-left corner	Video plays: times the Reel started to play, not replays; may include Facebook if the creator recommends it there	Anyone who can see the profile
Below a video	Views of three seconds or more, not loops, from the Instagram app only	Anyone who can see the post
Insights, Views	Times the Reel started to play or replay	Only the creator

Sources: See info about your reel, See how many times a video has been viewed, Why video views aren’t appearing, View insights on your Instagram reels.

How do I find a creator’s breakout Reels by hand?

Work out what’s normal for that creator, then look for the Reels far above it. All you need is the Reels tab and a spreadsheet.

Open their Reels tab and scroll back through their last 30 or so Reels. Skip the pinned ones at the top: they sit outside the date order and are often there because they already did well.
Leave out the newest few days. A Reel posted yesterday is still gathering views.
Write down each Reel’s number and date in a spreadsheet, one row per Reel.
Find their usual. Take the middle value of the list (the median), not the average, so one huge hit doesn’t drag it up.
Divide each Reel by the usual. If the middle Reel has 20,000 plays, one with 100,000 is 5x their usual.
Mark the breakouts: the Reels at roughly 3x their usual or more. Pick the threshold you like; what matters is using the same one for every creator.

Do this for 5–10 creators in your niche. Then watch each breakout and note how it opens, its format and its subject: how to go viral on Instagram covers taking them apart, and a Reel transcript helps you read the first lines.

Why compare a creator with their own usual, not raw views?

Because big accounts get big numbers on everything. A Reel with 500,000 plays is ordinary for a creator whose Reels usually get 400,000, and a Reel with 50,000 is a hit for one whose usual is 5,000. Measuring each Reel against its creator’s own median tells you which ideas worked, not which accounts are biggest.

What are the ways to find a creator’s best Reels?

Three: by hand from the Reels tab, with a third-party analytics site, or with a browser extension such as Parsly that collects a whole profile at once. They differ in cost, effort and what they read.

Way	Cost	Effort	Many Reels at once	What you get
By hand, Reels tab and a spreadsheet	Free	High: you copy every number	No	Plays from the corner, likes and comments if you open each one
Third-party analytics sites and scrapers	Usually paid, or free with limits	Low	Yes	Varies by tool; check what it reads and whether it asks for your Instagram login
Parsly	Free extension	Low: one click per profile	Yes, a whole profile	Plays, likes, comments, dates and captions, with breakouts marked against the creator’s usual

Never give a third-party site your Instagram password. A tool that needs only a public username doesn’t need it.

What can’t you find out about someone else’s Reels?

Their insights. Watch time, average watch time, viewers and the follows a Reel brought in are shown only to the account that posted it (View insights on your Instagram reels). You see what’s public: plays, likes and comments.
Private accounts’ Reels. Only a private account’s approved followers can see its Reels (Who can see and share your reels). No honest tool can read them, Parsly included.
Hidden counts. Creators can hide like and view counts on their posts (Hide or unhide like counts).
Views of videos in a post with several photos and videos, or of videos added before 19 November 2015: Instagram shows none (Why video views aren’t appearing).
Where the views came from. Whether a Reel was pushed by Explore, shares or the creator’s followers isn’t public.

How do I find a creator’s best Reels with Parsly?

Parsly is a free Chrome extension for studying what works for a creator. On Instagram it reads a profile’s Reels the way you’d scroll them, then marks the breakouts.

Open the creator’s profile on instagram.com, go to their Reels tab, and open Parsly from Chrome’s toolbar. The first time, allow it on Instagram.
Choose how many Reels (50, 100, 300 or all, newest first) and click Collect. Parsly scrolls the tab and reads each Reel’s plays, likes, comments and date, and whether it’s pinned.
Leave Captions and lengths on to add each Reel’s caption, length and sound.
Parsly marks the breakouts, each measured against that creator’s own usual (8x their usual views, say).
Download the list as a spreadsheet (CSV) or JSON, and repeat for each creator you follow.

Parsly reads only public profiles you can see yourself, at a person’s pace, and what you collect is kept in your browser. To keep the Reels themselves, see how to download Instagram Reels.

Questions people ask

Can I sort an Instagram profile's Reels by most viewed?

No. Instagram shows a profile's Reels newest first, apart from any the creator pinned, and has no sort by views. You have to read each Reel's count yourself or use a tool that collects them.

What does the number on a Reel in the Reels tab mean?

Instagram's help says it's the number of video plays: how many times the Reel started to play, not counting replays. On the web, Instagram labels it a view count. If the creator recommends the Reel to Facebook, plays may include Facebook too.

Why does a Reel show no view count?

Instagram doesn't show view counts for videos inside a post with several photos and videos, or for videos added before 19 November 2015. Creators can also hide like and view counts on their own posts.

Can I see another creator's Reel insights, like watch time?

No. Insights such as watch time, viewers and follows are shown only to the account that posted the Reel. Everyone else sees the public counts: plays, likes and comments.

What counts as a breakout Reel?

A Reel with several times that creator's usual views, judged against their own typical number rather than raw totals. Big accounts get big numbers on everything, so a creator's own usual is the fair comparison.

Sources

Checked against the real sites on 28 October 2026. Platforms change their buttons often; if something has moved, tell us at [email protected].