Sabrina Carpenter Seemingly Made A Joke About Her Cringeworthy Digital Footprint In Her Birthday Instagram Caption, And It Did Not Go Down Well
After seeing the onslaught of criticism, Sabrina changed her caption to: “26 years of jokes not landing.” Here’s what the joke seemingly was.
Sabrina Carpenter was forced to change the caption on her birthday Instagram post after pretty much none of her millions of followers got the joke.
Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images
For reference, one of our fave pop girlies turned 26 on Monday, and she marked the occasion by sharing two photos of herself posing in a beautiful #cottagecore bathroom.
Sabrina’s original caption read: “all i want for my birthday is 50 million followers can we get there you guys got this,” with the star having just under 47 million followers at the time.
This appeared to be a reference to her iconic digital footprint, with the star’s social media posts from when she was a literal child still live on her now-verified profiles — including all of the times she would aspire to have more followers.
Jonathan Leibson / WireImage
If you need reminding, Sabrina first found success as a child actor, which included starring in the Disney Channel sitcom Girl Meets World in 2013.
She turned her attention to music in 2014, but didn’t really start to break into the mainstream until the success of her 2022 album, Emails I Can’t Send.
And Sabrina has been working seriously hard to build her public profile this entire time — with X followers always appearing to be her ultimate barometer of success.
For example, in 2011, when she was just 11 years old, Sabrina tweeted: “Heyyy My little Twits<3 Thanks so much for getting me to 930 followers!!! Now lets see if we can get to 1,000! :) Love You All!"
Heyyy My little Twits<3 Thanks so much for getting me to 930 followers!!! Now lets see if we can get to 1,000! :) Love You All!
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) March 24, 2011
X @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com
On New Year’s Eve that same year she wrote: “So I only need 24 followers on twitter to reach 2012 before midnight or i’ll turn into a pumpkin 
#2012.”
So I only need 24 followers on twitter to reach 2012 before midnight or i’ll turn into a pumpkin
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) December 31, 2011
X @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com
And when she was 13, Sabrina tweeted: “Less than 100 followers until 6k. So grateful. Thank you wonderful friends of mine for supporting me!! I love you!! <3”
Less than 100 followers until 6k. So grateful. Thank you wonderful friends of mine for supporting me!! I love you!! <3
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) December 5, 2012
X @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com
Her appreciation continued when she was 15, with the aspiring star writing at the time: “So since you guys have been so supportive, at 100,000 followers I will be doing a live ustream and calling some of you guys:) sound good?”
So since you guys have been so supportive, at 100,000 followers I will be doing a live ustream and calling some of you guys:) sound good?
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) August 6, 2014
X @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com
But the tweet that was the main inspiration behind her 26th birthday caption was most likely the one she sent on the eve of her 13th birthday, where she wrote: “hoping to get 6247 new followers before my 13th birthday…#goalsetting RT.”
hoping to get 6247 new followers before my 13th birthday…#goalsetting RT
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) May 10, 2012
X @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com
However, all of this lore was lost on the people of the internet in 2025, and Sabrina ended up being harshly criticized when her caption about wanting 50 million followers for her birthday was taken seriously.
Taylor Hill / Getty Images
In response to a Pop Crave tweet about her original caption, one popular reply reads: “this is an embarrassing thing to ask 
she should just be grateful for the followers she has…”
While somebody else tweeted: “begging for followers? ,” and another sniped: “Her begging for followers it’s really not about the art to her just fame we can see that with the music too.”
And it looks like Sabrina saw the criticism, too, as within hours she’d changed the post’s caption to: “26 years of jokes not landing.”
