12 of the most tattoo-obsessed celebrities, from David Beckham, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, to Rihanna, Billie Eilish and Angelina Jolie – but who has over 100 on their body?

Nov 30 , 2023

Tattoos are an important part of David Beckham, Angelina Jolie and Ed Sheeran’s lives. Photos: @_Beckham_75, @thequeenangiejolie, @sheerangalway/Instagram

Is there a celebrity tattoo you can instantly picture without having to look it up? Rihanna’s goddess Isis for example, or Justin Bieber’s cross? For some stars, their body art has become as much a part of their identity as the clothes they wear.

Some are famous for etching their lovers’ names onto their bodies, only to cover them up months later – we’re looking at you, Ariana – while others have us wondering where they’re keeping theirs. Did you know that Ed Sheeran has as many as 60 tattoos, for example?

Let’s take a look at the most tattoo-obsessed celebrities – and the stories behind some of their more unusual ink.

1. Ariana Grande

Toulouse is the name of Ariana Grande’s family dog. Photo: @awianahq/Instagram

Grande reportedly has an impressive tally of over 40 tattoos, which range from Harry Potter-themed ink and the names of her dogs, to numerous celestial bodies including the sun, moon and stars on the back of her left hand. Previous small tattoos on her hand and rib cage dedicated to her ex Pete Davidson have since been turned into other designs.

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2. Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish showed off her Chinese dragon tattoo in an Instagram post and recently got a massive, futuristic tattoo on her back. Photos: @billieeilish/Instagram

Unlike Grande’s 40 or so tiny tattoos, when Billie Eilish decides to get inked, she goes big. Although the “Ocean Eyes” singer told Vanity Fair back in 2020 that she’d never show her tattoos to the public, it seems she’s since had a change of heart, revealing not only the sizeable Chinese dragon inked across her right hip in an Instagram post, but now a huge abstract design on her back too.

3. David Beckham

If you watched the recent Beckham documentary on Netflix, you’d have been reminded once again of just how many tattoos the football legend has by now. Having covered almost every inch of his torso, the 48-year-old appears well and truly addicted to going under the needle.

The footballer is believed to have almost 80 tattoos, according to Men’s Health, and they’re mostly dedicated to his family. He also has Chinese characters written down the left side of his torso that reportedly read, “Death and life have determined appointments.”

4. Harry Styles

While Beckham’s tattoos overlap and melt into each other, and tend to follow a Renaissance, floral or religious theme, Styles looks more like a human doodle – but one that’s much more fun to look at.

The “Watermelon Sugar” singer and Don’t Worry Darling star is believed to have around 55 tattoos in total, including a huge butterfly just below his chest, a pair of clasping hands, ferns on his hips, a guitar, a ship, a star, the word “Hi”, a bare-breasted mermaid, birds, a Halloween skeleton and a huge beating heart – and that’s barely scratching the surface, if you’ll pardon the pun.

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5. Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie’s Billy Bob tattoo took five attempts to remove – but she still has one of Brad Pitt on her back several years later. Photos: @90s.violet; @thequeenangiejolie/Instagram

Perhaps the first woman in Hollywood to truly shock the world with her tattoos, Angelina Jolie’s vampy look while dating actor Billy Bob Thornton included having his name prominently inked above a dragon on her arm. “I’ll never be stupid enough to have a man’s name tattooed on me again,” she later said in an interview, per Harper’s Bazaar, adding that “it took five visits to the tattoo removal clinic to erase”.

Despite ignoring her own advice and getting back tats in Thailand in 2016 “binding” her to Brad Pitt (oops), she now has 19 designs in all, according to Hello!, including a 12-inch long Bengal tiger to celebrate her Cambodian citizenship and her children’s birth coordinates.

6. Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber’s chest began with a cross tattoo, which has since been crowded out by several others. Photo: @justinbieber/Instagram

According to several sources, Bieber got his first tattoo at 16 – a seagull – and now boasts around 70. From the rose on his neck which, he told Vogue, is there to remind him that “even though I’m flawed, beauty shines even through our rough edges”, to matching tats with wife Hailey and more than one dedicated to Jesus, it’s fair to say he’s a tattoo addict too.

7. Cardi B

Cardi B had her colourful peacock thigh tattoo freshened up in 2020. Photo: @iamcardib/Instagram

The outspoken rapper loves to show off her tattoos, which have to be among the most colourful of any celebrity’s. Cardi B is best known for her large ink art pieces on both thighs and buttocks, which add up to hours of painful work. The peacock that covers her right thigh was originally done in 2010, but she decided to have it enhanced in 2020, according to Cosmopolitan. That same year, she had artist Jamie Schene spend more than 60 hours inking flowers from her right shoulder all the way down her back, ending halfway down her left thigh.

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8. Rihanna

Rihanna’s playful, ethereal tattoos include one of the goddess Iris below her bra line. Photos: @yesfenty/Instagram; @badgalriri/Instagram

According to People magazine, Rihanna now has 25 tattoos in total. Rather than being concentrated in one area, the designs are carefully placed everywhere from her ankle to behind her ear – all as regal and ethereal as she is. From a crown around her ankle and henna-style patterns on her hands and wrists, to the goddess Isis below her bra line and a constellation of stars at the nape of her neck, the “Umbrella” singer’s tattoos have as much personality as the superstar does.

9. Post Malone

Post Malone is the original extreme tattoo poster boy. Photo: @postmalone/Instagram

Only two stars on this list have dared push the limits of tattooing by inking on their face – and one of them is rapper Post Malone, who is often dubbed a “sweetheart”. A skull with devil horns, a giant spider and the outlines of New York and Texas all feature on his head, and he’s tattooed the words “always” and “tired” under each eye. To date, the “Better Now” singer has somewhere between 78 and 100 tattoos, according to Men’s Health.

10. Ed Sheeran

He may be seen as a clean-cut romantic often jokingly compared to Prince Harry, but Ed Sheeran’s 60-plus tattoos rival Styles’ for their graphic intensity and Cardi B’s for their rainbow of colours. Sheeran’s UK-based tattoo artist Kevin Paul told GQ that “A lot of people mock his tattoos, especially on his front, but what they don’t realise is that Damien Hirst himself has designed quite a few of them.” Now that’s impressive.

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11. Travis Barker

Travis Barker has quite literally inked every inch of his body. Photo: @travisbarker/Instagram

As the drummer in Blink 182, it should come as no surprise that Travis Barker is a fan of tattoos – it’s part of the punk rock look. The love of Kourtney Kardashian’s life has a whopping total of over 100 tattoos. “When I’m dead and gone, I want people to be able to look at my body and basically relive my life in some ways,” he told GQ in 2016.

12. Joe Jonas

Joe Jonas has a number of small, graphic tattoos, including one dedicated to his late dog Waldo. Photos: @sophxjoe/, @joejonas/Instagram

Many get inked to remember significant people or meaningful events in their lives, and Joe Jonas is no exception. In 2017, Jonas and his now estranged ex-wife Sophie Turner got matching tattoos of their dog Waldo after he was killed in an unexpected accident. Among his 20-odd other tattoos, he also has a rope tattoo on his forearm dedicated to his famous siblings and their parents.

Fame and celebrity

The recent Beckham Netflix documentary reminded us just how many tattoos the footballer has accumulated over the years, while Justin Bieber started young and got his first ink at 16
Ed Sheeran has tattoos designed by artist Damien Hirst, while Rihanna’s iconic body art of the goddess Isis is instantly recognisable – but many live to regret their tats, including Angelina Jolie