Ellen DeGeneres' selfie at the Oscars becomes most popular retweet in history

Ellen DeGeneres' star-studded selfie taken broke the record for the most retweets for a single post, triggering so much activity the site temporarily shut down.

The host of this year's 86th Academy Awards, more popularly known as the Oscars, caught a picture with Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Angelina Jolie, Lupita's brother Peter, and DeGeneres herself.

Before taking the selfie, DeGeneres challenged Twitter to make the photo the most retweeted photo in history. Sure enough, within just a span of an hour, the host was able to beat President Barack Obama's most-shared tweet taken at the time he won the 2012 elections. The president's photo shows an image of him hugging his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, and carries the caption: "Four More Years."

The snapshot had gained nearly 3 million retweets and approximately 1.5 million favorites less than 24 hours later.

"We really just made history. We're all winners tonight," DeGeneres said after she was informed that the site had crashed under the photo's popularity.

Ellen tweeted along with the photo: "If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars."