LOS ANGELES (DS) - Justin Bieber has become the first person on Twitter to hit 40m followers. The singer thanked fans on the microblogging service for extending his lead as the site’s most-followed person.”#40MillionBeliebers - thank u. i love u. #grateful,” Bieber tweeted, prompting the #40Millionstrong hashtag to trend worldwide. He also posted a screenshot of when he had just 40 followers after joining Twitter in September 2009.The ‘Boyfriend’ star hit the milestone on Tuesday. His nearest competitor is Lady GaGa, who currently has just over 37.9m followers.