On top 9 # there are photos with 800 likes and then there are ones of 80 likes even if in recently added there is photo with 150 likes and 3 comments… Why ain’t photo with 150 likes in top 9 instead of one with 80?
Confused 
There are other variables taken into consideration, not just the amount of likes.
For example, is the account with that post more active in the niche associated with the hashtag?
Also, a post can have up to 30 hashtags (even 60, or more if you know how to do it)
Maybe for the post (let’s name it Post A) with 150 likes, it received 149 likes from others who saw it because of a different hashtag (for example hashtag #A )
Whereas the post with 80 likes (let’s name it post B) received most of its likes due to hashtag #B
So naturally post B will appear higher in hashtag #B top posts search
2 Likes
Yeah, that makes sense.
Spot on 
Basically, in order for Instagram to know that the photo is relevant to the hashtag you used, you need to receive likes from those viewing that specific hashtag.
The picture with 80 likes probably received more likes on that specific hashtag, compared to others, and therefor they got featured.
1 Like
The engagement rates of the accounts probably matter too.
For example, account B with the 80 likes on its post B may have only 400 followers, so it’s engagement rate is 20%
Whereas account A with post A (150 likes) may have 30k followers, so it’s engagement rate is terribly low.
If I’m part of instagram’s coding team, i would certainly reward accounts with better engagement rates by giving them priority in search results