Cristiano Ronaldo Tops Instagram Rich List, Lionel Messi Only Other Sportsperson in Top 10

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He is estimated to make more than USD 40 million annually from Instagram, more than his salary as a player at the Italian Serie A club Juventus.

Portugal and Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has climbed to the top of Instagram’s yearly rich list of celebrities who can charge the most for a sponsored post, with the footballer commanding as much as USD 1.6 million (£1.2 million) to endorse a product on the social media platform.

The 36-year-old has toppled former WWE superstar and current Hollywood bigshot Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson off the top spot. It is for the first time that anyone other than reality TV, film, and music stars from the United States has topped the list which started in 2017.

The amount increased significantly in a year, nearly doubling from the previous estimate of USD 889,000 in 2019. The third-placed Portuguese footballer in 2019 beat out Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kylie Jenner.

Cristiano Ronaldo earns more from Instagram than his Juventus contracts.

Ronaldo has more than 300 million Instagram followers, having gained more than 125 million since the beginning of the year, more than tripling his previous high of 100 million in 2017 when the first “rich list” was published.

His total social media following is around 550 million, which includes the major platforms Facebook and Twitter.

Johnson, who stars in the Fast and Furious film franchise, has 250 million Instagram followers and can earn just over USD 1.52 million (£1 million) each post, while pop artist Ariana Grande (USD 1.51 million) is third on the list.

The only other sportsperson in the top 10 list is Cristiano Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi. The Argentine forward who recently became a free agent after his Barcelona contract expired has 224 million followers, can charge up to $1.1m (£798,011) per post, placing him on the seventh position.

Paris St-Germain and Brazil forward Neymar (USD 824,000) is the next highest-placed athlete on the list in 16th.

UK-based company Hopper HQ, which runs social media accounts on behalf of companies and individuals,recently published the list.

“As Covid-19 continues to impact all our lives, it appears that Instagram is the one of the few places not negatively impacted by the pandemic, and with people using the app more than ever before, some could say it was inevitable earnings would peak this year,” said Mike Bandar, co-founder of Hopper HQ.

“It was great to see Cristiano Ronaldo take the number one spot this year after steadily ranking within the top five throughout the list’s history.

“With the Euros this year and a few controversial marketing moves over the last couple of weeks, the football royalty’s presence has skyrocketed.”

Recently, Cristiano Ronaldo‘s action of moving two Coca-Cola bottles had a negative impact on the brand. Coca-Cola’s stock prices dropped 1.6% as they went from being worth USD 242 billion to USD 238 billion, which is a loss of USD 4 billion, according to a report in The Daily Star.