ESPN Have Ranked The Top 100 Most Famous Athletes In The World

If I asked you to name five of the most famous athletes in the world, who would you choose?

ESPN have 'devised a formula that combines endorsements with social media following and internet search popularity to create the ESPN World Fame 100 rankings', and the results have certainly caused debate.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi obviously feature in the top five, with Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, LeBron James and Kevin Durant also featuring towards the top.

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Ben Alamar, ESPN's director of analytics, has categorised the list by comparing endorsements and social media following, as well as overall popularity.

Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, is the most famous athlete on the list with endorsements of $32 million and a total of 261.5 million followers on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook combined.

But does this theory work?

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Many, including myself, have questioned some of the rankings. Phil Mickelsen, for example, has no social media presence, but has significantly more endorsement power that a large proportion of the list.

Does that mean he is more famous than the likes of Conor McGregor, Usain Bolt and Stephen Curry?

Here is ESPN's top 100 list in full:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. LeBron James
3. Lionel Messi
4. Roger Federer
5. Phil Mickelson
6. Neymar
7. Usain Bolt
8. Kevin Durant
9. Rafael Nadal
10. Tiger Woods

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11. Stephen Curry
12. Novak Djokovic
13. Virat Kohli
14. Rory McIlroy
15. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
16. Ronda Rousey
17. Jordan Speith
18. Kaka
19. Serena Williams
20. Kei Nishikori

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21. Tom Brady
22. Gareth Bale
23. Maria Sharapova
24. Dwyane Wade
25. Conor McGregor
26. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
27. James Rodriguez
28. James Harden
29. Alexis Sanchez
30. Mesut Ozil

Ozil

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31. Wayne Rooney
32. Andy Murray
33. Derrick Rose
34. Kyrie Irving
35. Russell Westbrook
36. Antoine Griezmann
37. Andres Iniesta
38. Luis Suarez
39. Anderson Silva
40. Paul Pogba

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41. Carmelo Anthony
42. Stan Wawrinka
43. Dustin Johnson
44. Karim Benzema
45. Marcelo Vieira
46. Radamel Falcao
47. Cam Newton
48. Simone Biles
49. Sergio Aguero
50. Ivan Rakitic

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51. Chris Paul
52. Drew Brees
53. David Luiz
54. Cesc Fabregas
55. Russell Wilson
56. Aaron Rodgers
57. Dani Alves
58. Sergio Garcia
59. Manny Pacquiao
60. Eli Manning

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61. Damian Lillard
62. Rickie Fowler
63. Blake Griffin
64. Odell Beckham Jr
65. Dwight Howard
66. Ning Zetao
67. Ryan Lochte
68. Bastian Schweinsteiger
69. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
70. Javier Hernandez

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71. Ma Long
72. Toni Kroos
73. Justin Rose
74. J.J Watt
75. Hope Solo
76. Thiago Silva
77. Raheem Sterling
78. Eden Hazard
79. Theo Walcott
80. Didier Drogba

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81. Mario Gotze
82. Robert Lewandowski
83. Marco Reus
84. Lewis Hamilton
85. Jason Day
86. Jimmie Johnson
87. Caroline Wozniacki
88. Lin Dan
89. Saul Alvarez
90. Yuvraj Singh

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91. Thomas Muller
92. Felipe Massa
93. Genie Bouchard
94. Bubba Watson
95. Suresh Raina
96. Gabriel Jesus
97. Manuel Neuer
98. Adam Scott
99. Aly Raisman
100. Mohamed Salah

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Thoughts on the top 100 list?

There's plenty to be discussed in the comments section on this one...

H/T:ESPN

Featured Image Credit:

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_