The World's Highest Paid Athletes List 2018
The top earner for 2018 is boxer Floyd Mayweather, with the majority of his pay coming from his high-profile fight against Conor McGregor, who himself placed fourth on the list. Cristiano Ronaldo was on top of this list the previous two years, dropping to third in 2018. Mayweather has previously topped this list in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
Below is the top 10 of the highest earning sportspeople for 2018, taken from the annual list “The World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes” published by Forbes magazine in June 2018. The earnings totals (in US dollars) are derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months from June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018. Taxes or agents' fees are not factored into the figures. See also the Forbes top-earning lists from other years.
Top-10 Highest Earning Sports people from 2018
| Rank | Name | Sport | Nationality | Earnings ($ million) | Previous Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Floyd Mayweather | Boxing | USA | 285 | >100 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Soccer | Argentina | 111 | 3 |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | Portugal | 108 | 1 |
| 4 | Conor McGregor | MMA | Ireland | 99 | 24 |
| 5 | Neymar | Soccer | Brazil | 90 | 18 |
| 6 | LeBron James | Basketball | USA | 85.5 | 2 |
| 7 | Roger Federer | Tennis | Switzerland | 77.2 | 4 |
| 8 | Stephen Curry | Basketball | USA | 76.9 | 8 |
| 9 | Matt Ryan | American Football | USA | 67.3 | >100 |
| 10 | Matthew Stafford | American Football | USA | 59.5 | >100 |
Next on the list were: Kevin Durant, Lewis Hamilton, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Canelo Alvarez, Tiger Woods, Drew Brees, Sebastian Vettel, Derek Carr, Rafael Nadal.
Matt Ryan was the highest paid athlete from the NFLHighest Ranked For Each Sport in 2018
The highest ranked from each sport is listed below. This year 11 different sports were represented on the list. Basketball was the highest-paying sport overall, with 40 NBA players making the top 100, followed by the NFL with 18 players on the list.
| Sport | Overall Rank | Name | earning ($ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boxing | 1 | Floyd Mayweather | 285 |
| Soccer | 2 | Lionel Messi | 111 |
| MMA | 4 | Conor McGregor | 99 |
| Basketball | 6 | LeBron James | 85.5 |
| Tennis | 7 | Roger Federer | 77.2 |
| American Football | 9 | Matt Ryan | 67.3 |
| Auto Racing | 12 | Lewis Hamilton | 51 |
| Golf | 16 | Tiger Woods | 43.3 |
| Baseball | 37 | Clayton Kershaw | 34.5 |
| Track and Field | 45 | Usain Bolt | 31 |
| Cricket | 83 | Virat Kohli | 24 |
source: from “The World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes” published by Forbes magazine in June 2018.
Related Pages
- See the top earning lists from other years.
- Other world sport lists
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