List of All-Time Highest Paid Athletes (Sportico)
A new list of athlete earnings has been created by Sportico, collating the career earnings of athletes to rank them by total all-time earnings.
Here is the top-10 of the highest earning sportspeople taken from the list of 25 All-Time Highest Paid Athletes published by Sportico in 2021. While basketballer Michale Jordan tops the list, it is golfers who make up the next three places. Serena Williams was top among female athletes with career earnings of $480 million. Jordan was also on top of a similar list created in 2017.
See other Sportico top-earning lists.
Top-10 Highest Earners of All-Time (2021 List)
| Rank | Name | Sport | Nationality | Earnings* ($ billion) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Jordan | Basketball | USA | 2.62 |
| 2 | Tiger Woods | Golf | USA | 2.10 |
| 3 | Arnold Palmer | Golf | USA | 1.50 |
| 4 | Jack Nicklaus | Golf | USA | 1.38 |
| 5 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Football/Soccer | Portugal | 1.24 |
| 6 | Floyd Mayweather Jr | Boxing | USA | 1.10 |
| 7 | LeBron James | Basketball | USA | 1.17 |
| 8 | Lionel Messi | Football/Soccer | Argentina | 1.14 |
| 9 | Michael Schumacher | Motorsports | Germany | 1.13 |
| 10 | Roger Federer | Tennis | Switzerland | 1.12 |
Next on the list were: Phil Mickelson: $1.08 billion, David Beckham: $1.05 billion, Kobe Bryant $930 million
* note: Based on career earnings adjusted for inflation, estimated by Sportico.
Michael JordanRelated Pages
- Highest Paid Athletes of All Time 2016, 2017
- Other Sportico Earnings Lists
- Forbes lists of the highest paid athletes
- Sports Illustrated Top Paid Lists.
- Highest paid sportswomen
- Most popular athletes of the world
- The Year in Sport - 2021
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