Culture
The Highest Earning Athletes in Seven Professional Sports
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
The Highest Earning Athletes in Seven Professional Sports
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
How much money do the world’s biggest athletes really make? And how do they compare across different sports?
We visualized the highest earning athletes in various professional sports, according to calculations from Forbes. Earnings reported here cover the period of May 2022 to May 2023. Earnings includes on-field (salary, bonuses, prize money) and off-field (endorsements, licensing, etc).
Forbes’ research included talking to industry insiders, following news reports, and parsing salary databases. Please see their methodology page for further details.
Who is the Highest Paid Athlete in the World?
Cristiano Ronaldo was the highest-paid athlete in the world, making an estimated $136 million between May 2022 and May 2023. His move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr set a record for the biggest contract in the sport at the time.
Here’s how he compared to the top earners in some other sports.
| Athlete | Sport | Total Earnings (May 2022–23) |
|---|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | ⚽ Soccer | $136M |
| LeBron James | 🏀 Basketball | $120M |
| Canelo Alvarez | 🥊 Boxing | $110M |
| Dustin Johnson | ⛳ Golf | $107M |
| Roger Federer | 🎾 Tennis | $95M |
| Russell Wilson | 🏈 American Football | $85M |
| Lewis Hamilton | 🏎️ Formula 1 | $65M |
Note: Figures are rounded.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James made the most money in basketball (just under $120 million), which is almost twice as much as Formula 1’s top earner, Lewis Hamilton, who took home about $65 million in 2022–23.
Something else to note is how off-court earnings can contribute significantly to total income for some athletes.
| Athlete | Sport | On-Field Earnings | Off-Field Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | ⚽ Soccer | $46M | $90M |
| LeBron James | 🏀 Basketball | $45M | $75M |
| Canelo Alvarez | 🥊 Boxing | $100M | $10M |
| Dustin Johnson | ⛳ Golf | $102M | $5M |
| Roger Federer | 🎾 Tennis | $0.1M | $95M |
| Russell Wilson | 🏈 American Football | $72M | $13M |
| Lewis Hamilton | 🏎️ Formula 1 | $55M | $10M |
Note: Figures are rounded.
This is most apparent with Roger Federer, who retired in 2022, after playing his last Laver Cup. However, his massive deals with Uniqlo, Rolex, and Mercedes, as well as his stake in running company On, still keeps him towards the top of the these lists.
Together with Ronaldo and James, these three athletes are widely considered the face of their sport, undoubtedly helping them secure lucrative endorsements and business deals.
Culture
The World’s Top Media Franchises by All-Time Revenue
From Pokémon to Hello Kitty, some media franchises are globally recognizable. How do media franchises compare in terms of all-time revenue?
Global Media Franchises by All-Time Revenue
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
From Pikachu to Hello Kitty, some media franchises become so big that their iconic characters are recognizable to nearly everyone in the world. But how exactly do these mega media franchises make their money, and how do they compare in terms of all-time revenue?
This graphic visualizes and ranks the world’s largest media franchises by their all-time revenue, showing the main revenue sources for each media franchise using data from Fandom.
Japan’s Media Franchises Reign
With more than half of the media franchises in this graphic originating from Japan, the Asian country dominates when it comes to modern popular media franchises.
The country has produced some of the biggest media franchises which span across mediums, whether it’s video games with Pokémon and Mario, or comics, animated series, and toys with franchises like Dragon Ball and Transformers.
| Media Franchise | Total Estimated Revenue | Merchandise Revenue | Video Games Revenue | Trading Cards Revenue | Box Office Revenue | Manga/Comics Revenue | Book Sales Revenue | Home Video Revenue | Other Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon | $147.0B | $102.9B | $27.6B | $12.1B | $1.8B | $1.5B | - | $0.9B | - |
| Hello Kitty | $89.0B | $88.5B | - | - | - | $0.02B | - | - | - |
| Winnie the Pooh | $76.0B | $76.2B | - | - | $0.5B | - | - | - | - |
| Mickey Mouse & Friends | $74.0B | $73.4B | - | - | $0.5B | $0.0005B | - | - | - |
| Star Wars | $70.0B | $42.2B | $6.0B | - | $10.3B | - | $1.8B | $9.1B | $0.3B |
| Anpanman | $56.0B | $56.4B | - | - | $0.1B | - | - | - | $0.03B |
| Disney Princess | $46.0B | $46.3B | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Jump Comics (Shōnen Jump) | $40.0B | - | $0.2B | - | - | $39.8B | - | - | - |
| Mario | $38.0B | $4.3B | $32.4B | - | $0.0B | $1.6B | - | - | - |
| Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) | $35.0B | $12.5B | - | - | $22.6B | $0.001B | - | - | - |
| Harry Potter | $32.0B | $12.3B | $1.6B | - | $9.9B | - | $7.7B | - | $1.1B |
| Transformers | $30.0B | $12.2B | - | - | $4.9B | - | - | - | $0.9B |
| Spider-Man | $29.0B | $15.9B | $1.7B | - | $7.2B | $1.1B | - | $2.2B | $1.4B |
| Batman | $28.0B | $21.3B | - | - | $6.1B | - | - | $1.2B | $0.3B |
| Dragon Ball | $27.0B | $7.7B | $6.2B | $1.0B | $0.8B | $9.2B | - | $2.1B | $0.05B |
| Gundam | $26.9B | $26.4B | - | - | - | $0.2B | - | - | $0.3B |
| Barbie* | $24.7B | $22.7B | - | - | $0.01B | - | - | $2.0B | - |
*Barbie’s revenue does not include revenue from the 2023 movie Barbie.
Even Japanese media franchises which have had less international exposure and revenue, like Anpanman and Jump Comics, have netted tens of billions in revenue mostly from their domestic popularity.
Besides Japan, Disney is the other dominant force when it comes to global media franchises, with all of the 10 largest franchises either hailing from Japan or owned by Disney.
Disney’s Major Media Acquisitions
Over the past two decades, Disney has built up a significant catalog of major media franchises through two key multi-billion dollar acquisitions.
Disney’s acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment for $4.4 billion in 2009 and Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012 added massive media franchises to their portfolio like Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Spider-Man.
While Sony bought the movie rights to Spider-Man for just $7 million from Marvel in 1999, Disney owns the rights to Spider-Man in all other forms, including merchandising, television, and comics.
Movies Make their Comeback for Media Franchises
This past decade has seen various popular media franchises take another stab at expanding into the medium of movies and TV shows, this time finding significant success.
Whether it’s animated movies like The Super Mario Bros. Movie or live-action adaptations like Barbie or Netflix’s series of Jump Comics properties like One Piece, these film forays have been successful in revenue terms and in expanding their franchise fanbases.
On top of this, companies like Nintendo are tapping into their franchises to expand beyond movies, with Mario now also the leading mascot for the Super Nintendo World theme park area which has locations at both Universal Studios Japan and Hollywood.
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