The World's Highest Paid Athletes List 2023
There are still plenty of athletes earning big bucks. The top earner for 2023 was one of the biggest names in football, Cristiano Ronaldo, with earnings totaling 136 million US dollars. Lionel Messi, who was top of the list last year, was in second place. The only woman on the list was Serena WIlliams who was 49th on the list with $45.3M in earnings.
See also the Forbes top-earning lists from other years.
Below is the top-10 of the highest earning sportspeople for 2023, taken from the annual list of highest-paid athletes published by Forbes magazine in June 2023.
Top-10 Highest Earning Sports people from 2023
| Rank | Name | Sport | Nationality | Earnings* ($ million) | Previous Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | Portugal | 136 | 3 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Soccer | Argentina | 130 | 1 |
| 3 | Kylian Mbappe | Soccer | France | 120 | 35 |
| 4 | LeBron James | Basketball | USA | 119.5 | 2 |
| 5 | Canelo Alvarez | Boxing | Mexico | 110 | 8 |
| 6 | Dustin Johnson | Golf | USA | 107 | >50 |
| 7 | Phil Mickelson | Golf | USA | 106 | 31 |
| 8 | Stephen Curry | Basketball | USA | 100.4 | 5 |
| 9 | Roger Federer | Tennis | Switzerland | 95.1 | 7 |
| 10 | Kevin Durant | Basketball | USA | 89.1 | 6 |
* note: The earnings totals (in US dollars) are derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months from May 1, 2022 to May 1, 2023. Taxes or agents' fees are not factored into the figures.
Messi drops down the list to 2ndHighest Ranked For Each Sport in 2023
The highest ranked athlete from each sport in the top-50 is listed below. This year eight different sports were represented on the list.
| Overall Rank | Name | Sport | earning ($ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | 136 |
| 4 | LeBron James | Basketball | 119.5 |
| 5 | Canelo Alvarez | Boxing | 110 |
| 6 | Dustin Johnson | Golf | 107 |
| 9 | Roger Federer | Tennis | 95.1 |
| 12 | Russell Wilson | American Football | 85 |
| 21 | Lewis Hamilton | Auto Racing | 65 |
| 26 | Max Scherzer | Baseball | 55.7 |
source: The full list of the top-50 highest earners was published on the Forbes website in June 2023.
Related Pages
- See the top earning lists from other years.
- Top paid women for 2023
- Sporting highlights for 2023
- Other world sport lists
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