Cristiano Ronaldo, the football superstar, became the first person to breach the 600 million followers mark on social media site Instagram on Thursday (August 10). In addition, the Portugal forward was named Instagram's top-earner for the third successive year. The 38-year-old had also become the first person hit the 300-million mark on the platform. The ex-Manchester United forward was ranked as the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes for the first time since 2017 in July after he moved to Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr.
Other than his earnings as wages from his club, he has topped the Instagram Rich List 2023, which is the global benchmark of social media influence. The list is complied by scheduling tool Hopper HQ which is based on internal and publicly available data on how much a user can charge for a post on YouTube and Instagram.
As per the figures that have surfaced through this list, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner charges a massive $3.23 million per Instagram post. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the number two on this list is none other than Ronaldo's long-time rival Lionel Messi with the Inter Miami star charging nearly $2.6 million for each post. What that also implies is that not only do Ronaldo and Messi earn the highest through Instagram posts among sportspersons and athletes but they also charge the higher than celebrities like singers, actors and other entertainers.
When it comes to top 20, only two other athletes make the list. International cricket's poster boy, India's Virat Kohli makes the cut and so dooes Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star Neymar. Ronaldo had earlier become the first men's player to make 200 international appearances and made the occasion all the more memorable for himself by scoring the winning goal in the 89th minute as Portugal beat Iceland in European Championship qualifying.
Even at the twilight of his career, a lot of eyeballs continue to be on the footballing superstar as he continues to serve as an inspiration to youngsters worldwide.