Estimated earnings · 2025-05-01–2026-05-01
Athlete ranking · 2026
Estimated earnings · million current USD · Forbes / documented historical transcriptions ↗
Estimated earnings · 2025-05-01–2026-05-01
| Rank | Athlete | Estimated earnings · million current USD | Sport | Earnings period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cristiano Ronaldo | 300.0 | Soccer | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 2 |  Canelo Alvarez | 170.0 | Boxing | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 3 |  Lionel Messi | 140.0 | Soccer | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 4 |  LeBron James | 137.8 | NBA | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 5 |  Shohei Ohtani | 127.6 | MLB | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 6 | Stephen Curry | 124.7 | NBA | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 7 |  Jon Rahm | 107.0 | Golf | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 8 |  Karim Benzema | 104.0 | Soccer | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 9 | Kevin Durant | 103.8 | NBA | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
| 10 |  Lewis Hamilton | 100.0 | Formula 1 | 2025-05-01–2026-05-01 |
Questions and answers
Are these earnings or net worth?
Forbes estimates earnings, including salaries, prizes and commercial income within each edition’s window. These are not net worth figures or salaries alone. Older editions can include projections published before year-end, and eligibility, including retired athletes, changes over time.
Why is 2001 missing?
There is no autonomous 2001 edition in this chronology: 2000 earnings were published in March 2001, followed by the June 2001–June 2002 window. The chart explicitly leaves 2001 empty, without interpolation or carrying 2000 forward as a 2001 observation.
How are ties and time windows handled?
Published ranks are retained, including both athletes tied in tenth place in 2002. Editions before 2002 generally refer to estimated annual income; later editions use Forbes rolling windows. Flags represent sporting nationality, with historical changes retained where applicable. Original Forbes editions and documented historical transcriptions were cross-checked on samples, not independently measured for every amount.
Where do the data come from?
Forbes / documented historical transcriptions ↗
Updated . Source validation: 2026-10-12.