Lionel Messi may be the highest paid soccer player in the world, but Cristiano Ronaldo is the most popular athlete in the world, at least on Instagram.
This week Instagram released a list of the most popular posts from the social platform in 2017, and one name that just kept popping up on the athlete list was Ronaldo. Out of the top ten most-liked images in the athletes category, Ronaldo had NINE of them. Neymar's Halloween image broke up Ronaldo's sweep, but 9 for 10 isn't all that bad.
2017 has been a huge year for Ronaldo, as he won the Champions League, won FIFA Player of the Year honours, and welcomed three children into the world, including a pair of twins. Ronaldo's dominance on the annual Instagram like-leaderboard probably won’t' come as any surprise to anyone who's seen the number of followers he's amassed.
CR7 currently has 116 million followers on Instagram, which is nearly 30 million more than Lionel Messi (84.2 million) and Neymar Jr. (85 million), 80 million more than LeBron James (34 million), nearly 100 million more than Steph Curry (18.2 million), and more than 115 million more than the NHL's top followed athlete, Alexander Ovechkin (973k).
Here are some of the posts that made the top 10 list.
