The 20 most popular athletes in the world

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The list of the most famous athletes in the world is dominated by footballers, and no athlete is better known than Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the most recent issue of ESPN the Magazine, Ben Alamar, ESPN's director of sports analytics, came up with a way to measure every top athlete's fame. The formula uses earnings on and off the field, social-media popularity, and Google search popularity.

Below we take a closer look at the 20 best-known athletes; the list contains eight soccer players, four tennis players, three basketball players, three golfers, a cricket player, and a track star. You can see the entire list in ESPN the Magazine.

No. 1 Cristiano Ronaldo

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty

Sport: Soccer

Country: Portugal

Salary: $52.2 million

Endorsements: $27.0 million

Facebook likes: 111.4 million

Twitter followers: 42.1 million

No. 2 LeBron James

Jason Miller/Getty

 Sport: Basketball

Country: United States

Salary: $23.0 million

Endorsements: $44.0 million

Facebook likes: 22.5 million

Twitter followers: 31.2 million

No. 3 Lionel Messi

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Sport: Soccer

Country: Argentina

Salary: $48.5 million

Endorsements: $22.0 million

Facebook likes: (does not have a Facebook page)

Twitter followers: (does not have a Twitter page)

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