The World's Highest Paid Athletes List 2015
Below is the top 10 of the highest earning sports people from 2015, taken from the annual list “The World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes” published by Forbes magazine in June 2015.
Tiger Woods' slide on the top earners list continues, down to 9th this year, while boxer Floyd "Money" Mayweather is on top as he was last year, with a big jump in earnings. Mayweather made over $US200 million from his historic fight against Manny Pacquiao, who made enough to come in a distant second. Mayweather's earnings are $US13 million less than the next three athletes combined!
Two women make the top 100 list and both tennis players: Maria Sharapova at No. 26 ($29.7 million) and Serena Williams is No. 47 ($24.6 million). See the top 10 paid females for 2015.
The earnings totals (in US dollars) are derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months from May 1, 2014 to May 1, 2015. Taxes or agents' fees are not factored into the figures. See also the Forbes top earning lists from other years.
Top-10 Highest Earning Sports people from 2015
| Rank | Name | Sport | Nationality | earning ($ million) | previous year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Floyd Mayweather | Boxing | USA | 300 | 1 |
| 2 | Manny Pacquiao | Boxing | Philippines | 160 | 11 |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | Portugal | 79.6 | 2 |
| 4 | Lionel Messi | Soccer | Argentina | 73.8 | 4 |
| 5 | Roger Federer | Tennis | Switzerland | 67 | 7 |
| 6 | LeBron James | Basketball | USA | 64.8 | 3 |
| 7 | Kevin Durant | Basketball | USA | 54.2 | 20 |
| 8 | Phil Mickelson | Golf | USA | 50.8 | 8 |
| 9 | Tiger Woods | Golf | USA | 50.6 | 6 |
| 10 | Kobe Bryant | Basketball | USA | 49.5 | 5 |
Next on the list were: Ben Roethlisberger, Rory McIlroy, Novak Djokovic, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lewis Hamilton, Ndamukong Suh, Fernando Alonso, Gareth Bale, Jon Lester, Derrick Rose.
Highest Ranked For Each Sport in 2015
The highest ranked from each sport is listed below. Surprisingly, not a single player from the three major sports in the United States made the top 5.
| Sport | Overall Rank | Name | earning ($ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boxing | 1 | Floyd Mayweather | 300 |
| Soccer | 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 79.6 |
| Tennis | 5 | Roger Federer | 67 |
| Basketball | 6 | LeBron James | 64.8 |
| Golf | 8 | Phil Mickelson | 50.8 |
| American Football | 11 | Ben Roethlisberger | 48.9 |
| Auto Racing | 15 | Lewis Hamilton | 39 |
| Baseball | 19 | Jon Lester | 34.1 |
| Cricket | 23 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 31 |
| Track and Field | 73 | Usain Bolt | 21 |
source: from “The World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes” published by Forbes magazine in May 2015.
Related Pages
- See the top earning lists from other years.
- highlights of world sports in 2015
- Other world sport lists
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
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