Instagram Rich List 2021: Cristiano Ronaldo knocks Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson from first place

2021 list marks first time a Kardashian/Jenner family member isn’t in top three

Cristiano Ronaldo tops 2021 Instagram Rich List (Getty Images)

The annual Instagram Rich List has been revealed for 2021, and it’s proven that sports stars are just as popular as other celebrities.

According to this year’s list, which is curated each year by HopperHQ since its inception in 2017, the individual who can earn the highest amount per post on the social media platform also happens to be the person with the most followers, star athlete Cristiano Ronaldo.

For each sponsored post, Ronaldo, who has more than 307m followers on Instagram, has the potential to earn $1.6m, placing the football player in the number one place for the first time, the list has revealed.

The number one spot was previously held by Dwayne Johnson, who fell to second place this year with potential earnings per post of $1.5m.

Ronaldo’s popularity as an athlete isn’t a one-off either, as Lionel Messi also has the ability to earn more than $1m with each sponsored Instagram post, with the list placing him in seventh place this year.

Interestingly, this is the first year that a member of the Kardashian/Jenner clan has not made it into the top three, as the spot on this year’s list belongs to Ariana Grande, according to HopperHQ, which notes that the singer, who has more than 247m Instagram followers, can make as much as $1.51m per post.

Makeup mogul Kylie Jenner isn’t far behind, however, as she came in fourth place on the list this year, with her sponsored posts earning her as much as $1.49m.

While Forbes no longer considers Jenner a billionaire, unlike her older sister Kim Kardashian, the 23-year-old is still the highest-earning of her family when it comes to Instagram.

But the Skims founder isn’t far behind, as Kardashian, who entered the list in second place in 2017, came in sixth place this year, while Kendall Jenner, who was previously named the highest-paid supermodel in the world, rounded out the top 10.

The list also notes that women have “continued to dominate the leaderboard,” as women make up 56 per cent of 2021’s highest influencer earners.

This year’s impressive numbers come after HopperHQ found that the pandemic’s impact went as far as influencer fees last year, with the 2020 list finding for the “first time in the list’s history there has been a drop in fees for influencers on Instagram”.

According to last year’s list, the most Johnson could make was just over $1m a post.