Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Conor McGregor named among most popular athletes of 2022 despite not fighting

Conor McGregor remains one of the most popular athletes in the world despite not fighting in over 17 months.

The Notorious has not stepped foot in the octagon since suffering a horror leg break and his second consecutive defeat to Dustin Poirier in July 2021.

But new research shows from Oddspedia, who used Buzzsumo’s database, has revealed the top 30 most popular athletes of 2022 that have been hitting the headlines.

READ MORE: Conor McGregor posts on social media at 3am to show off bizarre photo of his calves

Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list, having dominated news over the past 12 months. From being linked with a summer move away from Manchester United to his recent interview with Piers Morgan and Portugal's World Cup exit, the 37-year-old has never been far away from the headlines. He amassed an incredible 227,048 articles published online this year.

The top three positions are taken exclusively by football superstars, coming in second is Brazil's Neymar and Argentina's Lionel Messi, who all have over 182k and 85k articles written about them.

Only two entries are from British athletes. In 10th place is Stevenage-born, Lewis Hamilton, who has has 52,242 headlines about him this year. The second Brit on the list is 34-year old Tyson Fury, who's had multiple u-turns about retirement. Fury has amassed 39,137 articles online this year.

Ronaldo tops the list (Getty Images)

Social media influencer turned boxer Jake Paul (19th) has perhaps surprisingly ranked higher than his fellow fighters Canelo Álvarez (22nd) and McGregor (27th).

Serena Williams is the only female athlete on the top 30 list. After a 27-year career, which saw her win 23 grand slams, she announced her retirement in the iconic Vogue interview in August only to come out later to say "I am not retired" at the San Francisco conference in October.

The top 30 also features 21-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic (5), GOATs Tom Brady (9) and LeBron James (7), India's most successful test captain Virat Kohli (6), PSG's Kylian Mbappe (11) and Man City striker Erling Haaland (14).

The list comprises of eight football players, five basketball players, three boxers, four tennis players, three cricketers, two American football players, two F1 drivers, two wrestlers and one athlete from the world of golf and MMA.

American's dominate the list of athletes with over a third of the top thirty born in the States. The list also has three athletes France and India.

The full rankings are as follows:

Rank Athlete Sport Country Articles
1 Cristiano Ronaldo Football Portugal 227,048
2 Neymar Football Brazil 182,562
3 Lionel Messi Football Argentina 85,031
4 Tom Brady American Football United States 84,117
5 Novak Djokovic Tennis Serbia 81,058
6 Virat Kohli Cricket India 79,048
7 LeBron James Basketball United States 71,953
8 Rafael Nadal Tennis Spain 60,467
9 Max Verstappen Formula One Belgium 59,357
10 Lewis Hamilton Formula One England 52,242
11 Kylian Mbappe Football France 51,243
12 Serena Williams Tennis United States 47,626
13 Stephen Curry Basketball United States 46,901
14 Erling Haaland Football Norway 40,485
15 Tyson Fury Boxing England 39,137
16 Rohit Sharma Cricket India 38,972
17 Kyrie Irving Basketball United States 38,714
18 Kevin Durant Basketball United States 38,464
19 Jake Paul Boxing United States 37,977
20 Roman Reigns Wrestling United States 36,366
21 Roger Federer Tennis Switzerland 34,301
22 Canelo Álvarez Boxing Mexico 33,399
23 Tiger Woods Golf United States 33,332
24 Aaron Rodgers American Football United States 31,445
25 Karim Benzema Football France 30,188
26 Mohamed Salah Football Egypt 28,246
27 Conor McGregor MMA Ireland 26,644
28 Brock Lesnar Wrestling United States 22,390
29 Paul Pogba Football France 22,307
30 MS Dhoni Cricket India 21,616

READ NEXT:

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.