Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is one of the most famous athletes in the world. So how exactly is that determined? ESPN took a look at 800 of the most popular sports stars and ranked the top 100 based on three factors: search score, endorsement dollars and social media followers.
ESPN’s search scores were calculated by measuring how often an athlete’s name was searched on Google after averaging his or her Google Trends peak score for the highest-searched day with his or her yearly average for 2018. Wilson received a search score of 3.
Next, athletes’ endorsement deals were added to the mix and Wilson’s earnings totaled $10 million.
Finally, since every athlete isn’t on all social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, only the account with the most followers was used in rankings. Wilson currently has 5.42 million followers on Twitter.
Based on his search score of 3, endorsements of $10 and his 5.42 Twitter followers, Wilson landed at No. 77 in ESPN’s World Fame 100.
Click below to see who made the top-10 in 2019.
