A player's global popularity may be determined by the number of social media followers he has. Furthermore, players with a huge number of social media followers are in great demand by the big brands in the world. Therefore any celebrity can take social media as a tool to increase his popularity. Because in this way a celebrity may showcase his or her worth to the wider populace. This article discusses the top 5 most followed athletes across social media platforms and we picked the three most popular social media platforms in the world, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to do the list. Top 5 sports personalities with the highest social media followers We have considered the combined number of followers of popular social media platforms to form the top ten. Let's take a look at this list. 5. LeBron James (Basketball) Total Followers: 157M | Biggest Platform: Instagram (79.9M) American basketball player LeBron James is ranked fifth on this list of the top social media influencers by athletes. LeBron is widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA players of all time, and he is often compared to legend Michael Jordan in arguments about who is the greatest basketball player of all time. James has a huge fan following and one of the most influential social media figures in the world. Read: Dhaka Premier Division T20 Cricket League 2021: Confirmed Fixtures 4. Virat Kohli (Cricket) Total Followers: 195M | Biggest Platform: Instagram (100M) Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is ranked fourth on this list of the top social media influencers by athletes. Virat Kohli is the current captain of the Indian national team across all formats. He is a top-order batsman who bats right-handed. Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen of his generation and one of the all-time greats. In the Indian Premier League, he plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Virat Kohli has a large fan base, particularly in his native country in India, and he is ranked 25th on the list of the world's most popular social media figures. 3. Neymar (Football) Total Followers: 283M | Biggest Platform: Instagram (146M) Brazilian footballer Neymar is ranked third on this list of athletes' top social media influences. Neymar is the current captain of the Brazilian national football team. He is a striker for Paris Saint-Germain of the French Ligue 1 and the Brazilian national team. He is widely recognized as one of the world's top players. Neymar has a significant fan following all around the world, and he is ranked 12th on the list of the world's most popular social media figures. Read: Who is more likely to win the Copa America 2021 between Argentina and Brazil? 2. Lionel Messi (Football) Total Followers: 298M | Biggest Platform: Instagram (186M) Argentine footballer Lionel Messi is ranked second on this list of sportsmen with the most social media influence. He is a striker who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Messi is widely recognized as the greatest player in the world and one of the greatest players of all time. He has won a record six Ballon d'Or awards, as well as six European Golden Ball trophies. Lionel Messi has a tremendous fan base all around the world. He is ranked 11th on the list of the world's most popular social media figures. 1.      Cristiano Ronaldo (Football) Total Followers: 517M | Biggest Platform: Instagram (265M) Portuguese superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's most influential social media person. He plays as a striker for Serie A club Juventus and the Portugal national team. He is often regarded as the greatest player in the history of football. Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or five times and the European Golden Shoes four times. Ronaldo holds the UEFA Champions League records for most goals (134) and assists (42). Bottom Line Looking at the top 5 most popular athletes across social media platforms, it is clear that the popularity of footballers worldwide is skyrocketing. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Argentina's Lionel Messi, and Brazil's Neymar are very popular. Cricketers are gradually gaining in popularity. India captain Virat Kohli is quite popular now. He is the first cricketer to break into the top 10 list. Read: UEFA EURO 2020: The favourites, underdogs and outsiders