Last year, Serena Williams was the only woman to make it. She made an estimated $27 million, which was good enough to put her at #51. But she took time off to have a baby, so over the past 12 months she 'only' made $18 million, which dropped her out of the Top 100. The 100th athlete, NBA player Nicolas Batum, made $22.9 million.
NBA players got the most money . . . 40 of them made the Top 100 . . . thanks to a big jump in the salary cap. Last year, only 32 NBA players were in the Top 100, and in 2016 there were only 18.
The Top 100 has athletes from 11 different sports in 23 countries. As usual with "Forbes" lists, earnings include salary, prize money, and endorsements . . . but they don't include taxes, agents' fees, and investment income.
1. Floyd Mayweather, $285 million, Boxing
2. Lionel Messi, $111 million, Soccer
3. Cristiano Ronaldo, $108 million, Soccer
4. Conor McGregor, $99 million, MMA
(Of course, $85 million of that came from his BOXING match with Floyd, who made $275 million from it.)
5. Neymar, $90 million, Soccer
6. LeBron James, $85.5 million, Basketball
7. Roger Federer, $77.2 million, Tennis
8. Stephen Curry, $76.9 million, Basketball
9. Matt Ryan, $67.3 million, Football
10. Matthew Stafford, $59.5 million, Football
(Forbes.com has the whole list.)