4. Cristiano Ronaldo – $88M
Similar to Doctor Phil, Cristiano Ronaldo also had earnings of $88 million in 2016. Ronaldo, who is originally from Portugal, is a professional footballer with Spanish club Real Madrid. For his contribution at the team the player earns $50 million a year; this is not to mention the millions more he makes due to his endless sponsorship deals with companies such as Sacoor Brothers suits, Monster headphones, Nike and Tag Heuer.
Ronaldo has huge popularity among his fans and is commonly considered the most famous athlete on the planet. The sportsman has been voted FIFA’s Best Player in the World three times. In 2015 Ronaldo scored his 500th senior career goal for club and county. Along with all this the star has also broken the 50-goal mark, 6 seasons in a row for Real Madrid. On top of all his earnings this year, Ronaldo also shared in the victory of his country Portugal winning the European Championships.
3. James Patterson – $95M
In third place on our list with earnings of $95 million is author James Patterson. This makes Patterson the highest paid author in the world. However, this isn’t that much of a surprise considering he churns out around a dozen best-sellers each year. Nevertheless, the writer does have co-authors working with him on these books but this hasn’t affected his earnings in the least.
These 2016 earnings now leave Patterson with a net worth of $570 million. Patterson’s most renowned work is his series Alex Cross, which follows the life of a fictional psychologist by the same name. Some of the writer’s other series include The Witch and the Wizard, Maximum Ride, Daniel X and Women’s Murder Club. Many of Patterson’s works have been picked up for TV including the sci-fi thriller Zoo, which airs on CBS.
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