Ronaldo becomes first person to hit 1bn social media followers

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The number is calculated by combining his total number of followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Chinese social media sites Weibo and Kuaishou.

It does not equate to one billion individual followers, as many people will follow him across multiple platforms, and some will be fake accounts, known as bots.

Nonetheless social media expert Paolo Pescatore, from PP Foresight, described it as a “staggering number” that media and brands would pay close attention to.

“What an achievement, and it further underlines the fundamental shift taking place in media.”

It showed “the power to reach new, younger audiences thanks to technology”, he told the BBC.

On the pitch, Ronaldo was famed for his rivalry with Argentinian star Lionel Messi.

But off it, there is no competition for who is winning the social media contest – Messi has a mere 623 million followers.

Some of the other celebrities with the biggest presence on social media are:

690m: Selena Gomez, actor/singer

607m: Justin Bieber, singer

574m: Taylor Swift, singer

Other notable names the BBC looked into include The Rock (557m), Kylie Jenner (551m ) and Ariana Grande (508m).

MrBeast, the top YouTuber in the world, has 543m total followers, while WWE, often considered to have an enormous social media presence, can only point to reaching a quarter of the audience of Cristiano Ronaldo with 268m combined followers.

The footballer will have reached this milestone thanks to his decision to join YouTube last month, where his channel rocketed to 50 million subscribers within a single week.

So far, the channel consists mainly of conversations between Ronaldo and his wife Georgina Rodríguez, as well as his former Manchester United colleague Rio Ferdinand.

He announced the news in a post shared across his various social media platforms.

Cristiano Ronaldo has made a career out of breaking records.

His successes include being top scorer in Uefa Champions League history, having the most goals in the European Championship, and making more international appearances than anyone else.

Last week he became the first footballer to score 900 top-level career goals.

As with his playing career, he still has scope to improve his numbers on social media too, as unlike some of his rivals, he is not on TikTok or Threads.

All of which is likely to add to another figure he dominates: earnings.

According to Forbes, his total earnings now stand at $260 million, external – the highest of any athlete. BBC