Instagram Rich List 2022: Ronaldo holds top spot while earning over $2m per post

A t-shirt depicting Cristiano Ronaldo.

Instagram Rich List 2022: Ronaldo holds top spot while earning over $2m per post Duncan is an award-winning editor with more than 20 years experience in journalism. Having launched his tech journalism career as editor of Arabian Computer News in Dubai, he has since edited an array of tech and digital marketing publications, including Computer Business Review, TechWeekEurope, Figaro Digital, Digit and Marketing Gazette.


Cristiano Ronaldo scores the top spot in the list for the second year running in Hopper HQ’s annual Instagram Rich List, earning $2.39m per post, a 49% increase since last year.

The list, based on internal and publicly available data, reveals the platform’s highest-earning names, including celebrities, athletes, or influencers covering fitness, beauty and lifestyle.

In second place is Kylie Jenner, jumping from fourth place in 2021, with a 22% increase in her earnings. This year those in the top 10 list are earning on average 27% more per post on the platform, compared to 2021.

The top 10 on the Instagram Rich List 2022 are:

(Celebrity, number of followers and estimated earnings per post)

1.    Cristiano Ronaldo – 460m followers – $2,397,000 per post

2.  Kylie Jenner – 354m followers – $1,835,000 per post

3.  Lionel Messi – 343m followers – $1,777,000 per post

4.   Selena Gomez – 331m followers – $1,735,000 per post

5.    Dwayne Johnson – 325m followers – $1,712,000 per post

6.    Kim Kardashian – 321m followers – $1,689,000 per post

7.    Ariana Grande – 319m followers – $1,687,000 per post

8.    Beyonce Knowles – 265m followers – $1,392,000 per post

9.    Khloe Kardashian – 258m followers – $1,320,000 per post

10.  Kendall Jenner – 245m followers – $1,290,000 per post

To view the full Instagram Rich List and what names made it – along with the additional TikTok and Pinterest Rich Lists and ‘Cancelled List’ – visit: https://www.hopperhq.com/instagram-rich-list/

Over the past year, the Instagram Rich List top 10 earn on average 27% more on the platform per post, compared to 2021. Since the start of the list’s existence in 2017, the top 10 celebrities’ Instagram earnings have risen by 76% – on average from $9m in 2020 to $16m in 2022. 

For the first time in its six-year history, HopperHQ.com has released a TikTok Rich List, detailing how much stars on the platform earn. Charli D’Amelio ranks first place on the TikTok Rich List, with 142m followers and earning $105k per post. Despite being 39th on the Instagram Rich List, she earns $263k per post on the platform. HopperHQ.com have also released a Pinterest Rich List, which reveals that all of the top earners on the platform are female, with lifestyle and interior design emerging as top niches.

The top 5 on the TikTok Rich List are:

1.   Charlie D’Amelio –142.9m followers – $105,100 per post

2.   Khabane Lame – 144.5m followers – $90,490 per post

3.   Bella Poarch – 90.3m followers – $66,830 per post

4.   Addison Rae – 88.1m followers – $65,200 per post

5.   Kimberly Loaiza – 64.m followers – $47,380

The rise of ‘cancel culture’ over the past few years, and celebrities losing influence for various reasons, has affected the data, with big names like Will Smith, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, being removed from the main list and added to the ‘Cancelled List’. In 2021, the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ star could make $338k per post on Instagram, yet after months of inactivity, Smith is predicted to be currently making $0 through the platform.

Mike Bandar, co-founder of HopperHQ.com, said: “Every year when we do the Instagram Rich List, we are astounded by the earning power celebrities and influencers have on Instagram. With Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United and the release of his wife’s Netflix show, it’s no wonder that the football icon has held his number one spot. It’s also interesting to see stars rising and falling in the rankings; Kylie Jenner reclaimed second place after falling to fourth last year, while her sister, Khloe, finds herself in the top 10 for the first time ever. That, along with big names losing earning power, from ‘cancel culture’ or loss of influence, makes this year’s findings very interesting indeed.

“With TikTok’s rising popularity, we were intrigued to find out what TikTok stars earn through the platform and how that influences their earnings on Instagram. Although TikTok earnings are less, this may be due to the platform’s relative infancy. Yet the fact that platforms like Instagram are adapting to compete with the video app is an indicator of TikTok’s power and potential growth, so perhaps we might see stars earn more on TikTok and less on Instagram next year.”

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