The 5 Most Followed US Sports Stars on Instagram

Some of the most famous sports stars you can think of get the same social media following as the most well-known actors, singers, and personalities. As of November 2024, the two most followed Instagram accounts (besides that of @Instagram itself), are professional athletes, with a combined presence of 1 billion followers (Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo).

To gauge the popularity of some of the biggest athletes in US sports, we’re outlining the top 5 United States sports stars based on their Instagram presence. It’s important that one, Instagram is a good measuring tool for gauging overall social media presence (X/Twitter and TikTok being the others), and two, we are only assessing athletes / former athletes involved in current US sports leagues.

#5 Luis Suarez (MLS): 48m Instagram followers

Starting off the list of most popular US Sports stars is none other than Inter Miami’s Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan international player joined the MLS just last year, bringing his presence of more than 48 million Instagram followers to the ever-growing American-based soccer league. Suarez continues to bring support to the MLS, Miami-based clubs, and American soccer and is endorsed by corporate sponsors such as PepsiCo and Adidas. Suarez mainly uses his social media presence for encouragement as well as sharing photos of his friends and family.

#4 Steph Curry (NBA): 56.7m Instagram followers

Next up is Steph Curry, the legendary point guard for the Golden State Warriors. While NBA popularity has always been high in America, not many American athletes have gained a large social media following from their sport alone. Steph Curry is one of two basketball players with such a giant number of Instagram followers, only behind LeBron James and his 160m followers (the @NBA has 89M followers). However, Curry and his following rivals James when it comes to endorsement earnings, and as of 2024-2025, it’s reported that Curry has earned approximately $50 million from being sponsored by popular brands such as Chase, Nissan, and Under Armor. Normally, you can catch Curry making various posts related to his family, kids, and even pictures from fun events he’s attended along with his teammates.

#3 – David Beckham (MLS): 88.4m Instagram followers

The former Manchester United and LA Galaxy midfielder has transcended past just the sport of soccer and became a global icon throughout his career. David Beckham, with more than 88.4m Instagram followers, not only used to play for the prestigious Los Angeles club, (where he became one of the best ever MLS players), but founded and has owned Inter Miami CF since 2018. Now retired from playing, David Beckham uses his following to share soccer information across the globe, promote his fashion brands, as well as give fans the inside scoop on what it’s like to own Inter Miami.

#2 – LeBron James (NBA): 159m Instagram followers

One of the most followed athletes on Instagram as well as one of the best basketball players of all time, LeBron James of the LA Lakers has acquired almost 160m Instagram followers and counting. The King not only uses the picture-based platform to share his life outside of work with his daughters but likes to promote his philanthropic ideals as well. James promotes positivity, and with a combination of endorsements from the likes of PepsiCo and Nike, LeBron offers a bundle of variety from just basketball on his account – he’s even quite the fashionista!

#1 – Lionel Messi (MLS): 494m Instagram followers

The top athlete in America with an unprecedented amount of Instagram followers of almost 500m is none other than Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi. If you know Messi, you know Messi. While not one to boast, brag, or share his accomplishments publicly on his many social media accounts, the man still somehow amassed a following of more than half a billion people on one platform. Backed by popular brands such as Adidas and PepsiCo in addition to his own ‘Messi’ brand, Lionel Messi has no trouble at all sharing his Miami-based US football journey as well as moments from his own intimate family time with people from all over. Fans adore him, other players want to be him, and as long as he keeps doing what he does best, his followers will be influenced for decades to come.

Top 20 Most-Followed US Sports Stars on Instagram

Here is the full list of the top 20 US-based sports starts on Instagram as at November 2024. Besides the top 5 listed above, you can see that Simone Biles leads the female athletes on the ‘most followed’ list, as well as being the highest-ranked athlete competing in an individual sport. The most-followed NFL player is Odell Beckham Junior, outshining quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson. Unsurprisingly, the MLB player with the biggest number of insta-fans is Shohei Ohtani, although he ranks far below the social media popularity of the top soccer and NBA players.

No.	Player	Team/Sport	Instagram Followers
1	Lionel Messi	Inter Miami	494 Million
2	LeBron James	LA Lakers	159 M
3	David Beckham	Inter Miami	88.4 M
4	Steph Curry	Golden State Warriors	56.7 M
5	Luis Suarez	Inter Miami	48 M
6	Russell Westbrook	LA Clippers	22.9 M
7	Odell Beckham Jr	Baltimore Ravens	17.5 M
8	Kyrie Irving	Dallas Mavericks	14 M
9	Kevin Durant	Phoenix Suns	13.7 M
10	Simone Biles	Gymnastics	13 M
11=	Chris Paul	Golden State Warriors	12 M
11=	James Harden	LA Clippers	12 M
13	Damian Lillard	Milwaukee Bucks	10 M
14	Shohei Ohtani	LA Dodgers	8.6 M
15	Joel Embiid	Philadelphia 76ers	7.6 M
16	Jayson Tatum	Boston Celtics	7.1 M
17	Patrick Mahomes	Kansas City Chiefs	7 M
18	Travis Kelce	Kansas City Chiefs	6.8 M
19	Russell Wilson	Denver Broncos	6 M
20	Devin Booker	Phoenix Suns	5.5 M

Of course with his huge appeal around the world – and not just within the United States – Lionel Messi leads the list of US-based sports stars and the sheer number of his followers is a hard act to follow!