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Simone Biles has been named the second most marketable athlete on the planet in a new study revealing the 150 sports stars with the highest value to brands worldwide.
SportsPro and NorthStar Solutions Group recently assessed over 1,000 leading athletes - using 174 different sports 'categories' - who competed between September 1, 2024 and September 1, 2025 on their brand strength, audience momentum and commercial traction.
This marks the 16th edition of the study, with gymnastics hero Biles taking top spot in last year's list following her incredible success at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
In the 2025 standings she has to settle for second place, however, with F1 icon Lewis Hamilton named as the most marketable athlete in the world today with a total marketability score of 96.03 percent compared to Biles' 95.2 following his blockbuster move to Ferrari earlier this year.
The top 10 is made up of a variety of sports, and it's another Olympics hero who takes third place in women's rugby sensation Ilona Maher (92.13), who was part of the Team USA sevens team that took bronze in the French capital last summer. Basketball star Stephen Curry (88.8) and soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo (88.17) complete the top five.
Simone Biles has been named the second most marketable athlete on the planet in a new study
Rugby sensation Ilona Maher is ranked third on the list, which was put together by SportsPro
But it is Formula One icon Lewis Hamilton who takes top spot after his recent move to Ferrari
Another soccer great, Neymar, follows Ronaldo in the list with a score of 84.7, coming before WNBA phenomenon Caitlin Clark (84.7), NBA stars LeBron James (84.63) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (83.63) and two-time tennis grand slam champion Coco Gauff (83.3).
Incredibly, NFL superstar Travis Kelce has to settle for 50th place on the list of valuable athletes despite his high-profile engagement to pop queen Taylor Swift, as well as his appearances in the last three Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kelce is also the only NFL figure to make it into the top 50, with the WNBA the most represented league with five players making it in.
In fact, the next NFL star to appear in the list is his Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes at No 82, before a quarterback who has never made it to a Super Bowl, the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson, comes at No 88. Fellow quarterback Jalen Hurts, who inspired the Philadelphia Eagles to glory last year, is only ranked 97th.
Lionel Messi and Novak Djokovic, considered by many as the greatest soccer and tennis players of all time, are only ranked 15th and 16th, behind Brazilian skateboarder Rayssa Leal in 12th.
English soccer sensation Cole Palmer fails to make it into the top 50 despite inspiring Chelsea's Club World Cup triumph in July, and celebrating next to American President Donald Trump.
Travis Kelce is only ranked the 50th on the list despite his engagement to Taylor Swift
Palmer, who sits 54th in the list, trails England women's star Beth Mead (46th) as well as international teammates Harry Kane (28th) and Bukayo Saka (19th).
A total of 12 sports are represented in the top 50, including swimming, track and field and cricket, along with 17 different nationalities.
Boxing does not make an appearance in the first half-century, with women's champion Amanda Serrano ranked at No 52, while Shohei Ohtani is baseball's first inclusion in 56th despite signing a then-sports record $700million contract just two years ago.
Rory McIlroy leads the charge for golf down in 62nd, while Ilia Topuria is the highest-ranked MMA fighter in 65th.
