How much money are athletes earning on Instagram alone?

While athletes can earn plenty of money on the field, court or ice, they also earn more money than you think via partnerships and social media.

My Protein took the time to compile a list of the world's highest-paid athletes via Instagram, and then figured out how much each can charge per post based on how many followers they have. They then used an earnings website to calculate the per post earnings.

With that being said, here are the Top 10 highest-paid athletes via Instagram, according to My Protein:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo: 213 million followers. Could earn up to $975,000 per post. 
2. Lionel Messi: 148 million followers. Could earn up to $837,000 per post. 
3. Neymar: 137 million followers. Could earn up to $775,300 per post. 
4. LeBron James: 63 million followers. Could earn up to $355,500 per post. 
5. David Beckham: 62.5 million followers. Could earn up to $357,000 per post. 
6. Stephen Curry: 30.2 million followers. Could earn up to $170,500 per post. 
7. Floyd Mayweather: 23.2 million followers. Could earn up to $130,800 per post. 
8. Khabib Nurmagomedov: 19.7 million followers. Could earn up to $111,200 per post. 
9. Shaquille O'Neal: 16.5 million followers. Could earn up to $93,200 per post. 
10. Serena Williams: 12.3 million followers. Could earn up to $69,400 per post. 

It's no surprise that four of the top five on this list are current or former soccer stars. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and thus the world's biggest soccer stars will have the biggest following. 

Also in the top 10 are LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Shaquille O'Neal, which also isn't surprising since basketball also has a large following worldwide. 

It's truly amazing how much these athletes can make by simply posting a photo to Instagram, but they are some of the world's largest social media influencers when you think about it.

Athletes are among the world's most highly praised individuals, and they certainly have an influence on the community around them.