India skipper Virat Kohli became the first sportsperson to have topped the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list in the year 2019 leaving behind many of the Bollywood’s biggest names like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and all the other A-list superstars.
In eight years of its establishment, no sportsperson has outshined the Bollywood celebrities, in fact no other person other than an actor has topped the list. Kohli earned Rs. 252.72 crore in a span of one year, from 1 October 2018 to 30 September 2019 according to Forbes, that led him to earn the title. Kohli has made his earning through Match fees, BCCI contract, brand endorsements and from the fee for sponsored instagram posts.
Actor Akshay Kumar got the second position with 293.25 crore while Salman Khan is in the third spot.
“The celebrity ranks are based on an aggregate of the estimated earnings and their calculated fame quotient, via print and social media reach. Some celebraties who score very high on fame might be ranked higher than those who have strong revenues, but a poor fame score,” Forbes disclosure on how the ranking is calculated.
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar have also made it to the top 10 of the list. Along with many male cricketers, the women cricketers like Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have also made it to the top 100 list.