Cristiano 1st athlete to pass 20 crore social media followers

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first athlete to surpass 200 million followers on social media.

Ronaldo has 109.7 million followers on Facebook, 49.6 million on Instagram and 40.7 million on Twitter.

The Portugal international crossed the 200 million threshold yesterday, when his combined total reached 200,058,494, according to social media tracking database Hookit.com.

Ronaldo might trail rival Lionel Messi in Ballon d'Or trophies, but he is easily winning the social battle. Messi has 120.8 million followers, though he does not have a Twitter account.

Ronaldo's numbers put him past the combined total of basketball stars LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, who combine to garner 187 million.

In 2015, Ronaldo garnered 41.8 million new followers, with nearly three-quarters of those coming on Instagram. He averages 135,000 new followers a day, according to Hookit.