Ronaldo is 2022's most popular athlete

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Indeed, 2022 has been a banner year in the sports world, from the World Cup to the Olympic Games in Beijing and everything in between.

But off the field, pitch, court, course, ice, track, ring and all other surfaces, athletes have also been dominating headlines.

The sports betting experts at Oddspedia used Buzzsumo’s data to determine the Top 30 most popular athletes of the past year.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who was brought to tears when Portugal was ousted by Morocco in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar, took the No. 1 spot.

There were 227,048 online articles about CR7 were published this year, including the news that he and Manchester United parted ways.

Off the pitch, CR7 and his girlfriend welcomed twins, though sadly, one of the newborns passed away. The forward was also accused of rape but a judge dismissed the $25-million lawsuit in June.

Footballers Neymar Jr. and Lionel Messi followed in second and third place with 182,562 and 85,031 news stories, respectively.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who retired earlier this year, then had a change of heart and unretired a few weeks later was the fourth most-talked-about athlete with 84,117 articles.

But it was his broken heart that may have garnered to most headlines following he and wife Gisele Bundchen announcing their divorce.

Novak Djokovic took the fifth spot, with some of the articles likely about his stellar play (like his Wimbledon win over Australian hothead Nick Kyrgios), but it was his start to the 2022 tennis season that may have made bigger headlines.

Djoker was deported from Australia (and disqualified from playing in the Australian Open) after a 10-day legal saga that culminated with his visa being revoked because of his unvaccinated status.

Indian cricket star Virat Kohli, L.A. Lakers star LeBron James, tennis’ world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, and Formula One drivers Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton round out the top 10.

Serena Williams, who announced her eventual retirement, is the only female athlete who made the cut.

Other notable names include Kyrie Irving, Jake Paul, Aaron Rodgers and Tiger Woods.

The full rankings are as follows:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Neymar Jr.
3. Lionel Messi
4. Tom Brady
5. Novak Djokovic
6. Virat Kohli
7. LeBron James
8. Rafael Nadal
9. Max Verstappen
10. Lewis Hamilton
11. Kylian Mbappe
12. Serena Williams
13. Stephen Curry
14. Erling Haaland
15. Tyson Fury
16. Rohit Sharma
17. Kyrie Irving
18. Kevin Durant
19. Jake Paul
20. Roman Reigns
21. Roger Federer
22. Canelo Alvarez
23. Tiger Woods
24. Aaron Rodgers
25. Karim Benzema
26. Mohamed Salah
27. Conor McGregor
28. Brock Lesnar
29. Paul Pogba
30. MS Dhoni