As a whole, women’s sports continued to thrive this year, with the National Women’s Soccer League and international soccer posting new attendance highs, the WNBA announcing its first expansion team since 2008 and the LPGA Tour promising to push its total prize fund past $118 million, up from roughly $70 million in 2021. Despite that momentum, however, female athletes’ pay still lags well behind the men’s. The top 20 male athletes in Forbes’ 2023 ranking, published in May, totaled $1.9 billion—more than eight times what the top 20 women earned—and the difference gets even starker from there. During the 2023-24 season, 60 NBA players will outearn Świątek with their playing salaries alone, according to Spotrac.
Combined, the 20 top-earning women made an estimated $226 million in 2023. That is a 13% drop from 2022’s $258 million, but the decline can be attributed almost entirely to the loss of Williams (who hauled in $41.3 million on last year’s list) and Osaka’s tumble to $15 million (from $51.1 million in 2022) amid her long layoff.
In fact, there are plenty of reasons to view the 2023 ranking with optimism. The median for the top 20 is now $8.5 million, up from $7.3 million last year, and 16 of the 20 list members are under 30, suggesting they could have more earning potential. There are also eight athletes surpassing $10 million, matching last year’s record total and double the number from 2021.
Combined, the 20 top-earning women made an estimated $226 million in 2023. That is a 13% drop from 2022’s $258 million, but the decline can be attributed almost entirely to the loss of Williams (who hauled in $41.3 million on last year’s list) and Osaka’s tumble to $15 million (from $51.1 million in 2022) amid her long layoff.
In fact, there are plenty of reasons to view the 2023 ranking with optimism. The median for the top 20 is now $8.5 million, up from $7.3 million last year, and 16 of the 20 list members are under 30, suggesting they could have more earning potential. There are also eight athletes surpassing $10 million, matching last year’s record total and double the number from 2021.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 The 20 top earning female athletes made an estimated $226 million in 2023.
00:06 That's a 13% drop from 2022's $258 million, but the decline can be attributed almost entirely
00:13 to Serena Williams' retirement and Naomi Osaka's long break from competition.
00:18 In fact, there are plenty of reasons to view the 2023 ranking with optimism.
00:22 The median for the top 20 is now $8.5 million, up from $7.3 million last year, and 16 of
00:29 the 20 list members are under 30, suggesting they could have more earning potential.
00:34 There are also 8 athletes surpassing $10 million, matching last year's record total and double
00:39 the number from 2021.
00:41 Here are the 5 highest paid female athletes of 2023.
00:46 At number 5, Naomi Osaka.
00:48 Osaka, who gave birth to a daughter in July, hasn't played competitive tennis since September
00:53 2022, but is gearing up for a comeback in Brisbane as a tune-up for the Australian Open
00:57 in January.
00:58 In the meantime, she has expanded into new marketing categories by signing sponsor deals
01:03 with Bobby Baby Formula and Creighton Kids, and her media company, Hanakuma, raised $5
01:08 million in April as it spun off from the Spring Hill Company.
01:12 At number 4, Emma Raducanu.
01:15 Raducanu built one of the most valuable endorsement portfolios in tennis after she won the 2021
01:19 US Open at 18 years old, with brands flocking to a player they thought could be a star for
01:24 years to come.
01:25 Since then, however, she's dealt with a series of injuries and illnesses, seeing her world
01:30 ranking fall to #299 from a high of #10 in 2022.
01:36 At number 3, Coco Gauff.
01:39 A grand slam breakthrough at the US Open in September could push Gauff to a new level
01:43 as a pitch woman, but she was already doing just fine on the marketing side, signing this
01:47 year with Baker Tilly, Bose, and UPS.
01:50 Widely known as a Marvel superhero fan, the 19-year-old Gauff appeared in an ad for 2023
01:56 film The Marvels and graced the cover of a limited edition of an Invincible Iron Man
02:01 comic book.
02:02 On the court, Gauff is ranked a career-high #3 in singles after winning four WTA tournaments
02:07 this year.
02:09 At number 2, Eileen Gu.
02:11 Gu, who was born in San Francisco but represents China in competition, is the rare Olympic
02:16 sport athlete whose business doesn't plummet between games.
02:19 The freestyle skier and model has long-term sponsorships all over the globe with brands
02:24 including sportswear maker ANTA in China and Louis Vuitton and Victoria's Secret in
02:28 the West.
02:29 Gu, coming off a knee injury, returned to the slopes this December, winning half-pipe
02:34 events in China and Colorado in her first World Cup action in 11 months.
02:39 And at number 1, Iga Svantec.
02:42 Svantec capped her big 2023 with a title at the WTA finals and the year-end #1 singles
02:47 ranking, earning a second straight WTA Player of the Year award.
02:51 At just 22, she has now spent 82 weeks at #1 and she is 14th on the Taurus Career Prize
02:57 money list with nearly $25 million.
03:00 Off the court, Svantec bolstered her endorsement portfolio this year with FISA, On Shoes & Apparel,
03:06 Oshi Sportsdrinks, and information technology company Infosys, on top of four existing partnerships.
03:12 Svantec is only the fourth woman to top the female athlete earnings rankings since Forbes
03:16 introduced the list in 2008 after Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova.
03:22 (music)