Barcelona's Lionel Messi has won a record-breaking sixth Ballon d'Or title.

Having already won football's highest individual honour in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015; the Argentine superstar has surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo with the 2019 instalment.

His eternal rival, who has five trophies to his name, had to settle for third place in the voting and wasn't in attendance for the ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris.

Virgil van Dijk was seen as the second most likely winner on the night and he duly collected the silver medal, while Sadio Mane narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth.

But there were 30 players in contention going into Monday, so how did every single player fare?

Full Ballon d'Or rankings

Well, in a move from France Football that beautifully builds tension, they spent the afternoon counting down from 30 to chalk off certain players on route to Messi's crowning moment.

And considering it essentially serves as a ranking of the 30 best footballers in 2019, it only makes sense that we run through them for your satisfaction. Check out the full voting result below:

=28. Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid)

=28. Donny van de Beek (Ajax)

=28. Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain)

=26. Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)

=26. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

=24. Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)

=24. Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

23. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur)

22. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)

=20. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)

=20. Dusan Tadic (Ajax)

19. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

18. Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona)

17. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)

16. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

15. Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)

14. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

13. Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)

12. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

11. Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)

10. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)

9. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

8. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

7. Alisson Becker (Liverpool)

6. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

4. Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)

2. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

What a night for Messi, the greatest to play the game.

It was also a golden evening for Megan Rapinoe in the Women's Ballon d'Or, while Alisson Becker and Matthijs de Ligt collected the Yashin Trophy and Kopa Trophy respectively.

GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says

Van Dijk will count himself desperately unlucky to wind up in second place, but I believe the right decision has been made.

Despite being 32 years old, Messi managed to produce one of his most statistically successful campaigns, top-scoring in last season's Champions League and La Liga.

Marry that to another league title, a record-breaking European Golden Shoe win and an assists tally that dwarfed most European midfielders and you have yourself an astonishing year.

Tenth place for Mahrez has been one of the most controversial picks on social media, but I'm willing to let it slide when you consider his match-winning displays at the African Cup of Nations.

And my main grievance actually lies with Ronaldo - who has made a particularly nondescript start to this season - finishing above Mane, who was glorious in Liverpool's run to European glory.

That being said, history only remembers the winners and the Ballon d'Or wrote the record-books perfectly in 2019.