There is no denying the fact that being a professional athlete has its financial perks.

From Cristiano Ronaldo, to Lionel Messi to LeBron James, the amount of money being made by athletes these days is simply unreal.

Any sort of lengthy career at the top of the most lucrative sporting codes can make an athlete an exorbitantly wealthy person.

With salaries bearing more zero's than one would care to count and endorsement deals larger than the GDP of most developing nations, superstar athletes really do have it made.

However, over the course of the last decade or so, the biggest names in the world of sport have leant into another, extremely lucrative stream of income - social media.

The concept is simple - athletes monetise their massive followings through partnerships with various brands and the platform itself, earning a pretty penny in the process.

Instagram is a particularly lucrative platform, with athletes dominating the list of highest earning users.

While certain celebrities do punctuate the athletes, if we were to focus in on sports-people alone, we still come up with a group of folks making astonishing amounts just for fun on the platform.

So who are the highest earning athletes on Instagram and how much do they earn per post? (Figures courtesy of Republic World)

Instagram's highest earning athletes

15. Sergio Aguero: $63,500
14. Floyd Mayweather: $108,800
13. Steph Curry: $142,000
12. Conor McGregor: $170,000
11. Luis Suarez: $176,000
10. Mohamed Salah: $180,000
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic: $200,000
8. Gareth Bale: $200,000
7. Ronaldinho: $208,000
6. Virat Kohli: $296,000

5. LeBron James: $307,000

The NBA superstar is one of the most recognisable faces on the planet. He is an exemplary professional, a strong-valued family man and a supremely talented athlete - a dream combination for any brand.

4. David Beckham: $349,000

This sort of list simply wouldn't be complete without the former Manchester United and England star.

Becks leveraged his fame from his playing days incredibly well and is now a hugely successful businessman. Why wouldn't you want to be associated with him? 

3. Lionel Messi: $695,000

Messi has always been a bit of a shy presence on social media. Even so, being possibly the greatest footballer to ever grace the planet draws a following, and that following draws a big pile of cash.

2. Neymar: $704,000

Neymar's marketability in Brazil is other worldly. The talismanic striker is like royalty in the South American nation and appears on just about every product you can think of. It is no surprise he makes a killing on Instagram as well.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo: $889,000

There was only ever going to be one winner, wasn't there? At the time of writing, Ronaldo boasts just 287 million followers on Instagram. An incredible professional, a body straight from Mount Olympus and one of the greatest footballer to have ever lived? It's just too easy.