Real's Cristiano Ronaldo, right, celebrates his third goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Cristiano Ronaldo Hits 100 Million Followers on Facebook

Sean SwabyOct 14, 2014

Cristiano Ronaldo is a popular man. That much we've known for a long time.

Now he's got the Facebook backing with some unprecedented numbers to prove it.

On Tuesday, Ronaldo became the first athlete to cross 100 million followers—almost 25 million more than rival club Barcelona and over 26 million more than arch rival Lionel Messi.

TOP NEWS

Real Madrid CF v Girona FC - LaLiga EA Sports

Bleacher Report1w

Real Betis V Real Madrid - Laliga Ea Sports

Bleacher Report1w

"
100 MILLION likes for @Cristiano. 26,000,000 more than Messi. http://t.co/4hCpAbIOGD pic.twitter.com/j55hPaq5pm
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) October 14, 2014"

"
100m #Facebook Fans - @Cristiano will become the first athlete to break the 100 million mark: http://t.co/yNpbLDAbBx pic.twitter.com/JwfVemjGas
— Repucom (@Repucom) October 14, 2014"

Per Repucom, Ronaldo is averaging 54 new fans per minute. He's also winning the social media game on Twitter, with over 30 million followers—10 million more than the next most popular athlete, Kaka.

After hitting the milestone, he updated a video to thank fans for the unprecedented mark.