Athletes Who Gained the Most Twitter Followers in 2014

The 2014 calendar year was notable for many professional athletes, but it was especially outstanding for some athletes on Twitter.

For various reasons, certain athletes in each of the major four professional sports gained more Twitter followers than their peers throughout the year. Some gained followers for great performances, and others may have received a bump in followers as a result of them signing big contracts. 

In the NFL, most fans probably could have predicted which players gained the most attention. The NBA was just as predictable. Even the NHL had fairly predictable results. The MLB list is the most interesting, but it makes sense when fans think about what has happened this past year.

Check out the lists below to see who gained the most Twitter followers in each sport during 2014.

NFL

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

1. Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25)

2. Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson)

3. Drew Brees (@drewbrees)

4. Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7)

5. Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush)

NBA

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

1. LeBron James (@KingJames)

2. Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5)

3. Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant)

4. Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony)

5. Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward)

MLB

Todd Kirkland/Associated Press

1. Masahiro Tanaka (@t_masahiro18)

2. Yu Darvish (@faridyu)

3. Mike Trout (@Trouty20)

4. Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19)

5. Miguel Cabrera (@MiguelCabrera)

NHL

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

1. Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8)

2. Evgeni Malkin (@malkin71_)

3. T.J. Oshie (@OSH74)

4. P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1)

5. Patrick Kane (@88PKane)

Thanks to our friends at Twitter for providing the data.