In the US, athletes can often reach the status of a superstar. These are the people you'll always see in ads, on red carpets, and at other events beyond the court.
But who is the most popular sports star in the US? What are Americans Googling the most - NBA or NFL superstars?
We've conducted research for the most Googled sports stars in America and in each state.
LeBron Is Still at the Top
Somewhat unsurprisingly, LeBron James is the most Googled sports star of the year so far, with 2,454,200 average searches per month in America. James was the most Googled sports star in 20 states, including California, Florida, Texas and New York.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders received the second-highest number of Google searches in America so far in 2026. The quarterback is being Googled 2,406,200 times on average each month across the US. There are 8 states where Shedeur Sanders is the most searched-for athlete, including Ohio (165,000 monthly searches), Georgia (110,000) and Colorado (74,000).
Aaron Rodgers is the third most Googled sports star and the second most Googled quarterback. Rodgers has been Googled 1,942,900 times per month this year, with 4 states searching for Rodgers above any other sports personality: Pennsylvania (165,000 monthly searches), Wisconsin (110,000), Montana and West Virginia.
Travis Kelce ranks fourth with 1,561,700 average searches per month across America. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kelce tops the rankings in Kansas (33,100 monthly searches) and Missouri (60,500), the home state of the Chiefs. His following and search interest have skyrocketed since his relationship began with now-fiancée Taylor Swift. In fact, after Taylor Swift made her first appearance at a Kansas City Chiefs game to support Kelce, searches for Travis Kelce skyrocketed by 2,733% on the same day, according to Google Trends. Kelce stands to earn $91,800 per sponsored Instagram post thanks to his engagement rate of 0.91%.
Rounding out the top five, with 1,354,500 average monthly searches in the US, is Caitlin Clark, the highest-searched female sports star on the list. Clark tops the rankings in Iowa (60,500 monthly searches) and South Dakota (5,400). The time that Caitlin Clark's search volume skyrocketed the most was in April 2024 after her viral WNBA draft.
NBA, WWE, and Golf Superstars Top the Charts
NBA star Anthony Edwards ranks as the sixth most Googled sports star of the year so far, being searched 1,175,300 times per month nationally. When broken down, Edwards is the most Googled athlete in Minnesota (90,500 monthly searches), home of his NBA team, the Timberwolves.
In seventh place is Josh Allen. The Buffalo Bills quarterback tops the rankings in Wyoming (5,400 monthly searches), and the state that Googles for Josh Allen the most out of any state is New York (163,000).
John Cena, the WWE legend, places eighth with 1,166,000 monthly searches nationally. Despite not topping any individual state, Cena can earn a potential of $65,200 per sponsored Instagram post as a result of 21 million followers and a 0.24% engagement rate.
In ninth place is Rory McIlroy, who is the first golfer to make the list and is searched nationally 1,045,780 times per month across America.
Closing out the top ten most Googled sports stars is Coco Gauff, who is the highest tennis player on the list with 1,044,850 average monthly searches. Gauff is in the top ten across a wide range of states, including Florida (90,500 monthly searches) and New York (110,000).
Speaking on the findings, Irena Ducic, Content Editor at AskGamblers, said:
"An individual can quickly become more popular than the team they come from, or even become the face of a sport, as is the case with John Cena and LeBron James. When this happens, the sports star is open to an enormous amount of opportunities, from brand deals, sponsorships and exposure to other industries, so that after they've retired from the sport that has made them a household name, they have opportunities in entertainment, gaming, presenting and more.
“This has been the case for pretty much every name in the top ten, with Travis Kelce and John Cena starring in movies, many of the stars having hit podcasts and so on. They are also faces of huge brands such as Coco Gauff's partnership with the likes of New Balance and Rolex, and Rory McIlroy partnering with Nike.
“What this data shows is where the support and interest are coming from throughout the US. It will be interesting to see, throughout the rest of 2026, who begins to enter the list with the likes of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns becoming increasingly popular after their historic Knicks win and Jannik Sinner being a favourite to win Wimbledon."
Methodology: All 250 sports personalities from YouGov’s contemporary sports personalities rankings were input into Google’s Keyword Planner (via DataForSEO API) to establish average monthly searches on a national and state-wide level. YouGov popularity and fame scores were collected from YouGov’s contemporary sports personalities ratings API. Rankings are based on average monthly Google search volumes for January–April 2026.
