Top 10 Canadian Sports Stars by Social Media Fans

Editor-In-Chief with 20 years experience covering the betting angles to breaking news stories. Daily slots player, Portsmouth fan and League Snooker Player

Although sporting success can be measured by collecting trophies or awards, such a measure is not necessarily the gold standard these days. Because sport and technology being intertwined, a social following can be crucial for any star’s stature.

Whether it be gaining likes on Facebook or views on TikTok, the best in Canadian sports, both past and present, are not shy about sharing their lives online. At the same time, these platforms have also given us the ability to carry out some analysis.

If you ever wanted to know who the king of Canadian social media is, we have found the answer. By analysing the follower count in each of the four leading social platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, we have crafted a league table in popularity.

Whether legends of the Octagon or former NBAl greats, they are just as popular as one of Bayern Munich’s biggest soccer stars and without further ado, here is the top 10 of our social media findings:

Name	Sport	Born	Facebook	Instagram	TikTok	Twitter	Total
Alphonso Davies	Soccer	Buduburam, Ghana	3,900,000	5,100,000	7,000,000	518,500	16,518,500
Georges St Pierre	UFC	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	4,000,000	4,100,000	331,700	2,000,000	10,431,700
Steve Nash	NBA	Johannesburg, South Africa	3,200,000	979,000	61,600	2,500,000	6,740,600
Genie Bouchard	Tennis	Montreal, Québec	1,500,000	2,300,000	14,600	1,600,000	5,414,600
Tristan Thompson	NBA	Brampton, Ontario	577,000	3,800,000		651,200	5,028,200
Andrew Wiggins	NBA	Toronto, Ontario	849,000	2,100,000		589,000	3,538,000
Chase Claypool	NFL	Abbotsford, British Columbia	9,500	579,000	1,800,000	219,700	2,608,200
Jamal Murray	NBA	Kitchener, Ontario	584,000	1,000,000		321,000	1,905,000
Connor McDavid	NHL	Richmond Hill, Ontario	138,000	1,000,000		403,800	1,541,800
Lance Stroll	F1	Montreal, Quebec	98,000	864,000		360,000	1,322,000

At the top of the list is Alphonso Davies, with 16.5m combined followers across the four platforms; the Canadian soccer international finds himself 6.1m clear of Georges St Pierre in second. Although considering the MMA star has been inactive for a number of years, this is a rather impressive tally.

Image: shutterstock

While had St Pierre begun to embrace TikTok more than he has, he may be able to make inroads on the lead that Davies currently commands especially as he got the better of his social rival on both the Facebook and Twitter environments.

With the 22-year-old Davies being born in Africa, the third name in our list also has an African connection. With Steve Nash flying the flag for the NBA, the man who has turned his passion for sport into a passion for business currently has a combined social following of 6.7m fans.

Although Nash can hold his own in the Facebook wars, he is slam-dunked when it comes to the other three platforms and that is why he currently finds himself some 9.8m followers behind his fellow African-born Canadian at the top.

While Quebec is once again represented in the top five, as Genie Bouchard is hot on the heels of Steve Nash. The Tennis star only has a paltry 14,600 followers on TikTok but is no slouch for generating followers elsewhere.

Staying on the theme of Quebec, F1’s Lance Stroll is certainly no backmarker when it comes to social followers. With 1.3m in total, the Aston Martin pilot currently rounds at the top 10 of our league table.

Bouchard’s fourth position keeps an Ontario NBA pair at bay in fifth and sixth, respectively. Tristan Thompson, born in Brampton, rounds out the top five, although whether his popularity is linked to Khloe Kardashian can certainly be argued.

That additional boost has managed to keep Andrew Wiggins at bay. Although he has managed to generate nearly 300,000 more followers on Facebook, he is not hitting three-pointers when it comes to Instagram and Twitter.

There is more Ontario representation in the top 10 of the table, as Jamal Murray and Connor McDavid find themselves in eighth and ninth, respectively. The former’s 1.9m followers, getting the better of the latter’s 1.5m.

Of course, we should not forget British Columbia either and Chase Claypool is flying the flag for the NFL. The Abbotsford-born star has failed to land a touchdown on Facebook – just 9,500 followers can claim to worship him at the time of writing.

However, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter have certainly made progress up the field and with Claypool currently commanding a total of 2.6m social followers, he has the likes of Tristan Thompson and Andrew Wiggins in his sights.

TOP OF THE SHOP

Name	Sport	Born	Facebook	Instagram	TikTok	Twitter	Total
Andre De Grasse	Athletics	Scarborough, Ontario, Canada	150,000	384,000	13,500	72,800	620,300
Penny Oleksiak	Swimming	Toronto, Ontario, Canada		137,000	11,800	74,500	223,300
Kelsey Mitchell	Cycling	Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada	12,000	79,300		1,852	93,152
Paul Tracy	Indycar	Scarborough, Ontario, Canada	8,384	45,300		38,400	92,084
Mike Weir	Golf	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	250	45,800		21,500	67,550

With Canada offering both breadth and depth regarding its sporting achievements, we can also spotlight some other disciplines. Take Andre De Grasse, representing Scarborough, Ontario, and Athletics with a total following of 620,300.

While he is not the only other representative from Scarborough, Ontario, either, with Paul Tracy long since hanging up his driving gloves, the former Indycar star has a respectable 92,084 followers towards the back of the pack.

A figure which is greater than Golf’s Mike Weir of Winnipeg but less than both Penny Oleksiak and Kelsey Mitchell as the stars of swimming and track cycling, respectively are building an ever-growing legion of social followers.

A TORONTO THEME

Another way to look at our data sample. Is by focusing on particular cities. For example, if we took all the Toronto-born stars and split them into a local league table, it would see Andrew Wiggins with a considerable lead at the top.

His 3.5m followers is a considerable distance clear of the likes of Kelly Olynyk and Cory Joseph. With the latter pair falling short of half a million themselves, the star power of Wiggins should certainly not be ignored.

Image: cbsSports

WHAT ABOUT QUEBEC?

While we can also do the same for Quebec’s crown jewel and with the Montreal being the birthplace of many of Canada’s greatest sporting names, it also makes for some rather interesting social findings.

With the top three already covered overall, the focus can be shone on Nicholas Latifi, and with Canada’s second F1 star amassing 1.13m total followers, he is just managing to keep baseball’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr in his rearview mirror.

Another point of note is Mario Lemeiux. Although the hockey legend has managed to generate a social following of just over 600,000, 250,000 of those have come courtesy of his foundation which attracts an audience on both Instagram and Twitter.

Finally, we should provide a special mention to Eric Gagne. After analysing our sample of nearly 70 sporting stars, Eric Gagne is bringing up the rear not only in Montreal but overall, and with just 1,568 followers on Twitter, he may need to work on a social strategy that delivers a home run.