Boxer Floyd 'Money' Mayweather set the pace for the second year in a row, raking in $300m. Most of the money came from his victorious superbout with second-placed Manny Pacquiao ($160m) on May 3.
Real Madrid star Ronaldo is the best paid footballer with earnings of $79.6m, just ahead of Barcelona's Messi $73.8m.
Paris Saint-Germain talisman Ibrahimovic is 14th on the list with $39.1m.
Real's Bale - a $131m world-record signing from Tottenham - is 18th with $35m.
1. Floyd Mayweather (Boxing) $300m
2. Manny Pacquiao (Boxing) $160m
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Football) $79.6m
4. Lionel Messi (Football) $73.8m
5. Roger Federer (Tennis) $67m
6. LeBron James (Basketball) $64.8m
7. Kevin Durant (Basketball) $54.1m
8. Phil Mickelson (Golf) $50.8m
9. Tiger Woods (Golf) $50.6m
10. Kobe Bryant (Basketball) $49.5m
11. Ben Roethlisberger (American Football) $48.9m
12. Rory McIlroy (Golf) $48.3m
13. Novak Djokovic (Tennis) $48.2m
14. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Football) $39.1m
15. Lewis Hamilton (Formula One) $39m
16. Ndamukong Suh (American Football) $38.6m
17. Fernando Alonso (Formula One) $35.5m
18. Gareth Bale (Football) $35m
19. Jon Lester (Baseball) $34.1m
20. Derrick Rose (Basketball) $33.9m
Notable others:
23. Neymar (Football) $31m
34. Wayne Rooney (Football) $26.9m
45. Sergio Aguero (Football) $24.9m