Those who primarily think of lip gloss or eyeliner when it comes to influencers are greatly mistaken, at least regarding the German hit list of influencers. Of the ten leading influencers in Germany, six come from football. These are not even players from the Bundesliga. Let’s look at our top performers individually.
Hailey Bieber – the undisputed number one
Hailey Rhode Bieber, as Justin Bieber’s wife is fully named, leads the hit list of influencers in Germany. As a model and entrepreneur, she has made a name for herself and achieved 54.3 million followers on social media. Regarding the ranking, by the way, it’s not just the number of followers that’s decisive, but also their quality. On the web, pretty much everything can be measured somehow, including how sustainably followers remain loyal to their influencers.
This is evident in the number two on the list, Jude Bellingham
The former Borussia Dortmund player has 38.6 million followers, 10.6 million fewer than number four, Toni Kroos, who recently announced his retirement from football. But obviously, Bellingham has the “better” followers and a higher quality of his accounts.
The same applies to the artist Madison Beer, ranked third in March 2025
With 39.2 million followers, she has exactly ten million fewer than the German ex-football star, yet ranks one place ahead of him. For those unfamiliar with Madison Beer, here’s some info. The young lady works as a singer and was promoted by Justin Bieber. With her album “Life Support”, she stood at number 65 in the USA for one week in 2021, and at 85 in Germany.
The midfield belongs to football
Toni Kroos leads the midfield, followed by Robert Lewandowski in fifth place. The exceptional footballer has 36.9 million followers, two places ahead of Erling Haaland, the goal machine formerly of Borussia Dortmund and in 2025 of Man United, who however has 38.4 million followers, 1.5 million more fans.
Surrounded by so much sport is model and influencer Mariam Grigoryan with a rather modest 18 million followers
The Instagram star is mainly known for her lifestyle content on fashion, makeup, and travel.
At the end of the scale, the follower numbers also drop significantly
While there are quite considerable follower numbers in the top positions, in the “relegation zone”, occupied by two out of three influencers from the football scene, the follower numbers become more manageable. David Alaba, the Austrian national player, might still be known to many from his time at Bayern Munich. Today he’s on Real Madrid’s payroll. He owes his eighth place among the ten strongest influencers in Germany, among other things, to 15.6 million followers, still 6.6 million fewer than Richarlison (22.2 million followers), the Brazilian footballer ranked tenth, who as of 2025 earns his money at Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.
The actor Paul Walker, who died in 2013, known for appearances in “Fast and Furious”, is in ninth place
For outsiders, it may seem somewhat macabre when deceased personalities are still represented in the top ten of an influencer ranking.
Where does the data on influencers come from?
What player agents are in football, portals like hypeauditor.com are for influencers. With the slogan “Find Authentic Influencers. Any Industry. Any Size.” the portal based in the USA, founded in 2017, advertises its influencer marketing platform. Interested parties can retrieve all relevant data on the influencers stored there, filter potential advertising carriers according to various criteria, and ultimately find “their face in the market”.
