Forbes: Top Paid Athletes - Woods, Kobe & LeBron

According to Forbes, over the past 12 months, the top paid athlete is Tiger Woods at $75 million. Despite losing Gillette, AT&T and PepsiCo as sponsors, plus being mired in a 20 month winless streak and putting the finishing touches on a second wasted year, Woods still tops the list.

For the record, Woods' income has dropped $50 million over the past 2 years.

According to the article, Woods can thank his sponsors Nike and Electronic Arts:

The two companies have built significant businesses on Woods’ back, and his paychecks from both have grown. Nike launched its golf division with Woods essentially holding up the brand; last year it reported sales of $638 million. EA released its 14th Woods video game in March, and the game racked up record first-week sales of 225,000 units; that topped the old sales record, set in 2007, by 17%. EA and Nike combined are responsible for more than half of Woods’ $75 million in earnings.

Forbes derived income from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months ending May 1.

At number two is Kobe Bryant at $53 million. His "I'm sorry" rock he bought his wife would probably be third on this list.

Rounding out the top 5 are LeBron James, $48 million, Roger Federer, $47 million, and Phil Mickelson, $46.5 million.

The only woman on the list is Maria Sharapova. She's number 29 at $24.2 million.

Here's the entire list:

1. Tiger Woods, $75 million

2. Kobe Bryant, $53 million

3. LeBron James, $48 million

4. Roger Federer, $47 million

5. Phil Mickelson, $46.5 million

6. David Beckham, $40 million

7. Cristiano Ronaldo, $38 million

8. Alex Rodriguez Baseball 35 $35 million

9. Michael Schumacher, $34 million

10. Lionel Messi, $32.3 million

11. Fernando Alonso, $32 million

12. Rafael Nadal, $31.5 million

13. Valentino Rossi, $31 million

14. Tom Brady, $31 million

15. Lewis Hamilton, $30 million

16. Derek Jeter, $29 million

17. Dale Earnhardt Jr., $28.5 million

18. Yao Ming, $27.7 million

19. Dwight Howard, $27.6 million

20. Dwayne Wade, $26.2 million

21. Peyton Manning, $26.1 million

22. Ichiro Suzuki, $26 million

23. Carmelo Anthony, $25.1 million

24. Kaka, $25 million

25. Manny Pacquaio, $25 million

26. Jeff Gordon, $24.9 million

27. Rinaldinho, $24.7 million

28. Amare Stoudemire, $24.5 million

29. Maria Sharapova, $24.2 million

30. Wayne Rooney, $24.1 million

31. Jimmie Johnson, $24 million

32. Kevin Garnett, $23.8 million

33. C.C. Sabathia, $23.6 million

34. Jim Furyk, $23 million

35. Vince Carter, $21.8 million

36. Johan Santana, $21.5 million

37. Tim Duncan, $21.2 million

38. Chris Paul, $20.9 million

39. Mark Teixeira, $20.8 million

40. Ryan Howard, $20.8 million

41. Miguel Cabrera, $20.3 million

42. Rashard Lewis, $20.1 million

43. Todd Helton, $19.6 million

44. Ernie Els, $19.6 million

45. Joe Mauer, $19.3 million

46. Dirk Nowitzki, $19.3 million

47. Barry Zito, $19.2 million

48. Jahri Evans, $19.1 million

49. Pau Gasol, $18.9 million

50. Michael Redd, $18.8 million