Which NBA players have been name-dropped in the most songs?
Who are the most name-dropped NBA players in music history?
TopRatedCasinos.co.uk figured out the answer by seeing whose name appears the most across all of the songs on Lyrics.com.
Kobe Bryant has been name-dropped more than any other athlete, with 1,147 mentions in songs. In fact, Bryant has been name-dropped twice as much as anyone else; after Bryant's 1,147 mentions, the second-most-mentioned athlete is Lionel Messi with 553 lyrics.
Michael Jordan has the third-most mentions, with 439 shout-outs in songs.
Aside from Kobe and MJ, the NBA players with the most mentions are LeBron James (188), Stephen Curry (119), Magic Johnson (114), Larry Bird (84) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (32).
Basketball stars were the second-most name-dropped athletes with 2,123 mentions in songs, trailing only soccer stars (who had 2,738 mentions).
Here’s a look at the top-30 most name-dropped professional athletes:
- Kobe Bryant 1,147
- Lionel Messi, 553
- Michael Jordan, 439
- Mike Tyson, 407
- Cristiano Ronaldo, 280
- Diego Maradona, 270
- George Best, 269
- Muhammad Ali, 236
- Neymar, 230
- Tiger Woods, 221
- Zinedine Zidane, 216
- Usain Bolt, 216
- Jim Brown, 203
- LeBron James, 188
- David Beckham, 182
- N'Golo Kanté, 160
- Stephen Curry, 119
- Magic Johnson, 114
- Michael Phelps, 112
- Babe Ruth, 107
- Ronaldinho, 104
- Bo Jackson, 94
- Tom Brady, 94
- Larry Bird, 84
- Reggie White, 84
- Luis Suárez, 73
- Chris Hoy, 56
- Jerry Rice, 55
- Mesut Ozil, 51
- Eric Cantona, 47