Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg - operating on YouTube as PewDiePie - is one of the most successful content creators on the platform. As of December 2024, the popular YouTuber had accumulated approximately 29.4 billion views on his channel. Despite his success, PewDiePie 's YouTube channel has experienced stagnant growth in 2022, maintaining its audience at 111 million subscribers since December 2021. Most popular channels While PewDiePie’s accumulated more than 29 billion views is impressive, it is dwarfed by the most watched channels on YouTube. Wiz Khalifa music channel is the most watched YouTube channel on a monthly basis, with viewers watching their videos an incredible 5.99 billion times every month. Fast fame on YouTube Now a decade old, YouTube’s ability to connect content creators with massive audiences has led to the emergence of channels that rival mainstream media outlets in terms of audience size. In some cases, videos can reach 100 million views in just a matter of days. Channels for kids such as Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes have also been popular, with lifetime views of over 194 billion.

Few individuals better represent the rise of the YouTube celebrity than Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, operating on YouTube as PewDiePie. The Swedish YouTuber was the content creator with the largest audience on YouTube for several years, until he was surpassed by American YouTuber MrBeast. As of January 2025, the popular creator had around 110 million subscribers. In total, videos on the PewDiePie channel have been viewed approximately 29 billion times. Subscribe to PewDiePie meme The surge in subscriber numbers from the end of 2018 onwards is attributable to PewDiePie’s “Subscribe to PewDiePie Meme“, a demonstration of his immense ability to mobilize his subscribers. In the campaign to overtake T-Series and become the channel with the most subscribers, PewDiePie’s challenge required followers to plaster words to the effect of ‘Subscribe to PewDiePie’ wherever possible, either in the physical or digital realms. Despite the obvious success of the campaign in terms of subscriptions, PewDiePie recently called for the campaign to be stopped following three major incidents. In the first a World War II memorial was defaced in New York City, and in March 2019 a gunman uttered the phrase before opening fire on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people and wounding several more. In April 2019, the gunman who opened fire on a Southern California synagogue, killing one and wounding at least three others, also referred to the campaign.   The rise of the YouTuber Now a decade old, YouTube’s ability to connect content creators with massive audiences has led to the emergence of channels that rival mainstream media outlets in terms of audience size. In some cases, videos can reach 100 million views in just a matter of days . It isn’t just traditional celebrities that are finding audiences either, with channels for kids such as Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes attracting over 194 billion views, and generating significant revenue in the process.

As of January 2025, the ranking of the most popular YouTube channels based on monthly views is dominated by music and children's content. Wiz Khalifa's Music channel was ranked first with a whopping six billion channel views, while Wow Kidz ranked second with over five billion video views in the last examined month. Indian music record channel T-Series -which ranked first continuously in 2021 and 2022, placed third with 2.72 billion video views. Most subscribed YouTube channels When looking at the most-subscribed YouTube channels: Indian music label T-Series was ranked first with 229 million channel subscribers. The video game commentator Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, ranked seventh, with roughly 111 million subscribers, after being surpassed by Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast in November 2022. As of June 2022, PewDiePie was still the most subscribed gaming-content channel on YouTube, followed by Salvadorian YouTuber Fernanfloo with 45 million global subscribers. Creators' earnings MrBeast was the highest-earning YouTuber in 2021, with 54 million U.S. dollars. Ryan Kaji from Ryan's World was among the youngest content creators making the rankings of the highest-earning YouTubers in 2021, with an estimated revenue of 27 million U.S. dollars. Ryan’s channel was set up by his parents in March 2015, when the young content creator was three years old. MrBeast was also the leading content creator on YouTube based on Influence Media Value, while PewDiePie ranked third with an evaluation of around 3.91 million U.S. dollars.

What is the most subscribed YouTube channel? MrBeast made the first place in the ranking of the most-subscribed YouTube channels in January 2025. With 343 million subscribers, the U.S. based videographer and internet personality managed to surpass Indian music network T-Series, which held the number one place for several years, and sat at 284 million subscriber as of the examined period. How many hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute? YouTube was launched in 2005 as a platform for sharing user-generated videos such as vlogs, tutorials, or original series. The site grew rapidly and reportedly had 100 million video views per day and more than 65 thousand daily uploads only a year later. As of February 2022, more than 500 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute, up from a mere 24 hours of content uploads per minute in 2010. YouTube Partner Program In the first quarter of 2024, YouTube’s ad revenue amounted to over eight billion U.S. dollars. Through its Partner Program, YouTube also rewards uploaders of popular videos with a share of the advertising revenues the content generates. This, paired with the fact that many users of the video sharing platform tend to have favorite channels that they revisit regularly, has given rise to another phenomenon: YouTube celebrities. Although some of these well-known figures were discovered on the website but then carved a successful career outside of YouTube, for many others the site is their primary platform for delivering content and staying in contact with fans, all while signing lucrative deals or promotional partnerships. Highest earning YouTubers In November 2022, MrBeast surpassed long-standing most subscribed YouTuber PewDiePie, having reached approximately 112 million subscribers. Due to the high number of subscribers and even higher number of views, these out-of-the-box stars not only have millions of fans, but also considerable earnings from their YouTube activities. In 2023, MrBeast was estimated to have earned around 82 million U.S. dollars, topping the ranking of the highest-earning YouTube creators. The ranking also included social media personality Jake Paul and Mark Fischbach, as well as Ryan Kaji from Ryan's World (formerly known as ToysReview), who started his YouTube career reviewing toys at three years old.

Jimmy Donaldson - operating on YouTube as MrBeast, saw over 3.06 billion views on his popular YouTube channel in December 2024. In November 2022, MrBeast overtook PewDiePie as the most subscribed YouTuber on the platform. Additionally, MrBeast was the most valued content creator in the United States and Canada during the second quarter of 2022, with an Influencer Media value of 4.9 million U.S. dollars.

As of January 2025, Italian YouTuber PANDA BOI was ranked first among the most popular YouTube gaming channels with 56.3 million subscribers. Spanish gaming YouTuber Miguel Bernal Montes, better known online as Mikecrack, was ranked second with 53.9 million subscribers. Gaming on YouTube Gaming content is a popular part of the YouTube content ecosystem. Gaming tutorials, walkthroughs and Let’s Play videos are a staple of the video platform, and over 350 gaming video creators on YouTube had more than 10 million followers and more than 100 billion hours of gaming video content were watched on YouTube. A big audience usually also translates into being able to make a living from monetized YouTube content, sponsorships, influencer marketing campaigns, and merchandise sales. Tyler Blevins (aka Ninja) topped the ranking of the highest earning video gamers worldwide with approximately 17 million U.S. dollars in annual earnings. Gaming live streaming on YouTube Live streaming on YouTube has also gained in popularity since 2018 and has seen a significant boost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After peaking at the end of 2020, YouTube Gaming Live generated a cumulative 1.18 billion hours of content watched in the third quarter of 2022, representing a 7.4 percent decrease from the previous quarter.