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 *** million subscribers. In total, videos on the PewDiePie channel have been viewed approximately ** 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 ** 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 *** billion views, and generating significant revenue in the process.

Felix Kjellberg, known on the internet as PewDiePie, is one of Sweden's and world's top influencers. He ranked among 10 most popular YouTube channels in early 2023, having accumulated 111 million subscribers. He reports earnings from his influencer activities across various companies set up in different countries worldwide. His Swedish business Pewdie Holdings AB generated a revenue of 93.69 million Swedish kronor (or approximately 9.3 million U.S. dollars at December 2023 exchange rates) and an annual profit of 75.4 million kronor (or approximately 7.5 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.

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.

The most subscribed YouTube channels in the world are split evenly between brands and individual YouTubers. Many of the most successful company channels actually serve Indian audiences – such as T-Series, SET India, and Zee Music Company. All of these specialize in movies and music, often with Bollywood ties. One name even features twice on our Top 50 list: The main T-Series channel is the second-most subscribed YouTube channel in the world, at over 290 million subs, while its devotional movies channel ranks 26th. Among the 6 non-corporate YouTubers in the overall Top 10 are the overall leader, MrBeast, as well as PewDiePie and three kids’ content creators – Kids Diana Show, Like Nastya, and Vlad and Niki. The newest addition to the ranks are the Stokes Twins. You won’t be surprised that the creator with the most subscribers on the platform is Jimmy Donaldson. After shooting past long-time leader T-Series and You won’t be surprised that the creator with the most subscribers on the platform is Jimmy Donaldson. After shooting past long-time leader T-Series and cracking the magic 300 million mark in mid-2024, MrBeast is fresh off busting the 400 million milestone. It's a spectacular fanbase that earns him an outsize income. We’ve also already mentioned just how popular child YouTubers like Nastya or Diana are. Today, Vlad and Niki hold the #2 creator spot with 141 million subs, now pulling ahead of Kids Diana Show at 135 million (#3). Like Nastya is not far behind at 128 million subscribers in spot #4. Closing the distance are the Stokes Twins, Alan and Alex, who rocketed up this entire list last year to become the #5 creators and the top #8 subscribed channel overall. The sensation comedy duo nearly quadrupled their sub count within three months. The twin’s antics are now followed by a cool 127 million YouTube subscribers. Earlier this year, the twins passed another long-term subs leader, video game player PewDiePie AKA Felix Kjellberg (110 million, #6 creator). Kjellberg's channel is basically inactive, though. It's leaked about a million followers over the last year. The #7 creator channel is the South Korean comedy skit channel KIMPRO, which features the eponymous Kim Pro and a variable cast of female creators. At 110 million subs, too, KIMPRO is already the #11 most subscribed channel in the world. It, too, has been growing rapidly, adding millions of fans every week. Kim will probably overtake PewDiePie in a few days. Rank #8 now belongs to Shorts star Alan Chikin Chow on Alan's Universe. Chow's comedic talent has earned him 94 million followers - more than triple what he had a year ago, when he was crowned (once more) the most famous Shorts YouTuber. Not far behind him comes the comedy skit channel A4, run by a team of Belarusian creators. They have amassed about 82 million subscribers. After edging onto the top 50 list at the beginning of last year, A4 are now #23 overall, and the #9 creator channel. Next up is Indian family comedy channel KL BRO Biju Rithvik, which made it onto this list just a few months ago, now with around 74 million subscribers. This makes them the #10 creator channel. This leaves ex-NASA and Apple engineer Mark Rober in spot #11. His eponymous DIY engineering and science channel recently reached 69 million subs – and continues to grow slowly, but steadily. Immediately after comes Topper Guild - the TikTok personality whose first dubious claim to fame was wasting food for views, and who has now moved on to glitzy Beast-style clips. Having entered the list in March, he is already the #13 creator with some 69 million fans. He'll likely overtake Rober shortly. Next, there's Uruguayan comedy-horror YouTuber Fede Vigevani. Listed here for about a year - since June 2024 - he today has over 68 million subscribers, which earns him the #12 creator spot. Additionally, he is the single most-watched Spanish-speaking creator, just ahead of YOLO. Also on the list since the first days of 2025 is Instagram, TikTok and YouTube phenomenon Alejo Igoa, an Argentinian comedian filming silly stuff with his friends. At some 66 million subs, he's the #14 creator on this list – and he's been climbing. 2025's third new entry are the guys from YOLO AVENTURAS, a Mexico-based pranks, comedy and MrBeast-style challenge channel around Venezuelan Flavio Andrés Broianigo Muñoz (aka YOLO) and his siblings. Their near 62 million subscribers make them the #15 creator channel. And: We're optimistic that they'll stay with us. The fourth newbie in 2025 is Japanese Short and TikTok creator ISSEI, AKA issei0806, whose funny travelogues and parodies of popular content formats launched him onto this list in June. He's entering with some 62 million subs as the #16 creator. Fresh on #17 with 61 million subscribers comes Indian child sensation Anaya Kandhal, who has finally shouldered Dude Perfect out of the top 50 YouTubers - despite their big plans.

Online gaming is no longer just a pastime or a hobby, but it is also a way of making a good living for some people. Felix Kjellberg, also know as PewDiePie, is one of the famous online gamers, with more than four billion views on his channel and earnings of 15 million U.S. dollars in 2019.

In 2019, Tyler Blevins (also known as Ninja) ranked first as the top-earning video gamer worldwide with annual earnings of approximately 17 million U.S. dollars during the measured year. This includes streaming revenues from advertising, subscriptions, and donations, as well as product endorsement deals and merchandise sales. Second-ranked was Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) who earned 15 million U.S. dollars through various activities.