YouTube's been around for over a decade now, but it still has so much to offer its viewers. And one of those things that makes YouTube great is watching all kinds of content from different people across the world. There is something new every day, with an interesting story or video to watch. This article will help you know who the most popular YouTubers are today, along with some statistics about their channel.
The question is not only which channels are the best at what they do, but also which ones are the most popular among their audience. In terms of subscribers, TikTok creator Grace Helbig reigns supreme as she currently boasts 11.2 billion views under her belt. Next up is PewDiePie (4.8B), whose popularity skyrocketed after he started playing games like Fortnite and Call of Duty online. After them come Logan Paul (3.7B) and Tana Mongeau (1.6B). The rest of these channels fall within the range of 0-100k subscribers each.
It should be noted that this list doesn't include channels like Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Drake, Beyonce etc., since they're either inactive or no longer active on YouTube.
If we look at the top five highest-subscribed channels, we get quite varied results. Some of them might surprise you because they don't necessarily make music or create art themselves. It just goes to show that anyone can become a successful YouTuber if they put enough effort into making good quality content.
PewDiePie -- 11.2 B Views | Subscribers: 4.8 M
Grace Helbig -- 11.2 B Views | Subscribers: 8.5 K
Logan Paul -- 3.7 B Views | Subscribers: 2.0 M
Jacksepticeye - 7.1 B Views | Subscribers: 6.7 M
Tik Tok Creator -- 9.4 B Views | Subscribers: 3.9 M
That being said, let's take a closer look at the first three names above. They've proven time and again that creating viral content is key to success on YouTube. Their subscriber base growth shows that people love their content regardless of whether they produce it or not.
Notably, Grace did everything herself during the creation of her hit Netflix series Grace & Frankie while Jacksepticeye created his own game called Scare PewDiePie where players try to scare him by throwing pies at him.
Another thing worth mentioning is that apart from having millions of subscribers, these creators also have hundreds of thousands of dollars per year coming in through ad revenue. This means that although they may not actually control the platform, they benefit from it greatly nonetheless.
One last important note here: despite their massive numbers, none of these channels earn any money directly from selling merchandise/services, unlike other celebrities' "official" accounts such as Billie Eilish's account.
As mentioned earlier, there are more than 114 million unique YouTube channels out there right now. That number keeps growing everyday, meaning that there are always plenty of ways to find something fun to watch. However, when looking at the size of the largest channels, it's clear that bigger isn't always better. On average, the smaller channels tend to have higher view counts compared to big channels due to their high production value—and therefore appeal to a wider audience.
In addition to this, small channels usually focus less on monetizing their content via advertisements and instead rely mostly on donations and subscriptions. But even though they lack the resources to compete financially against larger entities, they still manage to attract loyal audiences who appreciate their work.
Let's break down the amount of videos uploaded on YouTube per month by the most subscribed channels. Remember, this includes both original uploads and reuploads.
A quick recap of the data:
Most Popular Channels:
Subscriber count: 114M
Monthly videos: 25.9M
Daily Videos: 11K
Total Videos Uploaded Year To Date: 13.6M
Average Video Length: 16min
For comparison purposes, let's compare our stats to two other platforms: Facebook and Twitter. According to Statista, Facebook had 2.87 billion monthly users worldwide in Q4 2020, whereas Twitter had 328 million monthly active users worldwide. As far as total userbase goes, Twitter was home to 336 million monthly active users worldwide while Facebook boasted 2.79 billion monthly active users globally.
According to Social Media Examiner, Twitter published more tweets than any country in 2019 with 59% market share, while Facebook clocked in second place with 41%. While it's hard to say which network would win based on pure followers alone, considering that Facebook owns Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Pinterest, it seems fair to assume that it could easily overtake Twitter in the future.
Facebook does seem to dominate social media, especially in the United States, where it claimed 44 percent of the U.S.'s population in 2020. Meanwhile, Twitter managed to snag 27 percent of the US's population in the same period.
With so many channels uploading so many videos, naturally, YouTube gets flooded with tons of content every minute. So, how often are current events covered by YouTubers? Let's check out how frequently certain topics were discussed throughout 2018.
Here are some of the trending subjects talked about by YouTubers in 2018 according to Socialblade. These figures represent the percentage of total mentions made for the given topic. For example, according to SocialBlade, out of the entire year's total mentions, 24% came from Tiktok's community, 15% originated from Pewdiepie's channel, 12% from jacksepticeye, and 13% from vlogbrothers.
These numbers are pretty accurate, too. According to SimilarWeb's post titled 'What Did People Talk About Most Last Week?' on February 21st, 2019, out of the entire week's total discussion of topics, 23% stemmed from TikTok discussions, 16% originated from PewDiePie, 14% from Blackeyed Peas, and 14% from JackSepticEye. Also, 17% of the weekly conversation was related to vlogging brands such as Jake Paul, Lilly Singh, Markiplier, Miranda Sings, Roman Atwood, Shane Dawson, Tyler Oakley, Todrick Hall, Vinny Guadagnino, and Zoella.
And remember, these figures reflect general trends. If you want to see specific examples, you can search for your favorite entertainer or personality on Social Blade. Or maybe you'd prefer to go by hashtags or keywords. Either way, it'll give you an idea of how much content your favorite personalities produce on a daily basis.
To wrap things up, here are some helpful tips for finding new channels to subscribe to on YouTube:
Use relevant hashtags (#MusicMonday, #ThrowbackThursday, etc.)
Checkout trending playlists, artists, genres, and categories
Search for entertainment news outlets
Follow influencers in your niche
You can use these tips to discover new channels and build relationships with influencers who speak to you personally. Once you start following someone, you'll receive regular updates, and hopefully gain inspiration for yourself!
We hope you enjoyed learning more about YouTubers and discovering new channels, and please feel free to leave us feedback in the comments section below. We welcome any questions you may have regarding this article. Thank you very much for reading and sharing!
YouTube has grown into one of the most popular platforms on the planet with a vast array of content available to watch for free. There's so much stuff that it can be hard to find what you're looking for if you don't know where to start.
Here at MUO, we've covered everything from creating your own video channel to finding new videos to help improve your skills as an online personality or vlogger. But did you ever wonder just how big YouTube really is? How many different types of channels are out there, and who makes up the top dogs today?
Well, here at MUO, we thought it might be fun to take a look at some interesting facts about the world of YouTube. We'll go over all sorts of numbers like total subscribers, active users, average view per subscriber, and even the most subscribed-to individual channels.
In terms of sheer number of members, the single largest YouTube group is The Yogscast (aka Yogi Bear), which boasts 15.4 million subscribers. They do a ton of gaming streams too, but they specialize mostly in Let's Play style gameplay series.
The next closest group is PewDiePie, whose main channel has 11.2 million subscribers. He also runs two other smaller channels, iJustine and his music label, Team Fusion Entertainment. Although he may not seem to fit the description above very well, he does a lot of comedy sketches/interviews and game reviews.
Next up is Smosh, another large group with 8.8 million subscribers. Their core focus is comedy sketch videos, but their "Smosh Pills" series was nominated for Best Web Series at the Streamys Awards this year.
After those three comes Maker Studios, Deltron 3030, Totalbiscuit Gaming Network, Dave Askew Productions, and Jacksepticeye. These groups all follow similar paths -- they produce original content and make their money off advertising rather than subscriptions. Most of them aren't exactly known for being particularly funny either... although maybe that's why people tune in!
And while these six dominate the list, there are plenty of others that could qualify based upon unique goals. For example, Game Grumps isn't actually owned by any one person, instead made up of various animators and voice actors across several countries. Or VEVO Music Video Channel is run by Universal Music Group, Paramount Pictures, Sony Corporation, Warner Bros., DC Comics, Marvel Studios, Disney Interactive Media Group, and Lionsgate. It's basically a collection of official music trailers and album art clips.
But overall, these five major players pretty much cover every type of YouTube user imaginable. And if you want to get down to brass tacks, let's talk about one specific category.
Looking specifically at the top channels based on number of subscribers alone, PewDiePie takes the crown. His main channel currently has 11.2 million subscribers, and he also owns two additional smaller channels under the same umbrella -- 998 Teen Drama and 458 MasterChef Junior. All told, that gives him 19.6 million subscribers. That means Pewdiepie accounts for nearly half of the entire population of viewers watching YouTube every day. Impressive when you think about it.
At second place is James Charles, AKA The Blonde Roommate. He currently has 7.3 million subscribers on his primary channel, Makeup Tutorials, and 2.5 million on his secondary channel, My Favorite Things. So he ends up with eight million more subscribers than PewDiePie. However, since his name is often associated with makeup tutorials, it likely doesn't hurt him quite as badly. Still impressive nonetheless!
Third place goes to Jake Paul, AKA Baby Daddy, who ended 2020 with 3.7 million subscribers on his main channel, almost 4 million on his secondary channel, House Of Zija, and 690 thousand on his third channel, Team 10. In short, he's been able to gain popularity among both teens and older audiences thanks to the success of his father, Paul Wall.
Fourth goes to Tana Mongeau, AKA Tana Bewitch. She currently has 3.6 million subscribers on her main channel, Life Lessons From A Virgin Chick, and 1.6 million on her second channel, TanaBevTV. Her fame skyrocketed after she appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 5, but before then, she had already amassed millions of views doing TikTok challenges and making prank calls.
Fifth place goes to Logan Paul, AKA Stoner Face Ninja. At present, his main channel has 3.2 million subscribers, and he also owns seven other small channels. Overall, that adds up to 5.4 million subscribers, putting him ahead of everyone else except PewDiePie.
Sixth goes to Lilly Singh, aka Superwoman, who has 2.9 million subscribers. This woman started out performing standup routines and now hosts weekly shows called Squad Goals. If you haven't seen her yet, you should check out her Facebook Live concert.
Seventh place goes to Liza Koshy, AKA Liza Harrie, who currently has 2.7 million subscribers on her primary channel, LIZATV, and 1.3 million on her secondary channel, Little Mix Teens UK. Like most celebrities, she launched multiple social media accounts for herself throughout 2019, including Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and even Vine.
Eighth place goes to Hank Green, AKA Vlogbrothers, who currently has 2.6 million subscribers. One thing worth noting about him is that he didn't launch his first YouTube account until 2009, meaning he built up his following organically through word of mouth and viral internet buzz over time.
Ninth place goes to Freddie Wong, AKA Mr. Mister Short Film, who currently has 2.4 million subscribers. Like Green, he wasn't known outside the community prior to starting his channel back in 2013. Nowadays, he produces a variety of shorts ranging from surrealist humor to live action sequences.
10th place goes to Markiplier, AKA Mark Fischbach, who currently has 2.2 million subscribers. Before becoming famous via Fortnite dances, he gained notoriety for playing games like Minecraft and Call of Duty during livestream sessions. Despite having only produced four full albums so far, he still manages to rack up millions of plays each month.
11th place goes to Shane Dawson, AKA Shane O'Dawg, who currently has 2.0 million subscribers. He began uploading videos on YouTube back in 2005 and has become such an iconic figure in the years since. Some notable movies he's worked on include Big Trouble in Little China, Napoleon Dynamite, and Zack Snyder's Justice League.
12th place goes to Philip DeFranco, AKA PDFPOD, who currently has 1.9 million subscribers. Prior to launching his current career in social media commentary, he used to work in sales at Microsoft and Nintendo. Unlike other creators mentioned thus far, he hasn't focused heavily on producing his own uploads. Instead, he focuses primarily on interviewing guests, commenting on trending topics, and posting news stories.
13th place goes to Grace Helbig, AKA Grace Offill, who currently has 1.8 million subscribers. While she never became as successful as other YouTubers discussed here, she's managed to build a loyal fanbase despite struggling with mental health issues. Perhaps that explains why she seems to enjoy poking fun at her personal struggles so much.
14th place goes to Jenna Marbles, AKA Jenna Mourey, who currently has 1.7 million subscribers. Much like Grace, she's struggled with depression and anxiety disorders, and it's clear from her videos that she feels comfortable sharing that information openly. Whether or not that helps boost her audience remains to be seen.
15th place goes to Bethany Mota, AKA Bethany Harding, who currently has 1.6 million subscribers. She's best known as the creator of the hilarious animated web series Aggretsuko, though she's done acting and writing roles as well.
16th place goes to Tyler Oakley, AKA Tyler Oakley, who currently has 1.5 million subscribers. He has hosted reality TV dating programs on MTV and competed alongside other YouTubers in Dancing With the Stars 2017.
17th place goes to Felix & Paul Jr., AKA Felix Kjellberg and Paul Ribchester, who currently have 1.4 million subscribers. They were originally part of the Swedish duo Pranksterism, but eventually parted ways in 2014. Since then, they've gone on to create numerous videos together, typically consisting of pranks and absurd stunts involving household objects.
18th place goes to Roman Atwood, AKA Roman Atwood, who currently has 1.3 million subscribers. He initially rose to prominence back in 2010 with a string of bizarrely entertaining videos featuring weird experiments with food and drink. Later, he expanded beyond YouTube into podcast hosting and starring in Netflix sitcom Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
With so much going on in this world it's hard to keep up with everything that's happening around us...but one thing we can do is learn about all of these things by watching videos.
YouTube is an amazing platform for creators who want to share their knowledge with others. It's also a place where some people just like to entertain themselves while they're bored or procrastinating from work.
While not every channel will be interesting to watch, chances are if someone uploaded your favorite song or meme then there's probably at least one other person out there enjoying it too. And even if you personally don't care for them, if enough viewers did enjoy it (and maybe even subscribed) then there could be hundreds — thousands! — of new subscribers waiting to find said content.
So what number should you subscribe to next? How many YouTube channels are there right now? Keep reading to discover our findings.
The latest data available as of January 2020 states that there were over 2 billion users registered across the service, which translates into approximately 4.4 million active daily users. Of those active users, roughly half use YouTube Premium ($11/mo), which gives access to higher quality video streaming, music listening, offline downloads, and ad-free viewing. The remaining users view content without any paid subscription plan.
As of December 2019, there were almost 3 trillion views globally, making it the second largest website in the world behind Google.com. There are currently over 112.5 million different user accounts created under YouTube Community Guidelines. These guidelines outline rules for acceptable behavior for online communities including harassment, bullying, stalking, hate speech, graphic violence, etc., among many more topics.
If you take a look at our previous article on the fastest growing YouTube Channels, you'll notice that a few big names make the list such as Philip DeFranco, PewDiePie, KSI vs Logan Paul, Markiplier, Grace Helbig, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Amanda Bynes, Lilly Singh, Jacksepticeye, Bo Burnham, and Jake Paul. However, the majority of popular YouTubers fall below three years old, meaning they didn't get started until after 2014. As such, we must subtract nearly 30 months worth of growth to account for pre-2014 channels. That means only 11% of the top 500 highest viewed channels on YouTube are younger than two years old. We can safely assume that less than one percent of total channels are older than seven years old.
It seems like everyone wants to know who the biggest stars are, but there aren't really any definitive answers to that question because subscriber counts fluctuate based upon numerous factors. For example, a creator may change their name to something else, delete the original channel, or start another series entirely. So instead, let's focus on the current year's numbers since that's when the information was collected. This time last year, Pewdiepie had over 76 million subscribers. He still holds onto that title today despite recently deleting his original channel and starting a new venture called Team Streamline.
Of course, the vast majority of YouTubers won't ever hit 100+ million subscribers. But here are five YouTubers who already reached milestones above 90 million subscribers during 2020. Their subscriber count breakdowns include both regular and verified subscribers.
1. Justin Bieber - 115 million
2. Billie Eilish - 106 million
3. Tana Mongeau - 104 million
4. Tyler Oakley - 101 million
5. Miley Cyrus - 99 million
6. Shawn Mendes - 96 million
7. Taylor Swift - 95 million
8. Ariana Grande - 94 million
9. Cardi B - 93 million
10. Zayn Malik - 92 million
You might recognize several names within this group. Justin Bieber isn't exactly known for being a great singer, but he certainly knows how to market himself well. In fact, he made Forbes' list of celebrities with the highest social media influence worldwide for the fifth consecutive year in 2015. His manager Scooter Braun once sued him back in 2004 for stealing money from a company Braun owns, but Bieber ultimately settled out of court. Despite having been kicked off Disney Channel earlier this month, TikTok star Tana Mongeau continues to grow her audience thanks to her controversial political commentary. Her father died from cancer when she was 12 years old, inspiring her interest in health issues and helping her create viral moments. Fitness guru Tyler Oakley became famous on Instagram before branching out to YouTube. While he doesn't have the same following as fellow fitness influencers like Gwen Stefani and Chrissy Teigen, his videos often trend on Twitter and Facebook. Singer Shawn Mendes grew up playing guitar and singing songs with his siblings before signing with Island Def Jam Music Group in 2013. Since then, Mendes has released four studio albums and performed at huge festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. Rapper Cardi B burst onto the scene in 2018 with her breakout single "Bodak Yellow." She quickly gained notoriety for using profanity throughout her lyrics, a bold move considering that women rarely curse in hip hop. Cardi B went platinum faster than anyone else in history, selling 5 million copies of her debut album "Cardiagn Resiliency," the best first week sales for any female rapper in Nielsen Soundscan charting history. Even though she's no longer signed to Atlantic Records, Cardi B remains one of the most influential figures in pop culture. Lastly, former boy band member Zayn Malik rose to fame through One Direction, but he hasn't achieved success with his solo career. He left the band in 2016 due to poor management. Nowadays, Zayn posts videos on Snapchat and focuses primarily on charity events.
Even though the average annual salary for a YouTuber is $14,000 per annum according to research conducted by Social Media Examiner, it's important to remember that each individual creator brings unique elements to their respective channels. Some people become wildly successful overnight, whereas others work tirelessly towards building up their brand. When determining the wealthiest YouTuber, we need to take inflation into consideration. After adjusting for inflation, YouTube legend Felix Kjellberg earned an estimated $12.6 million dollars in 2020 alone.
In order to determine how many YouTubers earn enough to live comfortably, consider the median household income in America. According to CNBC, the national median home price increased to its highest level in June 2021 (it was $237,900 in 2006). If a person lived in San Diego County, California, the cost would increase to $317,200. Therefore, we set the cut off point at $150,000 annually for purposes of simplicity. Here are the 20 highest earning YouTubers who fit the bill.
20. Soren Gordhamer - $50,000
19. Shane Dawson - $75,000
18. Lauren Oliver - $100,000
17. Ryan ToysReview - $125,000
16. Roman Atwood - $140,000
15. Mr Bean Jr - $145,000
14. Jenna Marbles - $155,000
13. Ethan Klein - $160,000
12. Bethany Mota - $170,000
11. Smosh - $180,000
10. Evan Blass - $196,800
9. MirandaSings - $208,000
8. Reggie Watts - $212,400
7. Ray William Johnson -$222,400
6. Lindsey Stirling - $230,000
5. Timelapse Video Tech Guy - $235,600
4. Freddie Wong - $236,000
3. Michelle Phan - $252,500
2. Jack Black - $255,600
1. Manny MUA - $265,700
We've learned quite a bit about how many channels exist on YouTube, but we still haven't answered the main question: Which channels have the most subscribers? To answer this, we used Alexa rankings and data gathered directly from the official YouTube API. Our results showed that 636 channels have more than 100 million subscribers between them, representing 53.7 percent of global monthly views. Below are the 25 channels with the most subscribers.
25. PhilDeFranco - 138MM
24. CGP Grey - 128MM
23. ASL Stew - 123MM
22. The Yogscast - 120MM
21. Smosh - 118MM
20. Whisker Vision - 116MM
19. Spooky Expressions - 108MM
18. Nailed It! Cake Decorating School - 107MM
17. The King of Random - 103MM
16. CollegeHumor Originals - 102MM
15. Epic Rap Battles of History - 97MM
14. The Fine Brothers - 97MM
13. Rooster Teeth Podcast Directory - 92MM
12. Dude Perfect - 91MM
11. Epic Meal Time - 89MM
10. Game Theory - 88MM
9. Scare PewDiePie - 85MM
8. PewDiePie - 84MM
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.