List of most-subscribed YouTube channels
A subscriber to a channel on the American video-sharing platform YouTube is a user who has chosen to receive the channel's content by clicking on that channel's "Subscribe" button, and each user's subscription feed consists of videos published by channels to which the user is subscribed.[1] The ability for users to subscribe was introduced in October 2005.[2] YouTube began publishing a list of its most-subscribed channels in April 2006.[3] An early archive of the list dates to May 17, 2006.[4]
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Since May 2006, when Smosh occupied the top position with just 2,986 subscribers,[4] at least 11 other YouTube channels have held the top spot; these include the channel for the American fictional web series lonelygirl15,[5] American comedian Brooke "Brookers" Brodack,[6] American fictional character Fred Figglehorn,[7] Swedish gamer Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg,[8] American comedian Ryan Higa,[9] American media personality Ray William Johnson,[10] American public speaker Judson Laipply,[11] English geriatric Peter Oakley,[12] and the official channels for Indian music record label T-Series, as well as YouTube[A] itself.[13]
The most-subscribed YouTube channel is MrBeast, having 299 million subscribers as of July 7, 2024, and gaining subscribers by an average of over 5 million per week.[14][15]
50 most-subscribed channels
The following table lists the 50 most-subscribed YouTube channels,[B][16] as well as the primary language and content category of each channel. The channels are ordered by number of subscribers. Those whose displayed subscriber counts are identical, are listed so that the channel whose current growth rate indicates that its displayed subscriber count will exceed that of the other channel is listed first. Automatically generated channels that lack their own videos, such as Music and News, and channels that have been made effectively obsolete as a result of the transferral of their content, such as JustinBieberVEVO and TaylorSwiftVEVO[C] are excluded.
As of June 2024, 21 of the 50 channels listed primarily produce content in English while 17 primarily produce content in Hindi. All 50 channels have surpassed 52 million subscribers.[17] Ten of the channels have surpassed 100 million subscribers and only two have more than 200 million subscribers: MrBeast and T-Series.[18]
Historical progression of most-subscribed channels
The following table lists the 20 distinct runs as the most-subscribed YouTube channel recorded since May 2006. Only runs lasting at least 24 hours are included. 12 different channels have held the position, with PewDiePie holding the title a record four times. In second place is Smosh, which held it three times, while third place is tied between nigahiga, T-Series, and YouTube's own channel, which have all held it twice each.
| Channel name | Date achieved | Days held | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smosh (1) | May 17, 2006 | 18 | [4][28] |
| Judson Laipply | June 4, 2006 | 29 | [29][30][31] |
| Brookers | July 3, 2006 | 45 | [32][33][34] |
| geriatric1927 | August 17, 2006 | 26 | [35][36] |
| lonelygirl15 | September 12, 2006 | 226 | [37][38][39][40] |
| Smosh (2) | April 26, 2007 | 517 | [28][41] |
| nigahiga (1) | September 24, 2008 | 12 | [42][43] |
| FЯED | October 6, 2008 | 318 | [43][44] |
| nigahiga (2) | August 20, 2009 | 675 | [42][45][46] |
| Ray William Johnson | June 26, 2011 | 564 | [47][48][49] |
| Smosh (3) | January 12, 2013 | 215 | [28][50][51] |
| PewDiePie (1) | August 15, 2013 | 79 | [52][53] |
| YouTube Spotlight[A] (1) | November 2, 2013 | 36 | [54][55][56] |
| PewDiePie (2) | December 8, 2013 | 4 | [57][58] |
| YouTube Spotlight (2) | December 12, 2013 | 11 | [59][58] |
| PewDiePie (3) | December 23, 2013 | 1,920 | [60][61][62] |
| T-Series (1) | March 27, 2019[D] | 5 | [66][68] |
| PewDiePie (4) | April 1, 2019 | 13 | [67][69][70] |
| T-Series (2) | April 14, 2019 | 1,876 | [71][72] |
| MrBeast | June 2, 2024 | 36 | [73] |
| As of 30 June 2024 UTC | |||
Timeline
Timeline of the most-subscribed YouTube channels (May 2006 – present)
Milestones and reactions
| Channel | Subscriber milestone | Date achieved | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookers | 10,000 | July 7, 2006 | [74] |
| geriatric1927 | 20,000 | August 18, 2006 | [75] |
| lonelygirl15 | 50,000 | October 23, 2006 | [76] |
| Smosh | 100,000 | May 15, 2007 | [77] |
| FЯED | 1 million | April 7, 2009 | [78] |
| nigahiga | 2 million | March 13, 2010 | [79] |
| RayWilliamJohnson | 5 million | November 15, 2011 | [80] |
| Smosh | 10 million | May 25, 2013 | [81] |
| PewDiePie | 20 million | January 9, 2014 | [82] |
| 50 million | December 8, 2016 | [83] | |
| T-Series | 100 million | May 29, 2019 | [84] |
| 200 million | November 30, 2021 | [85] | |
| 250 million | September 24, 2023 | [86] |
Following the third time that Smosh became the most-subscribed YouTube channel, Ray William Johnson collaborated with the duo.[87] A flurry of top YouTubers including Ryan Higa, Shane Dawson, Felix Kjellberg, Michael Buckley, Kassem Gharaibeh, the Fine Brothers, and Johnson himself, congratulated the duo shortly after they surpassed Johnson as the most-subscribed channel.[88]
PewDiePie vs T-Series
In mid-2018, the subscriber count of the Indian music video channel T-Series rapidly approached that of Swedish web comedian and Let's Player PewDiePie, who was the most-subscribed user on YouTube at the time.[89][90] As a result, fans of PewDiePie and T-Series, other YouTubers, and celebrities showed their support for both channels. During the competition, both channels gained a large number of subscribers at a rapid rate, and surpassed each other's subscriber count on multiple occasions in February, March, and April 2019.[63][64][65][67] T-Series eventually permanently surpassed PewDiePie, and on May 29, 2019, it became the first channel to reach 100 million subscribers.[84]
In 2024, when MrBeast surpassed T-Series, he tweeted that his fans had "avenged" PewDiePie.[73] In the lead-up to MrBeast's channel becoming the most-subscribed, T-Series issued a call for subscribers.[91] Meanwhile, MrBeast urged his fans to not see the competition between his channel and T-Series as "this country versus that country", while also warning against anyone becoming hateful.[92]
