The Biggest YouTube Channels Right Now Are Making Shocking Amounts Of Money
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Highlights
- The biggest YouTube channels in 2024, like Blackpink and MrBeast, earn staggering amounts of money through the platform.
- Out of nearly three billion monthly active users on YouTube, only two million have joined the monetization program.
- YouTube channels need to reach specific milestones to partner with the platform and earn money as creators, which is not an easy task.
YouTube is now the most trusted money-making machine for talented creators, and the biggest YouTube channels are notoriously lucrative.
However, in order to profit from YouTube, channels must first achieve specific milestones and prove their worth to the platform.
Namely, hitting 1,000 subscribers, accruing 4,000 "watch hours," or reaching ten million views through "YouTube Shorts" enable channels to successfully partner with the platform, and earn (sometimes staggering) amounts of money as creators.
YouTube was the first major platform to introduce this partnership system, and now fellow massive social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are rewarding creators with their own set of benchmarks, too.
One-third of the world's population, meaning 2.7 billion out of 7.9 billion people, are monthly active users on YouTube.
But success is not guaranteed for aspiring YouTube channels and creators.
Out of 2.7 billion, only 114 million people have established YouTube accounts, and just over two million in total have joined the YouTube monetization program.
Not every channel prospers; most become inactive, and some with 1,000 or more subscribers can't get to 4,000 "watch hours" with videos, nor ten million "YouTube Shorts" views.
In all, just 32,300 channels (out of the two million monetized accounts) boast over a million subscribers.
To capture people's attention for hours is challenging – but there are some content creators on YouTube who have mastered this art.
Let's explore the biggest YouTube channels today, and find out who is the richest creator on YouTube in 2024.
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The details of YouTube troublemaker Logan Paul's net worth are almost as interesting as how he built his fortune.5 Blackpink: 92.8 Million Subscribers
Blackpink's YouTube Earnings (Lifetime, Estimated): $69.2 Million To $103.8 Million
Blackpink (sometimes stylized as "BlackPink" or "BLACKPINK") is a Korean pop/K-pop girl group consisting of four talented young women: Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa, and Rosé.
The biggest girl pop band on YouTube established their account on January 29th 2016, and their first video was of a dance practice.
On August 8th 2016, Blackpink uploaded their first song, "Boombayah," and boom: the song went viral, getting bigger each passing day until it topped Billboard's "World Digital Song Sales" chart.
Now, Blackpink's YouTube channel is the biggest Korean YouTube channel, the twelfth biggest channel on YouTube, and the fifth-biggest individual YouTube channel.
The Statistical Landscape: Blackpink, Holding Strong As The Fifth-Biggest YouTube Channel
| Total Subscribers | 92.8 Million |
| Total Views | 34.6 Billion |
| Last 30 Days' Views | 345.5 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Last 30 Days | $691,000 To $1.03 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Yearly Average | $9.2 Million To $13.8 Million |
According to YouTube statistics, creators can earn from $1,200 to $6,000 for one million ad views, with an average of $2,000 to $3,000 per million ad views.
Due to rate changes over the years in different regions, a minimum average limit of $2,000 to $3,000 has been introduced to standardize the income of YouTube channels through the platform's monetization program.
It is impossible to track ad clicks and the cost of every ad in different regions, so this is not exact data.
Earnings can be higher or lower than estimates, but statistics provide a rough benchmark with respect to YouTube earnings.
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Vlad And Niki's YouTube Earnings (Lifetime, Estimated): $168.8 Million To $254.4 Million
Vlad and Niki is a kids' entertainment channel launched in April 2018 by Russian-American Vladislav Vashketov, eleven, Nikita Vashketov, nine, and their parents, Sergey and Victoria Vashketov.
After the channel's creation, the Vashketov family welcomed two more family members, Christian Sergey Vashketov and Alice Vashketova, who have also been featured on the channel.
In the past six years, the Vashketov family labored diligently on the platform, and created 651 videos with an average duration of 35 minutes.
They run 25 channels – 23 of which have more than a million followers – and two are close to a million at the time of publication.
Analyzing The Fourth-Largest YouTube Channel, Vlad And Niki
| Total Subscribers | 109 Million |
| Total Views | 84.8 Billion |
| Last 30 Days' Views | 1.25 Billion |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Last 30 Days | $2.5 Million To $3.75 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Yearly Average | $28.1 Million To $46.2 Million |
The Vashtekov family attracts the attention of millions of young viewers and deservedly rakes in millions, as they come up with content plans, film clips, edit videos, and then upload them to the platform.
It takes lots of courage and effort to be consistent and create long videos, and they reap significant rewards for their hard work.
3 PewDiePie: 111 Million Subscribers
PewDiePie's YouTube Earnings (Lifetime, Estimated): $58.4 Million To $87.86 Million
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, more commonly known worldwide as PewDiePie, is an entertainer and musician, and the first content creator to reign over YouTube for years.
PewDiePie had the most subscribers of any YouTube channel for six years (from 2013 to 2019), and he had the most viewed YouTube channel from December 2014 until February 2017.
In 2019, PewDiePie battled with a famous Indian record label, T-Series, for 100 million subscribers and the top spot.
Kjellberg lost the race, as T-Series eventually wrested away the title of the YouTube channel with the highest subscriber count.
The Dipping Process: PewDiePie, The Third-Biggest Individual YouTube Channel
| Total Subscribers | 111 Million |
| Total Views | 29.22 Billion |
| Last 30 Days' Views | 15.77 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Last 30 Days | $31,440 |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Yearly Average | $464,300 To $516,580 |
Nowadays, PewDiePie rarely uploads videos, and is semi-retired from his YouTube content creator role.
Kjellberg's earnings have dropped significantly, but he still earns an enviable amount of income from his YouTube channel.
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Like Nastya's YouTube Earnings (Lifetime, Estimated): $194.4 Million To $291.6 Million
Nastya is an adorable ten-year-old Russian-American YouTuber, who creates child-related videos including engaging kids' blogs, entertaining game-related videos, educational songs, role plays, and unboxing of kids' toys.
Like Nastya boasts the second-largest individual YouTube channel, and ranks sixth overall when including brands' channels.
Nastya and her parents started her channel when she was just three years old in 2016, and by 2023, she had surpassed YouTube's first legend, PewDiePie.
Like Nastya's Metrics: The Second-Biggest Individual Channel On YouTube
| Total Subscribers | 112 Million |
| Total Views | 97.2 Billion |
| Last 30 Days Views | 878.1 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Last 30 Days | $1.75 Million To $2.63 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Yearly Average | $24.3 Million To $36.4 Million |
Children's YouTube channel Like Nastya is still growing at a rapid clip, racking up subscribers and views.
In just the month of November, two million people subscribed to her channel.
1 MrBeast: 236 Million Subscribers
MrBeast's YouTube Earnings (Lifetime, Estimated): $84.7 Million To $127 Million
MrBeast is truly a beast when it comes to creating engaging content and raking in profits.
The "King of YouTube," James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson, creates high-stakes challenge videos and massive giveaway-centric content for his billions of viewers.
The highest-paid YouTuber in 2023 per Forbes, Donaldson earned $82 million last year, including his brand deals and YouTube's monetization program.
MrBeast is the most subscribed individual YouTube creator, with a significant lead over any other individual creator.
In just the most recent four months, MrBeast's channel has gained an unreal 50 million new subscribers.
As of early 2024, MrBeast has a total of 236 million subscribers ... but his subscriber count is growing so rapidly that the value could change dramatically in a matter of days.
MrBeast's Impressive Earnings: King Of The YouTube Creator Hierarchy
| Total Subscribers | 236 Million |
| Total Views | 44.35 Billion |
| Last 30 Days Views | 2.24 Billion |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Last 30 Days | $4.48 Million To $6.72 Million |
| Estimated YouTube Income, Yearly Average | $7.05 Million To $10.5 Million |
As of February, MrBeast is the second-largest YouTube channel.
The top (and biggest YouTube) channel is still T-Series, the record label company from India with 258 million subscribers who, as mentioned above, battled PewDiePie for the title.
In the past four to five months, MrBeast's subscribers have been growing at a rate of twelve million per month.
In the same period, T-Series' subscribers have been growing at a rate of two million.
2:10
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To put MrBeast's staggering subscriber count into context, the current population of the United States as of early 2024 is 335,893,238, or just under 336 million Americans in total.
Becoming a YouTuber is an arduous job, demanding almost impossible levels of consistency and creativity.
If a creator is making uninspired videos and not enjoying their efforts, their audience will perceive that, viewers will rapidly lose interest, and their metrics inevitably dwindle.
YouTubers who remain enthusiastic about their work (which is a surprisingly difficult task) reap larger benefits, indicating that aspiring YouTube stars should ensure they have a passion for the content they create.
The biggest YouTube channels are wildly successful, with their (sometimes young) stars handsomely compensated.
The road to YouTube stardom and wealth is neither easy nor guaranteed, but the potential returns are immense.
