YouTube has totally changed the face of entertainment
worldwide and created some huge stars along
the way.
It seems so simple right, just record yourself
doing something cool, post it online, and
next thing you know you're in YouTube Rewind,
right?
Well, there's actually a lot more hard work
that goes into being a YouTuber, but the rewards
can be incredible.
Some of the richest new celebrities from the
past decade have come from YouTube; but just
how much do the biggest youtubers make?
Today I've put together a list of some of
the highest earning YouTubers around right
now.
Keep in mind that these numbers are based
on Ad Revenue alone, as most big youtubers
sell merch, do brand deals and way more.
That being said, let's get it on!
KSI
KSI is one of the biggest YouTubers to come
out of England, with a respectable 20 plus
million subscribers.
He made a name for himself through FIFA videos
and rap music, having actually worked with
some big names in UK hip-hop.
Along the way he picked up vlogging, and even
had a boxing match with American YouTuber
Logan Paul, earning an estimated $11 million.
With money like that, it's no wonder KSI casually
bought a gold iPhone X while walking around
a mall in Dubai, coming in at a cool 40 thousand
dollars.
But that's chump change compared to some of
the massive purchases this UK YouTuber has
made.
In March of 2019, KSI unveiled his 500-thousand-dollar
custom made chain modelled after the Dragon
Ball Super character Beerus.
The chain contains over 2,000 stones and took
550 hours of craftsmanship to make by one
of the best jewelers in London.
According to Social Blade, between his two
channels, KSI likely makes between 1.2 and
$3.2 million annually.
Sure is a long way to come from recording
yourself playing FIFA.
LOGAN PAUL
Probably one of the most controversial Youtubers
in the world, or ex- controversial as he now
claims, Logan Paul turned his success on the
now defunct app Vine into a YouTube empire
before the age of 22.
Between starring in movies, hosting a YouTuber
Olympics, having the number one podcast in
the world and the largest non-professional
boxing match in history, Logan has proven
himself to be an incredibly resourceful businessman,
and his hard work has more than paid off.
The American YouTuber lives in a gorgeous
6.6 million-dollar mansion in Encino, California,
with 7 bedrooms, a full gym, and a huge podcasting
studio inside.
Logan also put $225 thousand into converting
a regular old yellow school bus into his signature
cool bus.
While he obviously has a ton of money coming
in from brand deals, touring, and his hugely
popular Maverick merch, Logan Paul's channel
likely brings in between 666 thousand and
$1.8 million a year.
Not bad for a kid from Ohio.
JAKE PAUL
From Disney channel to YouTube multi-millionaire,
the 
younger brother of Logan Paul, Jake Paul,
made a name for himself and was able to break
out from his older brother's shadow.
Jake's channel grew from nothing to 5 million
subscribers in a matter of 6 months, a feat
which, at the time, had never been done before,
as he likes to remind people in his infamous
song "It's Everyday Bro".
The hugely popular documentary series made
by Shane Dawson on the young, American YouTuber
shows that he's branched out from YouTube
into getting paid the big bucks to do speaking
engagements at massive business conventions
around the world.
Combine that with his hugely popular music
career and wildly successful merch lines,
and Jake Paul is definitely pulling in the
big bucks.
Jake has a liking for buying nice cars, such
as his 132-thousand-dollar Tesla Model X and
350 thousand-dollar Lamborghini Hurracan being
the crown jewels on his prized collection.
While most of his money comes in through his
merch line, his 19 plus million subscriber
YouTube channel grosses between 1.3 and $3.4
million a year.
Who's the big brother now?
JackSepticEye
Imagine going from being a sub 1k YouTube
channel, to one of the 3 most well-known gaming
channels on the planet.
Well, thanks largely in part to an incredibly
short shoutout from PewDiePie, that's exactly
what JackSepticEye was able to do.
The Irish YouTuber has amassed a massive audience
of nearly 23 million subscribers and counting,
frequently collaborating with the other big
gamers of the famous trio, Markiplier and
PewDiePie.
The generous Irishman doesn't like to spend
his money to flex, and prefers to use his
influence to raise money for various charities,
raising millions of dollars over the years
for causes like mental health awareness, providing
clean water to 3rd world countries, and famously
raising $225 thousand dollars for the American
Foundation for Suicide Prevention during a
single 8 hour charity livestream.
His YouTube channel earns an estimated 3 to
$8 million a year from ads alone.
That's money that's being put towards a whole
lot of good in this world.
DanTDM
The second Brit to make our list, DanTDM has
become a pillar of YouTube since starting
his channel way back in 2012.
Against all odds, the English gamer has managed
to captivate audiences for years, consistently
pulling in millions of views with every new
upload and garnering an audience of over 21
million.
Back in 2014 Business Insider did a piece
on Dan and estimated that he earns between
213,000 and $21,300,000 annually; that's a
pretty big range for a guess.
However today our most accurate data shows
that the British gamer brings in between 3.4
and $9.1 million dollars annually from his
YouTube channel alone.
If you take into account his merch lines and
brand deals, it looks like Business Insider
wasn't too far off.
DAVID DOBRIK
Have you ever wanted to be friends with the
characters from your favorite tv shows?
Well, David Dobrik made that dream a reality,
becoming best friends with Josh Peck from
Drake and Josh.
Of course, that's no surprise, considering
how charismatic and likeable the Slovakian
Vlogger is, and his respectable 13.8 million
subscriber channel proves it.
Dobrik lives in a $2.5 million mansion in
Los Angeles, which he says is "not too big,
not too small, not too modern and not too
old", perfectly balanced as all things should
be.
Except for that price tag of course.
David doesn't just use his millions to spoil
himself though, and famously prefers to spend
it to make his friends happy... and of course
then record their reactions and post them
on YouTube in order to make it back.
So far, he's bought 15 of his friends' brand-new
cars (with the help of some sponsors), as
well as highly sought-after Hamilton tickets,
which, honestly might be worth more than some
of those cars.
His channel brings in between 4.8 and $13
million dollars a year.
All in all, Dobrik is living proof that dreams
definitely do come true.
DUDE PERFECT
Ok, so this one isn't so much a YouTuber as
it is a team of youtubers, but trust me, they've
definitely earned a spot on this list.
Famous for their insane trick shots and crazy
sporting feats, it's no wonder that the group
of old college roommates from Texas were able
to win over the hearts and minds of the entire
world when they first broke out on the YouTube
scene.
With a current subscriber base of over 45
million, Dude Perfect is one of the largest
YouTube channels on the planet.
The team has also ventured outside YouTube
and have their own show, eponymously named
"The Dude Perfect Show", on Nickelodeon and
CMT which has been running since 2016.
The group purchased a massive 35,000 square
foot warehouse in Frisco, Texas, something
you could never find in the YouTuber mecca
that is LA, back in 2016 and are able to use
the space to create some of their craziest
tricks yet.
I guess everything really is bigger in Texas.
They have a massive merch empire, spanning
clothing and all kinds of sporting equipment,
but from their huge channel alone, the group
rakes in between 5 and $13.2 million dollars
a year.
Even split 5 ways, that's a lot of money.
NINJA
While not making a name for himself on YouTube,
the famous streamer Ninja definitely makes
a huge impact on the platform.
Originally starting as a gaming streamer on
Twitch, his YouTube channel is home to the
highlights of his gaming career and life and
holds an impressive 22.8 million subscribers.
Arguably the most famous celebrity to come
from the internet, Ninja was the first e-sports
contender to ever be featured on the cover
of Sports Illustrated magazine.
He's done brand deals with massive companies
like Epic Games, Samsung, Uber, Adidas and
Microsoft, with each deal netting him millions
of dollars.
In stream donations alone, Ninja earns over
$250 thousand a month, and maintains live
audiences of hundreds of thousands at a time,
and the highlight reel that is his YouTube
channel brings in a passive half a million
to $1.3 million a year.
In 2019, Ninja made a deal with Microsoft
to leave Twitch and start streaming exclusively
on their debut streaming platform Mixer, earning
him somewhere in the ballpark of 100 million
dollars.
Just imagine how many V-Bucks you could buy
with that.
MR BEAST
Currently one of the most famous names on
YouTube, Mr Beast exploded onto the YouTube
scene by giving away thousands of dollars
to random streamers and spending huge amounts
of money to set insane world records, such
as Uber-ing all the way across the country.
Originally uploading for years to almost no
views, the North Carolina born YouTuber struck
it big in 2017 when some smart investments
in cryptocurrency made him an overnight millionaire.
Instead of spending the money on himself,
however, Mr Beast found more joy in giving
it all away, and within 9 months had given
away well over a million dollars.
He frequently goes around the country, surprising
people with random donations of thousands
of dollars, or challenging them to 24-hour
challenges to win tens of thousands, and that's
on the lower end.
In 2019, he opened up a free car dealership
and gave away 15 cars to unsuspecting shoppers,
opened up a store where he sold items like
TVs and gaming systems for the low-low price
of FREE, played every carnival game at the
largest Six Flags in America until he had
won every single prize, only to give them
all right back, and gave his younger brother
24-hours to spend 100 thousand dollars, and
that's just scratching the surface.
Mr Beast earns most of his money, or rather
the money he gives away, from merch sales
and brand deals, as well as the revenue he
makes from views on his videos.
He regularly pulls in 10s of millions of views
per video and has so far amassed an audience
of over 24 million subscribers.
Because of these huge numbers, his channel
alone earns around 6.2 to $17 million a year.
That's a whole lot of "last person to leave"
challenges right there.
Maybe Chandler will finally win some.
PewDiePie
Oh, did you think we forgot the king of YouTube?
Felix Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie,
has held the spot of most subscribed to YouTuber
for more than half a decade.
That's right.
Most subscribed YouTuber, I don't count corporations.
In one amazing week in August 2019, PewDiePie
became the first person to pass 100 million
subscribers, married his longtime girlfriend
Marzia, and beat the Ender Dragon in Minecraft,
a game which he single handedly brought back
into the limelight after years of being seen
as a niche kids game.
Along the way, the money and fame really haven't
changed Felix much, as he lives in a humble
house in Brighton, England, and drives an
average car, but staying a down to earth and
relatable guy has been the key to his success
for so many years.
He does treat himself and Marzia to frequent
vacations to places like Japan and Thailand,
where he spent his amazing honeymoon, and
he's found an interest in designer clothes.
Add to that, his incredibly popular and constantly
changing line of merch, and it's no wonder
that this Swedish YouTuber called an estimate
of his net worth of $40 million dollars "a
little low" in his 2019 video where he googled
himself.
Each of Felix's videos pulls in millions of
views, and he's frequently at the top of the
trending page, although, not so much in America
for some reason.
The PewDiePie YouTube channel rakes in a whopping
10.5 to $28 million a year.
Felix has definitely earned it.
