The Most Popular YouTubers of 2021
Were you also wondering who rules over the global digital platform that is YouTube? We’ve had a look and found the Top 12 influencers who are acing the social network with their viral videos, according to the number of subscribers to their channels. We’ve excluded all celebrities, singers, or other public figures who did not achieve fame via the platform itself from this YouTube ranking. For example, the top worldwide channel T-series (with now over 156M subscribers) is an Indian film production and distribution company. We didn’t define this company as a ‘YouTuber’ and therefore have not included it in our selection.
Without further ado, discover our top 12: an eclectic mix of worldwide influence featuring Brazilians, Ukrainians, Americans, gamers, kids, and more…
1. PewDiePie
110M subscribers
Felix Kjellberg is the UK-based Swedish gamer who’s been running this channel since 2010. He is YouTube’s number one in terms of popularity and number of subscribers and has reigned YouTube for a while now, even if he’s fought for this spot with other famous YouTubers, notably Smosh. Mainly a gaming influencer, he also likes to diversify into comedy sketches and Vlogs, and even published a book recently.
2. ✿ Kids Diana Show
81.4M subscribers
This channel puts the limelight on 6-year-old Diana as she plays with her family, including her brother Roma, and her friends. The channel is all about childhood, with toy unboxings, stories, and games, this little Ukrainian girl quickly came to dominate YouTube’s children entertainment sphere.
3. Like Nastya
75.6M subscribers
Still in the kid’s sphere and not far behind Diana is Nastya and her cute vlogs. Covering new toys, family games or trips with her friends, Nastya shares her daily life in her vlogs and has become the most subscribed to channel in Russia. What’s more, this channel is only one of the many channels run by Nastya and her family: for example, Like Nastya Vlog and Like Nastya Show also have several millions of subscribers.
4.Vlad and Niki
70.1M subscribers
Yet another children’s channel, showing the enormous popularity of the genre itself. This is the story of Dubai-based Russian-American brothers Vlad and Niki as they play games, often with their mother as well. The channel is run by parents Sergey and Victoria Vashketov, who add animation and music to target each episode at young kids. They have 16 channels and translate the content into 13 languages, attracting more than 112M subscribers in total and making the growth of this only three-year-old channel most impressive!
5. MrBeast
65.2M subscribers
Launched in 2012, this is one of YouTube’s most random, dazzling, and attention-grabbing channels. Jimmy Donaldson from the USA is known for his viral challenges, like eating the world’s largest slice of pizza, and his charity stunts, like giving away $1M dollars with only 1 minute to spend them. It’s hard not to be drawn in by these original and extraordinary videos!
6. Dude Perfect
56.5M subscribers
This sports entertainment channel was started in 2009 and is run by “5 best buds” from Texas. It includes a lot of sports with a good dose of comedy. It originally started with basketball trick shot videos, but now the entrepreneurs make videos on lots of different sports but also nerf battles, funny stereotypes, and lots of trick shots. Their unique mix of sports and humor explains their huge success.
7. HolaSoyGerman/JuegaGerman
43.9M subscribers
Germán Garmendia is Chile’s biggest YouTube star. An actor and musician, he started by posting comedy sketches and vlogs, while his second channel JuegaGerman, launched in 2013, is focused on gaming videos though its also expanded into comedy. Even though he hasn’t posted on his first channel for years, it remains in YouTube’s top listings and has only recently been narrowly superseded by JuegaGerman, which is still being updated frequently.
8. Whinderssonnunes
42.7M subscribers
Close behind Germán is Whindersson Nunes Batista. This is a young Brazilian singer and comedian with a fierce sense of humor. He’s been uploading different sorts of comedic content since he was 15: songs, travel vlogs, podcasts, movie reviews, or vlogs about his daily life…
9. Felipe Neto
42.6M subscribers
This Portuguese-Brazilian influencer and entrepreneur has many strings to his bow: manager, vlogger, actor, writer… You may also know his brother, Luccas Neto. He started on YouTube by talking about celebrities and movies, always offering a critical and comedic twist, and was the first YouTube channel to reach 17M subscribers in Brazil. Now he focuses on general entertainment and offers varied content to his followers: comedy, vlogs, challenges, gaming…
10. Fernanfloo
42.5M subscribers
Luis Fernando Flores is a Salvadoran YouTuber. He mainly makes gaming videos, though not exclusively, sometimes offering more personal vlog-style videos. He has a whole playlist of animation videos and plays all sorts of games, from horror, to GTA5, to GOW and random indie games.
11. Você Sabia?
40.9M subscribers
The Brazilian duo Lukas Marques and Daniel Molo present interesting and fun facts. ‘Você Sabia?’ meaning ‘Did you know’, goes from 10 facts on random themes (like 10 deaths caused by video games or Disney’s 10 biggest secrets) to the weirdest videos found online or most expensive fruits in the world.
12. ElRubiusOMG
39.9M subscribers
Rubén Doblas Gundersen is a gaming YouTuber, amongst other fun videos and challenges. He doesn’t stick to a specific game, but mainly plays in the horror and FPS genres. He also creates “epic Vlogs” of his travels, lifestyle, and is well known for his comedic montages of random video games. Rubén is Spain’s top YouTuber in terms of subscribers and number of views.
Go further and read our recently published article on The most popular YouTubers of 2022.
For more information, visit our website here: Influence4You
And if you are looking to launch your next influence campaign, contact us here
