Popular YouTubers Mr Beast and Jake Paul topped the richest YouTubers' list for 2021, which was released by Forbes recently.
Top rankers of this list from the popular video streaming platform have been gaining widespread attention due to their earnings from the monetization facility, which has allowed many of them to earn as much as A-list celebrities and athletes.
Jimmy Donaldson, more popular as Mr Beast, made a reported $54 million in 2021, with his Mr Beast burger venture cited as a big reason why.
Forbes also reported that his $54 million payday allowed him to rank among the Top 40 of their "Celebrity 100" list, above entertainers such as Billie Eilish, Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie and even BTS.
Following him in second place is Jake Paul. While some may be taken aback by this, given that Jake has somewhat given up on his channel, Forbes estimates that he made $40 million from boxing, which propels him onto the list.
As for his YouTube earnings, they are estimated at $5 million.
His brother, Logan Paul, also ranked ninth in the rich list, with $18 million in returns.
YouTuber veteran Markiplier, the duo of Rhett and Link, and Minecraft phenomenon Unspeakable round out the top five with earnings of $38, $30, and $28.5 million respectively.
Forbes 2021 YouTuber Rich List |
Mr Beast – $54m |
Jake Paul – $45m |
Markiplier – $38m |
Rhett and Link – $30m |
Unspeakable – $28.5m |
Nastya – $28m |
Ryan Kaji – $27m |
Dude Perfect – $20m |
Logan Paul – $18m |
Preston Arsement – $16m |
Altogether, the YouTubers collectively earned about $300 million in 2021—another record amount—up 40% from a year earlier, mostly propelled higher by increasing views on their YouTube channels and the ad revenue they generate from those videos.
To pad their pay further, all these stars have branded merchandise lines. And they variously dabble in generating additional revenue from Twitch, Snap, Facebook, podcasts, NFTs—even hamburgers. A few have signed lucrative deals with Spotter, a Los Angeles startup buying up the rights to old YouTube videos.
One of the biggest slides down the list, versus the 2020 list, is that of Ryan Kaji. The Children’s channel topped the list last year with close to $29.5 million in earnings, but slips down to seventh overall this year.
These estimates measure earnings from January 1 to December 31, 2021, a change from our past lists, which looked at pay from June through June of a given year.
Earnings estimates are based on data from Captiv8, SocialBlade and Pollstar as well as interviews with industry insiders.