Who are the top-earning YouTube stars right now?

There’s no doubt that YouTube can feel like a new frontier at times – much like travelling to the West in search of seams of gold, starting a YouTube channel might net you nothing at all in the long run or, if you’ve got the right blend of content and personality, it could see you hit big. Like, really big. 

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Some of the world’s most successful YouTubers rack up millions of views a day, and thanks to sponsorships, ad revenue and appearances that can translate pretty directly into really, really hefty paychecks. These are some of the top earners on YouTube, in case you need any more persuasion. 

Ryan Kaji – $26 million

Ryan’s World started as a toy review and unboxing channel, but times change, and as it’s exploded into one of YouTube’s most popular channels it’s become more of an educational platform, with episodes centred around school challenges and learning in fun ways. It all stars Ryan Kaji, its young child star, although he doesn’t feature for entire episodes to avoid getting burnt out.

His channel is absolutely raking it in, meanwhile, with earnings for 2019 topping out at over $25 million, ensuring that Ryan’s probably going to be able to take it easy for most of his days. 

Dude Perfect – $20 million

What started out as a group of friends trying out crazy trick shots until they nailed them on camera has grown and grown into a huge operation that brings in $20 million a year and keeps one-upping itself on how crazy its tricks can get.

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They’ve just released a full-length documentary about how they got this far, in itself testament to the channel’s success. Here’s to another 10 years of insane shots. 

Nastya – $18 million

Another child star taking home bundles of cash, Anastasia Radzinskaya and her parents actually have six different channels, some more educational and others more fun. 

Whatever they’re doing, it’s working, because she brought home $18 million in 2019, using her blend of informative and relaxing videos for parents to show their kids. 

Rhett and Link – $17.5 million

Starting life on YouTube with comedy skits and big personalities, Rhett and Link were on to a doozy when they created Good Mythical Morning, a sort of talkshow for the platform that’s gone on to huge success.

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Their laid-back style and family friendly ways have meant financial success, too – as is clear from the huge $17.5 million they banked together in 2019. 

Jeffree Star – $17 million

Jeffree Star is probably the first controversial figure on this list (if you’re happy to gloss over the potential dangers of children fronting YouTube channels making huge sums of cash). The singer and makeup artist has been making huge sums on YouTube for a few years, while also attracting criticism for insensitivity at times.

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Preston Arsement – $14 million

Arsement (which is quite a name we have to say) fronts up his gaming channel PrestonPlayz which has gained a huge audience by playing family-friendly titles and increasingly branching away from gaming altogether. 

His high-energy style and approachable content have netted him an army of fans, and in 2019 a purse to go with it. 

PewDiePie – $13 million

One of the original, huge names of YouTube, PewDiePie has gone through a fair few controversies in his time, relating to his language and behaviour, but still ranks highly on the biggest earners list thanks to his enduring appeal.

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Markiplier – $13 million

Markiplier dips his toes into all sorts of video content, but his real heartland is gameplay commentaries and let’s plays, and it’s still bring in the money – $13 million in 2019, no less. 

Daniel Middleton – $12 million

Better known as DanTDM, Daniel Middleton’s broken out of gaming videos to offer up reaction videos, commentaries and skits, and shows no signs of letting up, having taken home over $12 million last year. 

Mr Beast – $12 million

Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson has been big on the YouTube scene for quite a while now. He started on YouTube back in 2012, then started to grow exponentially when he began pulling stunts like recording himself counting to 100,000.

After rising to YouTube fame (and nearly 40 million subscribers) Mr Beast began creating all manner of videos of him donating thousands of dollars to random people online and “last to leave” challenges that pit players against each other for the promise of a big cash prize. The result is a lot of views and a lot of earnings too. 

Evan Fong (VanossGaming) – $11.5 million

Vanoss Gaming is a behemoth of the gaming YouTube world, and its founder Evan Fong is reaping the rewards with more than $11 million in earnings last year. If high-energy gameplay videos are your bag, his back catalogue feels practically endless at this point. 

Vlad and Niki – $6 million

Vlad and Niki is a popular “made for kids” channel that features the antics of two young brothers. These children are seen playing, travelling and acting up for their audience of over 45 million subscribers. 

The videos not only get millions of views, but are also available in multiple other languages. Their parents run 15 different channels with the boys appearing in 11 languages. 

Jacksepticeye – $3 million

Seán McLoughlin, aka Jacksepticeye is an Irish YouTuber known for amusing Let’s Play videos. Jacksepticeye owes a little of his early success to a mention in a PewDiePie video that earnt him thousands of subscribers in a matter of days but he’s put a lot of effort into earning the rest. 

He might not be the biggest earner on this list, but he’s certainly popular in the gaming space.