YouTube’s top earner made $54m (£39m) in 2021, with the top 10 content creators earning a combined $300m (£218m) between them.
Jimmy Donaldson, better known to fans and viewers as MrBeast, was the platform’s top earner, according to Forbes’ annual list of the richest YouTubers.
The 23-year-old has grown a huge audience for his stunts, which have included being buried alive for 50 hours and hosting his own version of Squid Game, complete with elaborate replicas of the Netflix hit’s stage sets.
Forbes said that his bumper year would have placed him in the top 40 of its last Celebrity 100 list, which ranked the highest-earning stars across all parts of the entertainment industry.
MrBeast would have been above the likes of Billie Eilish, Kim Kardashian and Angelina Jolie.
The YouTube stars’ earnings are not based on monetised views alone, but also income streams such as sponsorship deals, brand partnerships and merchandising.
MrBeast has attracted more than 10 billion views – he displaced 10-year-old toy reviewer Ryan Kaji, who had topped the earnings list for the past two years.
Ryan slipped down to seventh place in 2021, earning a ‘mere’ $27m (£19m) with his reviews and family-friendly vlogs.
YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul was the second-highest earner
Jake Paul was the second-highest earner, and while much of that income has come from boxing, it could be argued that his profile as a YouTuber was what generated the interest and massive purses in the first place.
Gaming content creator Markiplier was in third place, followed by Rhett and Link, the hosts of geeky talk show Good Mythical Morning.
A YouTuber known as Unspeakable was up next, having made $28.5m (£20m), largely on the back of playing Minecraft, while 7-year-old Russian Nastya made $28m (£20m) last year.
Nastya started off unboxing toys but now also uploads vlogs and music videos, collecting almost 90 million subscribers in the process.
Stunt prankster team Dude Perfect, Jake Paul’s brother Logan Paul, and Preston Arsement, another Minecraft player, finished off the top 10.
In other news, YouTube also had its first video to pass the 10 billion views mark.
The video in question was the unshakeable earworm ‘Baby Shark’, which YouTube acknowledged in a tweet reading: “Ten billion views doo doo doo doo doo doo.”
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