Forbes rich list: Top 10 highest-paid YouTube stars of 2021

YouTube, the online video sharing app and social media platform owned by Google, now has close to 2 billion users.

A new report by Forbes has laid out the world’s highest paid YouTube stars of 2021, confirming that people are indeed earning hefty checks from the app out here.

These values are estimations based on measurements taken from January 1 to December 31, 2021, with data collated from Captiv8, SocialBlade, Pollstar, as well as various industry insiders.

The figures are pre-tax and don't include fees for agents, lawyers, and managers.

1. Mr. Beast - $54 Million (Approx. Ksh.6.1 billion)

23-year old Jimmy Donaldson alias Mr. beast is an American YouTuber that has been credited with pioneering a genre of videos centred on expensive stunts.

The internet personality has become increasingly popular, with most of his videos gaining tens of millions of views, in turn, earning him the top spot in YouTube’s rich list as the highest paid star of 2021 on the platform.

Mr. Beast’s YouTube channel currently holds at more that 88 million subscribers.

2. Jake Paul - $45 Million (Approx. Ksh.5.1 billion)

Jake Paul, an American professional boxer and social media personality, is back on the list, ranking second place, doubled up in cash, after his $21.5 million (approx. Ksh. 2.4 billion) earnings in 2018.

Throughout his career, Paul has become the subject of many controversies due to his behavior including engaging in risky stunts, sexually suggestive behavior, featuring age-inappropriate material for YouTube. 

3. Markiplier - $38 Million (Approx. Ksh.4.3 billion)

In third place is American YouTuber Markiplier, born Mark Edward, who is a gaming creator that specializes in ‘Let’s Play’ videos, commonly of survival horror video games.

4. Rhett and Link - $30 Million (Approx. Ksh.3.4 billion)

The American comedy duo is known for creating and hosting their nerdy daily talk show series dubbed ‘Good Mythical Morning.’ 

The entertainers’ most notable project is: ‘Mythical Kitchen’ – a cooking series with a separate host, Josh Scherer.

5. Unspeakable - $28.5 Million (Approx. Ksh.3.2 billion)

American Minecraft YouTuber Nathan Johnson Graham runs the Unspeakable Gaming channel – a pixelated video game that generally features gameplay videos for children.

The high energy and witty commentary of the channel’s Texan host makes it appealing to children, while staying profitable as well.

6. Like Nastya - $28 Million (Approx. Ksh.3.1 billion)

The 7- year-old Russian girl, currently boasting more than 85 million subscribers, is joined by millions of kids and families from all over the world to explore and share life experiences.

7. Ryan Kaji (Ryan’s World) - $27 Million (Approx. Ksh.3 billion)

Ryan’s world is a children’s channel in which the 10-year-old boy does lots of fun things like pretend play, science experiments, music videos, skits, challenger, DIY arts and crafts and so much more.

8. Dude Perfect - $20 Million (Approx. Ksh.2.2 billion)

The five-piece group consisting of twins Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler Toney make up Dude perfect, an American channel where best friends share interests in sports and comedy.

Content created by Dude Perfect predominantly consists of videos depicting various trick shots, stereotypes, and stunts, with regularly uploaded videos of "battles," in which the individual members compete against one another, incorporating different sports and a unique set of rules.

9. Logan Paul - $18 Million (Approx. Ksh.2 billion)

Like his brother Jake, the 24-year old American YouTuber Paul Logan has been involved in several controversies, most notably in relation to a trip to Japan in December 2017, during which he visited a "suicide forest" and filmed a suicide victim, further uploading the footage to his YouTube channel.

10. Preston - $16 Million (Approx. Ksh.1.8 billion)

Preston Blaine is an American video game playing YouTuber known for a variety of content including challenge and prank videos, as well as Minecraft.