Jimmy Donaldson (USA) has officially broken the record for the most subscribers for an individual male on YouTube with his channel Mr Beast, which has amassed an unbelievable 112,193,139 subs, as verified on 17 November 2022.
He has surpassed the previous record held by PewDiePie, aka Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (Sweden). The two were neck and neck in the subscriber race, but Mr Beast pulled past PewDiePie to reach the never-before-hit milestone (for an individual) of 112 million.
Donaldson also has four other channels, all of which have over 10 million subscribers. His MrBeast Gaming channel is the second-largest with 29.5 million subs.
Donaldson joined the platform in 2012 and since then has clocked up 18.5 billion views on his videos.
His most popular upload to date is a "Squid Game in real life" video, were he flew 456 people out to a private island for a series of increasingly difficult challenges. The pay off? A cash prize of $456,000 USD for the winner and 304 million views.
Mr Beast is known for his generosity when it comes to his subscribers, frequently gifting huge monetary prizes or once-in-a-life time experiences to random fans. This has most likely aided his rapid growth on the platform – in the last 30 days alone he has gained 6 million subscribers, an incredible 200% increase.
He frequently organizes charitable giveaways and donations too through his charity Mr Beast Philanthropy, whose dedicated YouTube channel has over 10 million subscribers.
One of his most epic undertakings was raising $20 million dollars to plant 20 million trees, a feat he achieved in partnership with fellow record breaker Mark Rober.
Mr Beast’s content on the platform ranges from ultra-swanky, such as staying in $1 million dollar a night accommodation or giving away a $2.5 million dollar private jet, to the more peculiar or mundane, such as reading the entire Bee Movie script or, quite literally, watching paint dry.
Before Mr Beast, PewDiePie had been the most subscribed to individual on YouTube for close to a decade.
It was also the most subscribed to channel of all time - but that changed in late 2018 when Indian music channel T-series began closing in.
This sparked an intense competition for the top spot in 2019. Calls to action were issued by impassioned fans and other creators who were desperate to see him retain pole position on the platform, which resulted in PewDiePie accumulating millions of subscribers in a groundswell of support.
One of PewDiePie’s key supporters in the race was, ironically, Mr Beast, who canvassed his fans (and Super Bowl LIII viewers) and drove huge numbers of subscribers to PewDiePie’s channel.
Ultimately, T-series came out on top and became the first YouTube channel to reach 100 million subscribers and now holds the overall record for the most subscribers on YouTube with a staggering 229 million.
PewDiePie was, however, the first individual YouTuber to reach this milestone. He also still retains the record title for the most subscribers for a gaming channel on YouTube.
All top three spots for the most subscribed channels are now occupied by brands or companies, much to the displeasure of many fans who believe the platform is becoming increasingly hostile to individual creators.
However, both Mr Beast and PewDiePie still retain positions in the top five.
With his recent meteoric rise on the platform, some predict Mr Beast will very shortly put even more space between his channel and PewDiePie’s – though it still remains to be seen if he will ever be able to dethrone T-series for the ultimate top spot.
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