David Farnor | On 08, Dec 2016

Forbes’ annual list of the top-earning YouTube stars has arrived – and it’s a yearly reminder of just how much money can be made from vlogging, if you make it into the site’s upper tiers, and of just how popular PewDiePie is.

Yes, Felix Kjellberg once again tops the chart, with his brand of video game-related silliness continuing to bring in the big bucks. This year, he has dabbled in Twitch streaming too, as well as released his own reality TV series exclusively on subscription service YouTube Red. His place in the spotlight, though, has not always been bright and cheerful, with recent videos criticising YouTube’s algorithms for displaying videos, the rise of clickbait content and a claimed drop in subscribers to his channel, leading him to say he will delete his channel from YouTube, when it reaches 50 million subscribers. (Whether that actually happens or not is yet to be seen.)

Nonetheless, PewDiePie’s earnings have jumped 20 per cent this year, according to Forbes, hitting a tidy $15 million – growth fuelled, in part, by him joining many other vlog stars in publishing a book. (This Book Loves You sold over 112,000 copies, according to Nielsen.) He also has a video game.

Prankster Roman Atwood is second, with $8 million, up 70 per cent from 2015, thanks to ventures such as a tour with Yousef Erakat and the feature film Natural Born Pranksters and, you guessed it, a book. Third place Lilly Singh ($7.5 million) also made a YouTube Red feature and has her own lip gloss deal. Other popular sources of revenue include pre-roll ads, sponsorship agreements (comedy double-act Smosh are fourth with $7 million with a series paid for by Schick razors and a heap of merchandise).

The rest of the list is equally diverse in its income, but is also notably more diverse in the people featured on it. Four newcomers make the Top 10, including videogame commentator Mark Fischbach ($5.5 million), Latin America’s German Garmendia ($5.5 million), Tyler Oakley, and Colleen Ballinger, or Miranda Sings, ($5 million), who has just released a Netflix series.

Everyone on the list earned at least $5 million in the year to June 2016, with a combined total of $70.5 million – up 23 per cent year-on-year. The money is hard-earned, though, with Atwood posting on YouTube for five years, starting long before the site began offering money. The figures also do not take into account costs such as management fees and taxes.

Here’s a rundown of the full chart:

1. PewdiePie

Earnings
$15 million

2. Roman Atwood

Earnings
$8 million

3. Lilly Singh

Earnings
$7.5 million

4. Smosh

Earnings
$7 million

= 5. Rosanna Pansino

Earnings
$6 million

= 5. Tyler Oakley

Earnings
$6 million

= 7. Markiplier

Earnings
$5.5 million

= 7. German Garmendia

Earnings
$5.5 million

8. Rhett and Link

Earnings
$5 million

9. Colleen Ballinger

Earnings
$5 million

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