A nine-year-old boy who unboxes and reviews toys and games on YouTube has made nearly $30m this year, making him 2020 highest-paid YouTuber for the third year running.
Ryan Kaji, from Texas, made $29.5m (£22m) from his YouTube channel Ryan’s World, as well as a further estimated $200m from Ryan’s World branded toys and clothing, including Marks & Spencer pyjamas. He also signed an undisclosed, but likely multimillion-dollar, deal for his own TV series on Nickelodeon.
Below is the full list of Forbes’ estimated top-earning YouTube stars of 2020. All earnings estimates are from June 1, 2019, through June 1, 2020. For the list’s purposes, Forbes defines a YouTube Star as someone whose primary form of digital and media revenue comes from YouTube.
1. Ryan Kaji
Earnings: $29.5 million
Nine-year-old Ryan Kaji earned an estimated $29.5 million and 12.2 billion between June 2019 and June 2020. His channel Ryan’s World has 41.7 million subscribers.
2. Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson)
Earnings: $24 million
Jimmy Donaldson more commonly known by his online alias MrBeast, is notable for his expensive, attention-grabbing stunts and philanthropy. His channel has 47.8 million subscribers.
3. Dude Perfect
Earnings: $23 million
Dude Perfect is owned by five friends – Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garret Hilbert, Cody Jones and Tyler Toney – who play stunts with lightsabers, Nerf Guns and paintballs. Their channel has 57.5 million subscibers.
4. Rhett and Link
Earnings: $20 million
Rhett James McLaughlin, 43, and Charles Lincoln, 42, are some of YouTube’s longest-standing stars, having started “Good Mythical Morning,” their good-natured, nerdy talk show, back in 2012. Their channel has 41.8 million subscibers.
5. Markiplier (Mark Fischbach)
Earnings: $19.5 million
Markiplier has been at it on YouTube for eight years, posting ultra-popular breakdowns of video games which have drawn in nearly 28 million subscribers.
6. Preston Arsement
Earnings: $19 million
Arsement, 26, rose to YouTube stardom off his videos exploring the pixelated world of Minecraft and has since branched out to several other gaming-focused YouTube channels. His channel has 33.4 million subscribers.
7. Nastya (Anastasia Radzinskaya)
Earnings: $18.5 million
Six-year-old Anastasia Radzinskaya, a Russian YouTuber who goes by “Nastya” on her channel, which features the her and her father playing with legos, doing household chores and explaining viruses. Her channel has 190.6 million subscribers.
8. Blippi (Stevin John)
Earnings: $17 million
The only adult creating kids content on the list, the 32 year old launched his channel in 2014. He stars as Blippi, the brightly dressed, child-like character who educates through videos like “Blippi Visits the Aquarium” and “Learn Colors with Blippi.” His channel has 27.4 million subscribers.
9. David Dobrik
Earnings: $15.5 million
Dobrik, 24, has done just about anything to make his audience laugh. He has driven a convertible through a car wash, shaved someone’s entire body and even once surprised his best friend by marrying his mom. (She was in on the joke—they divorced, amicably, after a month.) His channel has 18 million subscribers.
10. Jeffree Star
Earnings: $15 million
Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr., known professionally as Jeffree Star, is an American entrepreneur, make up artist, YouTuber, singer, and the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics. His channel has 16.9 million subscribers.
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