Number 5 – KSI
Olajide “JJ” Olatunji better known as KSI (a shortened version of his full YouTube
name, KSIOlajidebt) is an English comedian, YouTube star and rapper with currently over
12 million subscribers on YouTube.
According to Forbes, this YouTube sensation made approximately $4.5 million in 2015 alone!
JJ is also involved in a group called the Sidemen which consists of himself and a bunch
of his friends: Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Vikkstar123, Behzinga and wroetoshaw.
KSI also has his own album titled “Keep Up” which peaked at 13th in the UK charts.
Furthermore, he has his own book called “I Am A Bellend” and will be starring in a
movie called “Laid in America” which is he filmed alongside Caspar Lee.
Most notably, KSI has his own Aventador Lamborghini.
It’s pretty safe to say, he is doing very well for himself.
Number 4 – Lindsey Stirling
Lindsey Stirling is an American violinist, performance artist, singer and composer.
She presents choreographed violin performances, both live and in music videos found on her
YouTube channel, Lindsey Stirling, which she introduced in 2007.
Her YouTube channel currently has over 7 million subscribers and she performs a variety of
music styles, from classical to pop and rock to electronic dance music.
According to Forbes, Lindsey made a staggering amount of $6,000,000 in 2015!
Her other major success stories include her quarter finalist position she achieved in
America’s Got Talent Season Five in 2010 and a number 2 position on the Billboard 200
for her second album Shatter Me in 2014.
Number 3 – The Fine Bros
Benny and Rafi Fine are two brothers best known for their hugely successful YouTube
channel, TheFineBros, in which they have a popular series called REACT where adults,
Youtubers, kids, elders and teens react to videos sent in by their audience.
They have done numerous other sketches such as their spoiler series, narrative web series
and even have their own transmedia sitcom on YouTube, MyMusic.
According to Forbes, TheFineBros made a huge $8.5 million in 2015!
However, amongst all their fame, they did face a big controversy regarding their REACT
series.
On January 26, 2016, the Fine brothers announced that they would license and trademark their
existing React series.
In particular, the Fine Bros applied to trademark the term "react", which is used in the title
of numerous other YouTube videos unrelated to the Fine Brothers' YouTube channel.
This created a huge backlash as multiple videos on YouTube were taken down due to copyright.
As a result, this lost them over 1 million subscribers!
Number 2 – Smosh
Smosh is an American web-based sketch comedy duo consisting of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla.
According to Forbes, the duo made an impressive amount of $8.5 million!
Padilla began posting flash animations on Newgrounds in 2003, under the name Smosh.
He was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox.
Soon afterward, they began to post videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and became
one of the most popular channels on that site.
As of March 2016, the Smosh channel has more than 21 million subscribers and 5.3 billion
video views.
The Smosh team has expanded to include others to handle animated, other language, and video
gaming content videos, and the sketches have included more actors.
Smosh even made their own feature film in July 2015 called Smosh: The Movie.
Number 1 – PewDiePie
As you would have probably guessed already PewDiePie is number 1 on this list.
Felix Kjellberg better known on the Internet as PewDiePie is a Swedish web-based comedian
and producer with over 40 million subscribers, making him the number 1 most subscribed YouTube
channel as of now.
PewDiePie refers to his fanbase as the “Bro Army” and individual fans as “bros.”
According to Forbes, Felix made a sum of $12,000,000 in 2015 which makes him the richest YouTuber
as of now.
His popularity allowed him to support his fundraising drives.
He has raised money for numerous charities, most notably his Water Campaign in which he
raised $446,462 of his $250,000 goal which he surpassed greatly.
In September 2015, PewDiePie released his long-awaited video game, PewDiePie: Legend
of the Brofist on Apple iOS and Android.
He has also released a book titled: “This Book Loves You.”
This hugely successful YouTube star has a bright future ahead of him.
He definitely gets a brofist from me!