Shane Dawson
Joined Youtube on: 21st September, 2005
Current number of subscribers: 22,243,970
Youtube Channel: shane
Current net worth: $12 million
Shane Dawson, maintains a YouTube channel named ‘shane’, became interested in video-making in school where he was assigned to create several video-based projects. Dawson signed up on YouTube when he was nineteen years old in 2005 and quickly rose to fame, garnering over half a billion views by 2010. In his early years of YouTubing, he used to run a channel named “ShaneDawsonTV” which now has been integrated with his current channel. Over the years, Dawson’s video content has transitioned from him doing comedy sketches to conspiracy theories and finally, documentaries on the lives of remarkable individuals. While Dawson can be considered to be one of the most beloved YouTubers in present times, his work has been criticized heavily in the past for being racist and for propagating misinformation. Dawson has also had a short-lived music career, during which time he has released 6 original songs and numerous parodies of popular music videos. In 2018, Dawson published two New York Times best-selling books named ‘I Hate Myselfie’ and ‘It Gets Worse’. Dawson announced his bisexuality back in 2015 and now lives with his fiancé Ryland Adams, and their two dogs, Uno and Honey, and cat, Cheeto, in Calabasas, California.
nigahiga
Joined Youtube on: 20th July, 2006
Current number of subscribers: 21,402,045
Current net worth: $10 million
Ryan Higa opened his YouTube channel in 2006, combining the Japanese word for rant (Niga) and his surname (Higa) to form his account name. He and his friends Sean Fujiyoshi, Tim Enos, Ryan Villaruel, Kyle Chun, and Tarynn Nago started posting videos of themselves lip-syncing to songs on YouTube while still being in highschool. Their video content soon grew diversified to include comic skits, music video parodies and original music creation. Additionally, Ryan Higa has a production company, which he owns with Sean Fujiyoshi and uses to create videos for his channel. Ryan Higa is also part of a K-pop band named Boys Generally Asian, which has repeatedly managed to land the top positions on the K-pop charts with releases such as Dong Saya Dae and Who’s It Gonna Be. After successfully cementing his position as a YouTuber and musician, Ryan went on to dabble in acting and has appeared in movies such as Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure, Ninja Melk, Agents of Secret Stuff and Tell Me How I Die. Moreover, Ryan Higa holds the record of being the most subscribed channel on YouTube for 677 days straight which puts him behind PewDiePie who has held the title of the most subscribed channel the longest. Ryan Higa announced in one of his recent videos that he has been dating American actress Arden Cho since 2015.
Jenna Marbles
Joined Youtube on: 16th February, 2010
Current number of subscribers: 19,899,929
Current net worth: $5 million
Jenna Mourey is a comedian and actress who has been a part of YouTube since early 2006. The last part of her channel’s name comes from her dog, Mr. Marbles, who appears in several of her videos alongside Jenna’s other pets, Kermit, Peach and Bunny. Even though Jenna has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology and Counseling under her belt, and has previously worked an assortment of jobs, she found solace in creating silly videos that made people laugh. Jenna gained popularity in 2010 with videos such as ‘How To Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking’ which was viewed over 5.3 million times since its release, and ‘How To Avoid Talking To People You Don’t Want To Talk To’ which was featured in articles by The New York Times and ABC News. It can be said that Jenna’s early YouTube video content was more skit and rant centric compared to her present day video content which mainly consists of her performing actions suggested by her subscribers, and while this has made her recent videos lack luster, they are still quite entertaining to watch. Moreover, Jenna Marbles was the first ever YouTube star to have her own wax-figure be presented at Madame Tussauds New York. Jenna is also a full-time vegan and has been in a relationship with YouTuber Julien Solomita since 2013. The couple does a weekly podcast called ‘The Jenna Julian Podcast’ where they talk about personal stories, conspiracy theories and other random topics. As of March 2019, Jenna’s channel has garnered approximately 3.1 billion video views and 19.5 million subscribers and is the eighth-most-popular channel to be run by a woman.
PewDiePie
Joined Youtube on: 29th April, 2010
Current number of subscribers: 99,264,186
Current net worth: $30 million
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, is a Swedish YouTuber, comedian and gamer-commentator. Even though he had enrolled in Chalmers University of Technology, choosing to major in Industrial Economics and Technology Management, he soon grew disinterested in pursuing his degree and dropped out of University. Subsequently, Kjellberg joined YouTube in 2010, funding his early videos by selling prints of his digital art projects, and by working in a hot dog stand. Even though PewDiePie is mostly noted for creating commentary videos on video games, he also produces a large variety of quality comedic content. Kjellberg’s videos, being genuine and unfiltered, are often met with controversy. In the past, Kjellberg has been accused of creating anti-Semitic content. Despite often being portrayed in a negative light, in reality, Kjellberg is a very charitable person and does everything in his power to support domestic brands. He has raised money for several charities, and has used his fame to boost sales for indie brands. In 2016, he got listed on Time Magazine’s ‘The World’s Most Influential People’. Kjellberg currently lives in Brighton with his fiancée, Italian Yotuber Marzia Bisognin. As of July of 2019, PewDiePie is the most subscribed and 11th most viewed channel on YouTube.
||Superwoman||
Joined Youtube on: 28th October, 2010
Current number of subscribers: 14,880,581
Current net worth: $16 million
Lilly Singh started making YouTube videos, by assuming the pseudonym Superwoman (which she has now dropped), in an attempt to try to deal with her emotions while suffering through depression. Her decision to stick to YouTube and not use her bachelor’s degree in Psychology to pursue jobs is what has led her to become one of the top comedy YouTubers and one of the most influential people in the world. Back in 2017, she was ranked tenth on the Forbes list of the world’s highest paid YouTubers and first in Forbes List of Top Influencers. Lilly was also listed among the 40 most powerful people in comedy 2019. Her video content includes comic skits in which Lilly is often seen to be portraying characters that draw influence from her own parents, and rants where she explores social issues such as racism, sexism and homophobia. Additionally, she is also renowned for her videos in which she reacts to viral internet contents while impersonating her mother. She has received several accolades for her work including MTV fandom award, Streamy Award, Teen Choice Award and People’s Choice Award. Furthermore, Lilly released her own feature film called ‘A Trip to Unicorn Island’ back in 2016 and in the following year published her own book named ‘How to be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life’ which ultimately went on to become a New York Times best-seller. In March of 2019, a popular television network of America, NBC, announced that Lilly would be host of their new late night show – A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Earlier this year, Lilly came out as a bisexual and currently lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Scarbro.
No one is going to judge you if you choose to re-visit these channels and scroll back to find the old videos that had once made you laugh your guts out. Even though these YouTubers are oldies, they are still goldies. Go on and show your old favorites some love!
N.B. These YouTubers are ranked according to the date of their joining YouTube.
