Guerin Blask for Forbes
Armed with smartphones and armies of faithful fans, these 50 social media sensations are building fortunes by redefining the rules of entertainment, advertising, and stardom.
Social media has created a shortcut to celebrity fortune and fame. The eight-figure paydays once reserved for box office idols, stadium-filling singers and G.O.A.T athletes now flow to young influencers broadcasting their lives via smartphones. Welcome to the age of the selfie-made millionaire.
Creators including Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Khaby Lame, Hudda Kattan and Felix “xQc” Lengyel are harnessing Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, Snap and Twitch to bring home annual earnings of $10 million and beyond.
The inaugural Forbes Top Creator list highlights the 50 social superstars leveraging a combined 1.9 billion followers across social networks to earn $570 million in 2021 alone. Their average age is just 31. Next year’s windfall stands to be significantly richer as popular personalities shift from influencers to owners, using their massive reach to start their own ventures—clothing lines, beauty empires, TV series and fast food chains.
“The creator economy is significant both in its growth trajectory and the impact it’s already having across entertainment and commerce,” says Jeremy Zimmer, CEO and founder of United Talent Agency (UTA). “We’re seeing dedicated audiences forging direct relationships with influencers, celebrities and tastemakers who are innovating and delivering content people want in their lives every day. These relationships can have long term value that can be very meaningful.”
To build our first-ever Top Creators list, Forbes reporters—with help and insight from creator agency, Influential—judged thousands of influencers (folks who launched their careers on social media) on three critical metrics: earnings, clout and entrepreneurship. The end result: 50 unlikely celebrities charting the future of entertainment, and advertising.
Earnings
Forbes estimated 2021 earnings based on documents and interviews with creators, and other experts across media, retail and advertising. Earnings account for 50% of a creator’s ranking.
CLOUT
This accounts for a creator’s follower count and engagement rate—total engagement (likes, comments, shares) divided by total followers. For follower count, we summed followers across platforms. This count includes people who follow creators on multiple platforms.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Forbes ranked a creator’s level entrepreneurship on a one-to-three scale ranging from people who make most of their money from traditional advertising to folks building their own companies, brands and services.
YouTube star, Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, tops this year's list thanks to the $54 million in 2021. Most of his haul came from pre-roll ads on his YouTube videos documenting stunts like spending 50 hours buried alive and attempting 30 days of starvation. MrBeast is now leaning on his 100 million-plus YouTube audience to start his fast food chain MrBeast Burger. The brand brings the direct-to-consumer business model to the burger world using a series of ghost kitchens to quickly prep and deliver food to fans who order “Beast Style” burgers and “Seasoned Crinkle Fries” straight from his website.
Danielle Bregoli–better known as Bhad Bhabie—used OnlyFans, a creator subscription site popular with adult performers, to turn racy photos into $51 million in earnings 2021. Bregoli, #16 on the Top Creators list, first became internet famous after she appeared on the Dr. Phil show as a rebellious teen in 2016. On her 18th birthday, she started an OnlyFans account and reportedly made $1 million in her first six hours. Via OnlyFans, she posts lingerie photos to subscribers who pay $23.99 a month for access. Even more cash comes from fans who tip her to receive private messages and photos.
Meanwhile Charli and Dixie D’Amelio—who rank #2 and #21 on the Top Creators list—earned $27 million in 2021 thanks to their own clothing and perfume lines, TV series, pop music and equity investments. The sisters are now evolving from pitching other people’s products to making their own. The newly launched D’Amelio Brands will soon sell shoes and beauty products to the sisters’ 200 million TikTok followers. The D’Amelios are out to cash in before the pop music stops. After all, in the fickle world of internet celebrity, careers can boom and bust overnight. “We know nothing lasts forever,” says Charli D’Amelio. “We're just here to do as much as we can and enjoy this time.”
See the full list here.
