Most Subscribed YouTube Channels

Ever since the first YouTube Most Subscribed list was added in late April 2006, 10 different channels have officially become the most subscribed on YouTube. As of the 12th of January of 2017, PewDiePie is the Most Subscribed YouTuber of all time with more than 52.3 Million Subscribers. PewDiePie is also the first YouTuber based anywhere in Great Britain to be the most subscribed since the now deceased Geriatric1927 in August 2006. PewDiePie is also the first gaming channel to become the most subscribed on YouTube.

When the Most Subscribed charts were finally added near the end of April 2006, once the unofficial most subscribed FilthyWhore had lost her title and was in second place, with less than half the amount of subscribers than Smosh. Since then, a total of 10 YouTube channels have become the most subscribed a total of 17 different occasions, with Smosh and Pewdiepie being number one a record 3 times.

Below the history of the most subscribed YouTube channels are the weekly most subscribed videos. The lists show the top ten most subscribed channels, with their subscribers and sometimes video views. Each list is six to eight (usually seven) days apart from the previous and next. As of the 21st of April 2014, the weekly lists Will Not Contain VEVO Channels. Although the lists prior to April 13, 2014 contain VEVO Channels.

Top 20 Most Subscribed Channels (Not Including YouTube Owned Channels) As Of October 9, 2017
Since August 18, 2017, a total of the 20 channels have over 20 million subscribers. The channels are listed in the table below, with their subscribers being displayed by the nearest one hundred thousand. The first channel to hit that number was PewDiePie, doing so on January 9, 2014. YouTube Spotlight who was the second most subscribed channel at that time hit that number later that month. In November the same year, German Germendia's HolaSoyGerman channel hit the number. Five months later, Smosh would hit the number. It would be EXACTLY another year until another channel would hit 20 million, the channel being JustinBieberVEVO, being the first VEVO channel to hit that number. RihannaVEVO would hit it a month later. By the start of this year, 7 more channels had hit that number.


 * This data can change every day, for this reason you can use some online tools in order to check in realtime some stats like: total uploaded videos, total video views, live subscriber count and more. One of these tools is this.

Most Subscriber Gains By Year As Of October 9, 2017
The earliest record of the most subscribed channels dates back to May 17 of 2006. Every year since then, eleven channels have gained the most subscribers. YouTube Spotlight holds the record as gaining the most subscribers in one year, which counts to over 18 million gained back in 2013. Ray William Johnson and PewDiePie are the only channels to get the most subscribers in a year more than once, Ray William Johnson doing it consecutively in 2010-2011 and PewDiePie doing it in both 2014 and 2016.

Most Subscribed By Genre In Top 20 Most Subscribed Channels As Of October 5, 2017
Note: T-Series is the most subscribed channel out of the top twenty most subscribed to feature films but due to the channel mostly featuring music, the most subscribed primarily film based channel is Get Movies with over 13 million subscribers whose channel is not in the top twenty most subscribed however.

Top 20 Most Subscribed YouTube Channels By Television Rating As Of September 24, 2017
These are the top 20 most subscribed YouTube channels categorized if they were apart of the television content rating system. TheEllenShow is the only channel on this list to actually be categorized by the television content rating system. Every channel was eligible for every television content rating except for TV-Y. Restricted and PG-13 did not count in this list as there is no content on YouTube that is restricted (inappropriate enough to not be viewed by a certain audience) and PG-13 being the movie version of TV-14.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels In The Top 20 Most Subscribed YouTube Channels By Content Creater's Race In Order
The requirements for this list is for the most subscribed content creater (s) to be over 50% of a race. For example, Evan Fong, otherwise known as VanossGaming half Asian and half White but due to inheriting two races, nigahiga is the most subscribed Asian person on YouTube despite having one million less subscribers than Fong. This placement is due to Higa being over 50% Asian by his parents who are both at least mostly Asian.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2006
May 17, 2006 is largely regarded as the first day of the most subscribed charts, although an official source of YouTube states that the charts were first up on the 28th of April 2006. As there is no other screenshot of the most subscribed list taken earlier, May 17 is the official date until further proof is provided. Beginning from May 17th 2006,   Smosh was number one with 2986.

Smosh was passed by Judsonlaipply who's Evolution of Dance video propelled him to number one. He to this day holds the record for being the Most Subscribed for the shortest period of time,18 days. He was passed by vlogger Brookers who kept it for 45 days. However Youtube user Lofangas has found proof that Judsonlaipply was the most subscribed for an even shorter period of time than previously thought. Has has found proof that Smosh actually passed Judsonlaipply became the most subscribed for a second time, though it was much shorter. They became second most subscribed less than two weeks later when Brookers passed Smosh on the 3rd of July, 2006. She may have been number one for even longer if Geriatric1927 's first try video wasn't uploaded. He got to number one in mid-August 2006, at that point he had around 20,000 subscribers. Geriatric1927 was passed by Lonelygirl15 after being number one a month and a week. For the rest of 2006, Lonelygirl15 remained most subscribed, though her subscriber gain declined once it was revealed that Lonelygirl15 was in fact New Zealand born actress Jessica Rose and that her 'vlogs' were actually directed.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2007
When 2007 had come by, YouTube was sold to Google. The impacts were almost instantly seen, with the YouTube Partner Program created for YouTubers to earn money for their work. For the early part of 2007, Lonelygirl15 was still the most subscribed channel on YouTube. When she finally got revealed as actress Jessica Rose, the Lonelygirl15 channel suffered heavily. Smosh began gaining subscribers at an unmatchable pace, Lonelygirl15 still managed to be the most subscribed for almost half the year. By the time it was May (The YouTube Most Subscribed Lists 1st Birthday!), Smosh had passed LonelyGirl and amassed a massive lead nearly a month prior. Smosh remained number one for the rest of the year, increasing their subscriber base and popularity every day. Unfortunately, after losing the title of Most Subscribed YouTube Channels of all Time, Lonelygirl15 never recovered. Even though she still continued to upload until 2009, at that point she was still under 120,000 subscribers as Smosh was almost at a million by then.That still put her in the top 60 most subscribed.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2008
In 2008 the top three channels at any one point became the most subscribed. But for the large majority of the year, Smosh remained number 1. However,Nigahiga's "How To Be" series' skyrocketed him past Smosh on September 24, 2008. However his original run as most subscribed didn't last long as controversial Lucas Cruikshank and his Fred channel, who was behind nigahiga and Smosh for some time, finally surpassed Smosh,then nigahiga to become the most subscribed on YouTube.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2009
For the most of the year, Lucas Cruikshank's Fred channel would be the most Subscribed on YouTube. He would go on to be the first channel on YouTube to pass one million subscribers at around the 7th of April 2009. He remained the most subscribed up until the 20th of August, when Nigahiga passed him. The Fred channel would go to the two million subscriber mark before stalling. To this day, the Fred Channel has not passed the 2.3 million subscriber mark as popularity of other, new YouTubers increases while his has dropped into almost nothing since the character was retired in 2012. Nigahiga on the other hand remained the most subscribed for the rest of the year with relative ease.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2010
Nigahiga remained the most subscribed for the whole year, a feat which was never done before. In 2010 alone, he became the first YouTube Channel to pass two million and three million subscribers. For the duration of the year, Nigahiga had almost no competition, as his successor, RayWilliamJohnson and his popular show Equals Three was still far enough for Ryan to be the most subscribed for more than a year.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2011
For slightly over half the year, Nigahiga continued his dominance of the YouTube most subscribed charts. Rising YouTuber RayWilliamJohnson finally caught up to Nigahiga after being the youtuber that gained the most subscribers for a while. At the time RayWilliamJohnson was partnered with Maker Studios that funded his successful music channel, Your Favorite Martian, early in the year. He kept the title of the most subscribed YouTube Channel for the rest of 2011, extending his lead largely while Your Favorite Martian became the most subscribed to music channel. At the time he had no troubles partnering with Maker Studios. His music channel, Your Favorite Martian became one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2012
2012 was the second year a YouTuber was the most subscribed for the whole year. RayWilliamJohnson's subscriber gains peaked in mid 2012, when he had full dominance of the YouTube most subscribed charts. In October 2012, RayWilliamJohnson got in a dispute with his Multi Channel Network, Maker Studios. Maker Studios demanded a 50% stake in the show which made almost singlehandedly made RayWilliamJohnson the most subscribed, Equals Three. When he declined, Maker Studios cut funding of Ray's music channel, Your Favorite Martian, resulting in the planned album to be cancelled. At the time Your Favorite Martian was preparing for to release their album, however after the dispute, plans for the album were scrapped, resulting in a plea for the album to be released. This sent hate to Maker Studios for being to greedy while at the same time praising Ray for standing up to Maker. After the dispute, RayWilliamJohnsons channel was run by himself. Since Maker Studios promoted Ray's channel heavily compared to others, his subscriber growth slowed down considerably. At the end of 2012, Ray barely had a commanding lead over Smosh. The most subscribed channel at the end of 2013, PewDiePie, was at the time rising rapidly with more than three and a half million subscribers.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2013
At the very beginning of 2013, RayWilliamJohnson continued to be the most subscribed. However less than three weeks later, Smosh would pass him to be for the fourth time the most subscribed on YouTube. RayWilliamJohnson's decline as also mentioned in the previous section, could have been due to his music channel, Your Favorite Martian. Your Favorite Martian was liked by the majority of the public, with some videos passing 30 million views, more than RayWilliamJohnsons most viewed video, "Don't Call Me Fat!". At one point, at the pinnacle of their success, Your Favorite Martian became the most subscribed music channel on all of YouTube. The channel was discontinued after Ray split with Maker Studios and musical partner Jesse Cale.

When Smosh passed RayWilliamJohnson on the 17th of January 2013, many YouTubers applauded the duo on becoming the most subscribed for the fourth time in the history of YouTube. Former most subscribed YouTubers such as Nigahiga and the new second placed RayWilliamJohnson congratulated Anthony and Ian. The YouTuber who would go on to pass Smosh, PewDiePie, also applauded their achievement. The duo, who have been signed under Alloy Digital since 2012, went on to be the most subscribed for about eight months when the fast growing PewDiePie finally surpassed them. By then it was clear only two channels would be the most subscribed for the remaining four months. The current most subscribed, PewDiePie and YouTube's official channel, YouTube Spotlight. Many people claimed that YouTube Spotlight should not be added in the most subscribed charts as the bulk of subscribers came from new users. When a user joins up, YouTube Spotlight is usually automatically added in the subscriptions. This "Foul Play" started one of the most hotly contested battles for the most subscribed spot never before seen. PewDiePie held the number one title for 80 days, when YouTube Spotlight finally caught up, after passing many top YouTubers. YouTube Spotlight held the most subscribed spot for a mere 36 days, before PewDiePie would pass them again. Unfortunately for him, YouTube Spotlight passed him 4 days later. After Spotlight passed him, PewDiePie's subscriber increase rose past YouTube Spotlights. He broke free as Spotlight's massive subscriber gain stalled. YouTube Spotlights subscriber gain was mainly driven by the popular video, YouTube Rewind 2014. To date the video has got almost 100 million views, slightly behind Youtube Rewind 2013. As YouTube Rewind's popularity decreased, PewDiePie increased his lead further, making him the most subscribed at the end of 2013 with more than 19 million subscribers. In total, PewDiePie held the most subscribed spot at three different times in 2013. YouTube Spotlight held the title twice, before stalling in early 2014. Over the course of 2013, PewDiePie went from 3.5 million subscribers to 19.5 million subscribers. His subscriber gain for 2013 was unmatched by any other YouTube Channel.

Most Subscribed YouTube Channels 2014
By the time the year 2014 began, once big YouTube channels such as Shane Dawson TV and FPSRussia were now outside the top ten. RayWilliamJohnson, who was the most subscribed a year earlier, had now lost almost all momentum he had gained through Equals Three. New YouTubers like VanossGaming and FouseyTUBE and traditional media celebrities like Jackass's Steve-O started making an impact with gaming, comedy, pranks and music videos being more popular than ever before. Despite new competition, for the first seven months of the year, PewDiePie has managed to remain the most subscribed, in fact he has increased his lead to more than six million subscribers ahead of YouTube Spotlight and more than ten million subscribers ahead of HolaSoyGerman and Smosh. PewDiePie currently has more than 46 million subscribers, gaining an average of 30,000 - 35,000 subscribers a day.

In March 14, 2014, many popular YouTubers, including PewDiePie, had their subscriber gain decreased massively. PewDiePie's channel started gaining less than one third of his usual peak despite he is still #1 fastest growing channel. There is no explanation for this as the decreased subscriber gain trend continues to affect both big and small channels.

Most Subscribed Through Viral Videos/Series
Smosh - Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, more popularly known as YouTube comedy duo Smosh rose to fame in late 2005 with their two videos, Pokémon Theme Song and Mortal Kombat Theme Song. They became so popular early on that by the time the subscribe feature and most subscribed lists came out, they topped them with relative ease. They are currently the highest ranked YouTube Channel from 2005(after YouTube Spotlight), with more than 18 million subscribers.

Judsonlaipply - His video, The Evolution of Dance became a worldwide phenomenon as it earned the title of the first most viewed video.* His subscriber count rose rapidly and as a result he became the second channel to officially be most subscribed within a month of his main upload. Publicity further increased his views, though he got passed by Brookers for the most subscribed after being number one for less than three weeks. 'Evolution of Dance' has now got more than 296 Million Views as of the fourth of September 2016.

Geriatric1927 - Peter Oakley aka Geriatric1927, got world media attention when his introduction video, First Try, made him the most subscribe in twelve days. He showed the world that you don't have to be young to be popular and inspired many other seniors to create their own YouTube channels. He continued to upload videos about his life until a month and a half before his death on the 23rd of March 2014. After his death, many popular YouTubers including Renetto, WhatTheBuckShow, Shaycarl mourned on his last YouTube Video, a conclusion to his second autobiographical series. Renetto also uploaded a video about Geriatric1927's death, which has got more than 2,600 views to date.

nigahiga - Ryan Higa's "How To Be" series proved to be the vital push in his bid to be the Most Subscribed Channel on YouTube. His videos How To Be Gangster, How To Be Ninja and How To Be Emo gave his comedy/skit channel much needed exposure. All three of his videos have accumulated 125 million views to date. He still continues to be in the top 100 for both total subscribers and 24 hour subscriber gains.

Fred - Lucas Cruikshank's Fred videos made him the not subscribed and most recognizable YouTubers of 2008. He got so popular that his channel as bought by Nickelodeon, with a movie as well. Unfortunately, as his YouTube popularity decreased(Supported by the Fred Prank), his movie and animated series flopped. Since 2012, the Fred channel has now become inactive, gaining less than 500 subscribers a day to his 2.2 million subscribers. He(Lucas Cruilshank) now co-runs a YouTube vlogging channel, calls Lucas and Jenny. The channel has now got more than 600,000 subscribers from 100 videos.

Most Subscribed List Through Viral Videos/Series
Like the YouTubers above, these people became extremely popular on YouTube, gaining many subscribers as a result. However these YouTubers did not become the most subscribed on YouTube at any point, though they did rank very highly.

boh3m3 (Went Viral 2006) - Now almost completely inactive, boh3m3(Real Name Ben Going) became one of the most popular YouTubers in the period between late 2006 and mid 2007 with a few of his early videos(of which some are deleted) going viral. His videos "Save The Internet" and "Ask A Spaz" made him one of the top YouTubers, with him once in the top 5 most subscribed at one point. His popularity has massively declined since his peak in early 2007, both on his YouTube Channel and his official website Boh3m3, possibly due to the incredible growth occuring. The growth resulted in new varieties of videos, with Vlogging declining considerably. No matter what, he is still remembered as one of the pioneers of YouTube. Boh3m3 hasn't uploaded a video in almost 4 months.

Shane Dawson (Went Viral September 2008) - His FRED IS DEAD! Video made him one of the most subscribed on YouTube(But Not Number One) in just a few months. At his peak, he was at number three on the most subscribed charts. He also used fake thumbnails and titles which gave him views but much hate. He currently has two channels in the top 120 most subscribed. He also does collaborations with Joey Graceffa etc

Officialpsy (Went Viral July 2012) - His video, Gangnam Style, made him one of the twenty most subscribed channels on YouTube. It also made him one of the most viewed channels on YouTube in a few months, with him peaking at number 4 most viewed. His follow up, Gentleman, helped rise his subscriber and view count even more, with the two videos having a total of more than 2.6 billion views. He is still in the top 50 most subscribed YouTube channels, and the 6th most viewed channel, only surpassed by:

RihannaVevo

Machinima

muyap

JustinBeiberVevo

PewDiePie


 * Evolution of Dance is not the first most viewed video on YouTube, with some being older such as:

-Me at the zoo (First Video on YouTube)

-Pokemon Theme Song (Original Deleted)

-Lazy Sunday (Deleted)

Misconceptions of Most Subscribed Channel reigns

 * A theory that Smosh became the most subscribed channel for a short period once more after the supposed first and only reign in 2006.
 * A theory that Smosh surpassed nigahiga on September 28, 2008 to become the most subscribed channel for a third time, after nigahiga surpassed them in subscribers to become the most subscribed for the first time.
 * Proof on YouTube that Ray William Johnson surpassed Smosh for a few seconds to become the most subscribed channel for the second and final time.
 * YouTube Spotlight surpassed PewDiePie for a few hours on December 9, 2013 to become the most subscribed for a second time after PewDiePie surpassed them the day before to become the most subscribed for a second time.
 * YouTube Spotlight is recorded to have been most subscribed twice by most but could've been five times throughout the time period of November to December 2013 when PewDiePie and YouTube Spotlight were battling it out for the #1 most subscribed spot. This means PewDiePie could've been most subscribed six times.

Weekly Most Subscribed Lists 2013
Below are all of user Lofangas' weekly most subscribed lists from 2013. Note that there is only one list.

Weekly Most Subscribed Lists 2014
Below are all the weekly most subscribed videos from user Lofangas from 2014. These videos have the top 10 most subscribed, though Lofangas does upload top 100 most subscribe lists. All these videos up until April 13, 2014 include VEVO Channels which includes RihannaVevo, EminemVevo and KatyPerryVevo.