YouTube has changed the way the world consumes content and paved the way for the video-centric version of the internet that the world is a part of today.
YouTube has democratized content to the extent that one has access to top quality content at their fingertips. This isn’t something that only benefits viewers, who now have unfettered access to the best bank of content in the world – but also the creators of said content. Content creators owe a lot to YouTube for being the platform that gave every single individual the opportunity to leverage the platform to become the superstars of modern entertainment.
Today, some of the richest YouTubers with the biggest YouTube channels receive earnings that sometimes surpass those earned by legacy celebrities in Hollywood such as the Kardashians. The richest YouTube stars all have inspiring stories of how they leveraged the platform to the max, to become some of the richest entertainers on the planet today.
As for who the richest YouTubers of them all are? That depends on how one looks at it. While the lifetime earnings of certain YouTubers would make for interesting knowledge, we believe that what’s even more exciting are the youngsters who are the future of content. Their lifetime earnings may not currently match those of legacy YouTubers, but the rate at which their current earnings are growing puts them on a trajectory to become the richest YouTubers ever.
Without further ado, let’s learn more about some of the highest paid YouTubers under the age of 30, who are surely the future of YouTube.
1. MrBeast
MrBeast is naturally the first name that must be mentioned on this list, with his explosive growth that made him the highest paid YouTuber in 2021. One of the biggest YouTubers in the world today, MrBeast’s payday of $54 million was significantly larger than many of entertainment’s heavy hitters like Kim Kardashian, Billie Eilish, and Angelina Jolie. This only makes sense when one takes into account the fact that MrBeast’s channel has an incredible 10 billion views.
MrBeast’s payday in 2021 was almost double the amount that last year’s highest paid YouTuber – Ryan Kaji – earned for his adorable videos. If one wonders what it is about MrBeast that makes him and the channel so appealing to viewers, look no further than his commitment to the outlandish, over the top stunts he performs on his show – such as being buried alive for fifty hours or hosting his version of Squid Game, complete with an impressive set design.
As is the case with several of the richest YouTube stars, MrBeast has created effective parallel streams of income that hugely supplement his income. In 2021, MrBeast launched MrBeast branded meals on an app, with 1,600 restaurants partnering with the YouTuber to list their restaurants on his app. MrBeast promotes the burgers to his captive audience of over 90 million subscribers, and splits the profits from the orders with the restaurants. As of the time of writing this article, the business has sold over 5 million sandwiches. When it comes to monetizing his popularity, MrBeast truly enters beast mode.
2. Jake Paul
The poster boy for controversy, Jake Paul was once canceled by the internet as a whole in 2017. What caused that was a video posted by his brother, Logan Paul, of a forest in Japan known as a “suicide forest” due to a high prevalence of suicides in the area – with Logan even finding a person’s body and making light of it while wearing a Pikachu-like costume. Logan’s antics in the forest were understandably deemed disrespectful, insensitive, and in very poor taste, and the backlash was swift and decisive – and it also significantly affected his brother by extension. The brothers were dropped by all of their sponsors, and YouTube demonetized their channel for the insensitive content. From being two of the biggest names in entertainment in the world, to having their reputation annihilated, the Pauls truly fell from grace in more ways than one.
That’s why it’s fascinating to see Jake Paul being the second highest paid YouTube star in 2021, with an income of $45 million. However, most of this income doesn’t come from YouTube – even though he is allowed to make money off of YouTube ads again. Following the scandal, Jake Paul pivoted to a career in boxing, with highly publicized fights against Tyrone Woodley and Ben Askren, all of which were won by Paul. While boxing has become a sport that maligned entertainers often take up, Paul has managed to monetize it like no other and posts videos on his channel to promote his boxing career, making him one of the biggest YouTube channels and making him one of the highest paid YouTube stars on the planet.
3. Unspeakable
With total earnings in excess of $28 million in 2021, Unspeakable’s debut on this list is certainly a strong one – and perhaps the best thing to ever be built on Minecraft. Unspeakable is now one of the richest YouTube stars, with one of the biggest YouTube channels with a captive audience of over 20 million viewers built over 10 years of dedicatedly posting content on the regular. Most of his work involves talking about Minecraft, but his antics – such as filling a room with alligators, spending 50 hours on the run from law enforcement for a video, driving his old school bus on a long journey, or converting his house into a beach – have also found a dedicated audience. Over the years, Unspeakable has truly evolved into one of the biggest YouTube stars that lives up to his name – one that does some truly unspeakable things.
While Unspeakable made his millions by being a YouTuber, those gains didn’t come directly from YouTube. The star sold his catalog of YouTube videos to a company called Spotter, which is one of the largest independent owners of YouTube content, and instantly became one of the richest YouTube stars on a planet on account of the multi-million dollar payout.
4. Nastya
Behind this 8-year-old’s adorable smile lies the brain of an outstanding content creator with a knack for business – with a little help from her advisory team, of course. The young YouTube star is also one of the richest, with a whopping $28 million payday in 2021. While many would just stop working for the rest of their lives altogether if they earned such a sum as a child, Nastya’s enterprising nature suggests that she’s only going to work towards achieving even greater success.
Apart from her adorable YouTube channel documenting her life as she grows up, Nastya also did a deal with Spotter to sell her catalog and is betting big on the metaverse, having most recently launched a NFT collection. Her advisory team sets her up with unique opportunities to promote her brand, thus creating enough streams of revenue that ensures she’ll stay on lists such as this in several future editions.
5. Ryan Kaji
While Ryan Kaji has slipped in the overall rankings with a payday of 27 million dollars, that’s not a bad payout by any means for a child. From having started his channel when he was four-years-old, Ryan Kaji is now one of the richest YouTube stars and one of the biggest YouTubers in the world.
Ryan’s World – the name of Ryan Kaji’s channel – is now one of the biggest YouTube channels in the world with over 31 million subscribers and growing fast. The channel started off with adorable videos of Kaji reviewing toys, but has evolved as he grows older. The biggest objective for Ryan Kaji is to now remain one of the biggest YouTubers in the world even as he grows up, for which he has ample support from an advisory team and a former Disney executive, all of whom are working to bring Ryan’s animated characters to life in the real world – the best example being Ryan’s massive range of branded merchandise that’s sold at big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target.
6. Logan Paul
Just like his brother, Logan Paul has risen from the ashes of the controversy that he was entirely responsible for. Once one of the biggest YouTubers on the planet, Logan Paul’s reputation and monetization avenues were wiped out following the infamous video, but he’s made his way back to being one of the richest YouTube stars today with a comfortable payday of $18 million in 2021.
Again, just like his equally affected sibling, Logan Paul made his way back up in the world through boxing – having participated in a much-hyped exhibition match against Floyd Mayweather that was declared a draw. His podcast titled Impaulsive now has over 100 million listeners, while he had an NFT sale worth $5 million in 2022. The jury is still out on whether he has cleaned up his image, but his bank account would certainly think so.
7. Preston Arsemet
Preston Arsemet is something like a serial entrepreneur on YouTube, since he currently runs multiple YouTube channels. These channels, led by PrestonPlayz – his most popular channel – saw him become one of the highest paid YouTubers with a payday of $16 million in 2021. PrestonPlayz is now a 4 year old channel, and is mostly videos of Preston Arsemet playing videogames like Minecraft – the YouTube favorite. He also does a number of topical videos, such as one where he built a playable Minecraft world with all the challenges from Squid Game.
