PewDiePie and Mr. Beast Made Less Money Than This 9-Year Old on YouTube

For the second straight year, PewDiePie nor Mr. Beast are the highest-earning creators on YouTube. Though they’re still near the top of Forbes’ annual earnings list, both creators have been bested again by Ryan Kaji, a nine-year-old creator that makes review and unboxing videos with his siblings and parents. Kaji’s whopping 12.2 billion views and 41.7 million netted the pre-teen creator a reported $29.5 million throughout the year.

Mr. Beast — real name Jimmy Donaldson — finished in a near second place, converting his 3 billion views and 47.8 million subscribers to a reported $24 million according to the financial mag. In addition to his gift-all content plan, the creator has unveiled his plans to start a fast-food burger chain — the first, of which, he opened up over the weekend.

He wrote on Twitter then, “I just launched 300 restaurants nationwide! Just go on your favorite delivery app and order a MrBeast Burger! WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR FOREVER AND IM SO EXCITED!”

“The ideas are going to continue to get crazier, and he’s going to continue to spend large amounts of money to up the production quality,” Donald’s manager Reed Duchscher told Forbes. “I mean, he just tweeted out today that he has all these good ideas that cost $10 million. And he’s not wrong. He does.”

Trickshot channel Dude Perfect finished third on the list, raking in $23 million while Rhett & Link ($20 million) and Markiplier ($19.5 round out the top five. Preston Arsement ($19 million), Nastya ($18.5 million), Blippi ($17 million), David Dobrik ($15.5 million), and Jeffree Star ($15 million) were also included on the list.

To date, Kaji has uploaded over 1,800 videos to his channel — nearly one every day. In addition to the videos he shares of himself and family, Kaji’s YouTube channel also includes original animated content for kids.

Cover photo by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images