List of most-subscribed YouTube channels

On the video platform YouTube, a subscriber to a channel is a user who, by selecting that channel’s subscribe button, has chosen to receive content released by the channel. Each user’s subscription feed consists of videos recently published by channels to which the account is subscribed. The ability to subscribe to users was introduced in October 2005, and the website began publishing a list of its “most subscribed Members” in April 2006.

An early archive of the list dates to May 2006, at which time Smosh, with fewer than three thousand subscribers, occupied the number one position. Since then, at least ten other YouTube channels have possessed the platform’s largest subscriber count; these include Judson Laipply, Brookers, geriatric1927, lonelygirl15, nigahiga, Fred, Ray (formerly RayWilliamJohnson), PewDiePie, and YouTube (formerly YouTube Spotlight). The most-subscribed channel as of April 2021 is T-Series, an Indian music video publisher operated by the entertainment company of the same name. With a subscriber count of 180 million, the channel has held this distinction since April 2019.

Most-subscribed channels

The following table lists the fifty most-subscribed channels on YouTube,, as well as the primary language and content category of each channel. The channels are ordered by number of subscribers; those whose displayed subscriber counts are identical are listed so that the channel whose current growth rate indicates that its displayed subscriber count will exceed that of the other channel is listed first. Automatically-generated channels that lack their own videos (such as Music and News) and channels that have been made effectively obsolete as a result of the transferal of their content (such as JustinBieberVEVO and RihannaVEVO) are excluded. As of April 2021, 21 of the 50 channels listed primarily produce content in English while 14 of them produce content primarily in Hindi.

Historical progression of most-subscribed channels

The following table lists the nineteen distinct runs as the most-subscribed YouTube channel recorded since May 2006. Only runs lasting at least 24 hours are included.

Timeline

Timeline of the most-subscribed YouTube channels (May 2006 – present)

Milestones and reactions

Following the third time that Smosh became the most-subscribed YouTube channel, Ray William Johnson collaborated with the duo. A flurry of top YouTubers including Ryan Higa, Shane Dawson, Felix Kjellberg, Michael Buckley, Kassem Gharaibeh, the Fine Brothers, and Johnson himself, congratulated the duo shortly after they surpassed Johnson as the most-subscribed channel.

PewDiePie vs T-Series

In mid-2018, the subscriber count of the Indian music video channel T-Series rapidly approached that of Swedish web comedian and Let’s Player PewDiePie, who at the time was the most-subscribed user on YouTube. As a result, fans of PewDiePie and T-Series, other YouTubers and celebrities showed their support for both channels. During the competition, both channels gained a large number of subscribers at a rapid rate. The two channels surpassed each other in subscriber count on a number of occasions in February, March, and April 2019.