MrBeast becomes YouTube’s most-subscribed creator

MrBeast has become YouTube’s most-subscribed creator, with 112million subscribers.

The US YouTuber has taken the title from PewDiePie, who had been YouTube’s most subscribed creator for the last decade and was the first person on the platform to have passed the 100million subscriber mark.

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, joined YouTube in 2012. According to Guinness World Records, he has accumulated a total of 18.5billion views on his videos. He has four other channels besides his main one, all of which have more than 10million subscribers.

Donaldson is best known for his videos featuring absurd stunts and large scale productions, many of which have involved huge cash giveaways and prizes.

Last year, he spent $2million (£1.6million) on recreating a selection of games from the smash hit Netflix show Squid Game, which involved flying 456 people to a private island and offering a $456,000 (£382,173) cash prize up for the winner.

In the past he has given away a private jet and offered people $100,000 (£83,830) to quit their jobs, while also giving his 100millionth subscriber an island.

Donaldson is also well known for his generous contributions to charity. Last year, he launched a charity that functions as a food bank to feed communities across the US.

He also teamed up with fellow YouTuber Mark Rober for the initiative TeamTrees, which has raised more than $24million (£20.1million) to plant 20million trees globally. They later launched TeamSeas to fundraise to remove 30million pounds of plastic and other waste from oceans, rivers and beaches.

British YouTuber Steven Bridges told the BBC that MrBeast had “mastered the skill” of making compelling content.

“There’s probably no other YouTuber in the world who understands it as well as MrBeast,” he said. “Making an entertaining video is one thing, but ensuring that every single second of a video keeps the viewer hooked is very difficult to pull off, and MrBeast’s retention – the percent of the video the average viewer watches – and view counts speak for themselves.”

PewDiePie had also anticipated that MrBeast would surpass his record-breaking subscriber count. In a video posted to the platform in August the Swedish YouTuber said: “I can’t wait for it to be over. He definitely deserves it. I hope he does it.”

The post MrBeast becomes YouTube’s most-subscribed creator appeared first on NME.