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A subscriber to a channel on the American video-sharing platform YouTube is a user with an account who chooses to follow a channel's content by clicking on that channel's \"Subscribe\" button, and each user's subscription feed consists of videos published by channels to which the user is subscribed. The ability for users to subscribe was introduced in October 2005. YouTube began publishing a list of its most-subscribed channels in April 2006. An early archive of the list dates to May 17, 2006. As of 2026, YouTube does not publish lists of most-subscribed channels.

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Since May 2006, when Smosh occupied the top position with just 2,986 subscribers, at least 11 other YouTube channels have held the top spot; these include the channel for the American fictional web series lonelygirl15, American comedian Brooke \"Brookers\" Brodack, American fictional character Fred Figglehorn, Swedish gamer Felix \"PewDiePie\" Kjellberg, American comedian Ryan Higa, American media personality Ray William Johnson, American public speaker Judson Laipply, English pensioner Peter Oakley, and the official channels for Indian music record label T-Series, as well as YouTube itself.\n

As of June 12, 2026, the most-subscribed YouTuber is MrBeast, having 500 million subscribers and gaining an average of 133,000 subscribers per day.\n

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100 most-subscribed channels

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The following table lists the top followed 100 YouTube channels, as well as the primary language, country, date they joined YouTube, 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 transferral of their content, such as JustinBieberVEVO and TaylorSwiftVEVO are excluded.\n

As of June 2026, 36 of top 100 channels listed primarily produce content in English, 28 primarily in Hindi, and 11 primarily in Spanish. All 100 channels have surpassed 50 million subscribers. All Top 50 channels have surpassed 68 million subscribers. Seventeen of the channels have surpassed 100 million subscribers, of which three have surpassed 200 million (Cocomelon), two have surpassed 300 million (T-Series) and one has surpassed both 400 and 500 million (MrBeast).\n

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Historical progression of most-subscribed channels

The following table lists the 20 distinct runs as the most-subscribed YouTube channel recorded since May 2006. Only runs lasting at least 24 hours are included. Twelve different channels have held the position, with PewDiePie holding the title a record four times. He also holds the records for the longest time as the most-subscribed channel (1,920 days in his third run), the shortest time as the most-subscribed channel (four days in his second run), and the longest overall combined time as the most subscribed channel (2,017 days). In second place is Smosh, which held it three times, while third place is tied between nigahiga, T-Series, and YouTube's own channel, which have all held it twice each. YouTube's own official channel, then known as \"YouTube Spotlight\", briefly held the title in late 2013; one factor that contributed to the channel's rise to the top spot was the site's autosuggestion for new users to subscribe to the channel upon registration.\n

Overall of the twelve channels who have held the record, seven featured individual males (including MrBeast); one (Brookers) featured an individual female; three have been operated by brands as opposed to individuals (T-Series, YouTube Spotlight, and MrBeast); one (Smosh) was a duo of males which later became a collective and production company; and one (lonelygirl15) was a web series. Nine of the channels were based in the United States, one (geriatric1927) was based in England, one (T-Series) was based in India, and one (PewDiePie) was based in Sweden, and later in England.\n

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Timeline

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

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Milestones and reactions

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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.\n

PewDiePie vs T-Series

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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 was the most-subscribed user on YouTube at the time. 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, and surpassed each other's subscriber count on multiple occasions in early 2019. T-Series eventually permanently surpassed PewDiePie, and on May 29, 2019, it became the first channel to reach 100 million subscribers.\n

In 2024, when MrBeast surpassed T-Series, he tweeted that his fans had \"avenged\" PewDiePie. In the lead-up to MrBeast's channel becoming the most-subscribed, T-Series issued a call for subscribers. Meanwhile, MrBeast urged his fans to not see the competition between his channel and T-Series as \"this country versus that country\", while also warning against anyone becoming hateful.\n

Notes

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References

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100 most-subscribed channels

Historical progression of most-subscribed channels

Timeline

Milestones and reactions

PewDiePie vs T-Series

See also

Notes

References

LooLoo Kids

Broadcast History