When we think of highest-paid YouTubers, PewDiePie, Mr. Beast, Dude Perfect, and Markiplier most likely come to mind. However, none of these incredibly popular content creators made the most money in 2020. That award instead goes to 9-year-old Ryan Kaji for his Ryan’s World YouTube Channel.
According to a top ten post on Forbes, Ryan raked in $29.5 million over the last year with 41.7 million subscribers and 12.2 billion views. To most people, Ryan’s channel of him reviewing toys, playing with his family, and science experiments are nothing to write home about. However, young kids love watching Ryan. Parents know that their young children can watch Ryan safely, especially since the YouTube Kids app heavily features him. Even I know who this kid is, because my youngest son enjoys watching his toy reviews.
Another thing about Ryan that is even more noteworthy is the fact that his YouTube channel isn’t his biggest moneymaker. The kid has extensive licensing deals for thousands of Ryan’s World products. Bedroom decor, toys, action figures, masks, tableware — you name it — and he probably has a licensed product.
Other highest-paid YouTuber honorable mentions
It should come as no surprise that Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson and Dude Perfect took spots #2 and #3 respectively at $24 and $23 million earned. Mr. Beast has a wide range of content on his channel, with most of it revolving around challenges for his cast and even viewers. These challenges range from physical tasks to video game goals. Some of his most popular gaming videos consist of bringing in hundreds of viewers into a Minecraft server and killing them all in rather hysterical ways. The last one standing wins an incredible cash prize.
Dude Perfect is five guys who have been friends since college and love performing trick shots. As their popularity has grown, they’ve expanded to weekly shows and other more sporadic shows such as Stereotypes. They occasionally dabble in playing video games, but you mostly watch them act like big kids in a toy store and pull off some amazing trick shots.
Markiplier and Preston Arsement at #5 and #6 were the only other gaming YouTubers to make the top ten highest-paid list.
