TikTok star Charli D’Amelio has overtaken YouTuber PewDiePie as the individual with the most followers on a single platform, having reached an audience of 109.4m on TikTok.
Nobody has embodied the rise of TikTok quite like Charli D’Amelio. The 16-year-old rose to fame in 2019 posting standard TikTok lip-sync videos, where her professional dancing background helped her stand out from the crowd.
The so-called “Queen of TikTok” has since become a household name, having appeared on a Superbowl half-time advert, been interviewed at an NBA All-Star event alongside sister Dixie, and had a Dunkin’ Donuts drink dedicated to her.
She surpassed the 100 million mark back in November 2020, and it seemed like a matter of when she would surpass Pewdiepie, rather than if. Now, she has finally achieved the illustrious achievement of the most-followed individual on a single platform.
Stats from SocialTracker show Charli D’Amelio overtook PewDiePie on March 2 2021, as she reached 109.1 million followers. YouTube now only displays rounded subscriber counts, which places PewDiePie at 109 million. The only people with more than 110m followers are celebrities who achieved their fame from outside their respective platforms.
Since setting up her account, she has averaged a growth rate of almost 170,000 new followers per day, posted a total of 1,776 videos at an average of 2.75 videos per day, showing a ridiculous amount of dedication to her craft.
Taking over Pewdiepie is no mean feat, either. His channel became the most subscribed on YouTube back in 2013, and has largely remained at the top ever since. A public battle with T-Series in 2019, where both channels raced each other to 100 million subscribers, inflated both channels’ bases enormously.
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PewDiePie ended up being overtaken and beaten by T-Series, but he remained the most-subbed individual on any platform, reaching the 100 million mark himself on August 25 2019.
The exact number of subscribers is unclear, as YouTube now only displays subscriber counts to three significant figures, so – as far as we can tell – D’Amelio has officially overtaken him. At the time of writing, D’Amelio has 109.5 million followers on TikTok alone.
It’ll be interesting to see where Charli D’Amelio ends up next. The release of her family’s own reality show, set to be released on Hulu later this year, on top of her podcasting and book, will no doubt boost her profile even further.
She also spoke about losing her “passion” for posting on TikTok, explaining how negative feedback has impacted her enjoyment of the platform. This latest development could be the inspiration she needs to reignite her passion.
Whether PewDiePie will be able to regain his crown is a big doubt. At this rate, it looks like Charli D’Amelio’s status as the most followed internet personality is here to stay.