Forbes put together its first list of the highest paid YouTube stars and the amount of money that they each make will boggle your mind. It will also make you think about quitting your job, buying a Web cam, and start doing silly shit on video, because these folks are raking it in.
And get this, the minimum income just to make the list, based on pretax earnings for the year ending June 1, 2015 is $2.5 million… FOR MAKING YOUTUBE VIDEOS.
1. Felix Kjellberg – pictured above (PewDiePie) – $12 million.
He has 40 million subscribers who watch him play video games mostly.
2. Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla (Smosh) – $8.5 million.
They have 21 million subscribers who watch them do comedy sketches.
3. Benny and Rafi Fine (Fine Brothers Entertainment) – $8.5 million.
They have 13 million subscribers who watch people “react to things.”
4. Lindsey Stirling (Lindsey Stirling) – $6 million.
She has 7 million subscribers who watch her play the violin.
5. Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln Neal III (Rhett & Link) – $4.5 million.
They have 3 million subscribers who watch them do comedy sketches.
5. Olajide Olatunji (KSI) – $4.5 million.
He has 10 million subscribers who watch him play video games perform hip-hop.
6. Michelle Phan (Michelle Phan) – $3 million.
Her 8 million subscribers watch her do makeup tutorials.
7. Lilly Singh (Superwoman) – $2.5 million.
Her 7 million subscribers watch her do comedy sketches.
8. Roman Atwood (Roman Atwood Pranks) – $2.5 million.
His 7 million subscribers watch him do pranks.
9. Rosanna Pansino (Rosanna Pansino) – $2.5 million.
Her 5 million subscribers watch her make cupcakes.
Now how do I work this Web cam again?