PewDiePie — YouTube's Original King

Felix Kjellberg held the title of most-subscribed YouTuber for nearly a decade (2013-2022) with 111 million subscribers. His peak earnings hit $40 million in a single year. But the real legacy is structural: PewDiePie proved that a single person with a camera could build a media brand worth more than some television networks. He's since stepped back from daily uploads, but his influence created the blueprint for every creator economy career that followed. His $40M peak earnings exceeded what most A-list actors made in the same period. He did it playing Minecraft. In Sweden.