POWER RANKING: the 10 most famous influencers on the internet

• Insider surveyed 1,040 people to figure out which influencers are the most well-known.
• Controversial YouTubers are most well known but not as liked.
• TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio have reached the mainstream.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A decade or two ago, if you asked  a random person to name an influencer they’d struggle with the question. Now YouTubers and streamers are a part of everyday life and are nearly impossible to avoid. From your feeds on Facebook to the endless scrolling you do on TikTok to distract yourself from the monotony of work, there’s someone online to fill your parasocial relationship needs.

Insider surveyed 1,040 people through SurveyMonkey Audience to find out which of over 60 influencers are the most well-known, liked, and disliked online. Here’s a list of the most well-known, starting from the bottom.

10. Addison Rae

Starting off our list is the famous TikTok dancer, Addison Rae. With 76 million followers on the app, the 20-year-old has been a powerhouse since joining the Hype House collective in 2019. With a devoted fan base that wants to watch her move to the beat, she’s only just starting her rise as an influencer.

According to the data, 16% of those surveyed knew who Addison was and of those 29% like Addison and 35% dislike the social media starlet. She may be new to the game but she’s already made quite an impact.

9. Charli D’Amelio

The Renegade starlet that’s become a household name since breaking out on TikTok was bound to end up with a spot on this list. The 16-year-old D’Amelio sister with 107 million followers has become one of the app’s most popular dancers since starting to create content in 2019. From deals with Dunkin Donuts to a highly successful podcast, Charli is the poster child for the TikTok generation.

18.1% of those surveyed knew about Charli D'Amelio and 31% found her favorable. Interestingly, 34.9% found her unfavorable, potentially finding her distaste for snails to be problematic or her syrupy Dunkin too sticky. 

8. MrBeast

From buying out every single item in a grocery store to helping every puppy in an animal shelter to be adopted, Jimmy Donaldson known as YouTuber MrBeast, is a cultural icon. Since breaking out on YouTube in 2018, the 22-year-old with 52.9 million subscribers has not stopped blowing the minds of fans. He's started his own burger chain, held competitions with million-dollar prizes, and crashed the ClubHouse forum app just by speaking.

Only 18.9% of people surveyed knew about Donaldson, but out of those 70% found him favorable and only 12% unfavorable. Out of our whole list he has the highest favorable rating because who can hate a philanthropist who also knows how to spot a good YouTube thumbnail?

7. Shane Dawson

From one of YouTube's most popular rising stars to a full cancellation, Shane Dawson has had one of the most interesting paths of any influencer. Starting his channel in 2005, he amassed 20.8 million YouTube subscribers as one of the original content creators to break through to the mainstream. Since his rise, multiple older videos of him in black face and performing risque humor have surfaced, causing his once stellar popularity to vanish.

Dawson was known by 19.6% of people, which isn't shocking considering he was the original breakout influencer. Under 20% find him favorable with over 44%find him unfavorable, which is clear evidence of backlash from his cancellation.  

6. James Charles 

The make-up guru turned infamous TikToker, James Charles is one of the most popular YouTubers around. Since starting his channel in 2015, he's pulled in 25.5 million fans he labels "sisters" who watch him put on makeup and dance with the D'Amelio sisters. Charles is also no stranger to feuds, spending 2020 fighting with both Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein of H3h3. 

Only a fifth of those surveyed knew who Charles was, with 27% of those finding him favorable and 39.2% finding him unfavorable. Considering how polarizing his content and persona can be, those numbers make sense.

5. Jeffree Star

The most controversial beauty guru around is very well known. Jeffree Star has been a Warped Tour singer, an extreme provocateur, and a makeup guru all within a decade. In October, Insider published an investigation about sexual assault allegations made against Star.

22 percent knew who Star was but 55%found him to be unfavorable, with under 20% favoring him. As complicated as Star is, it's clear that people know who he is.

 

4. Jojo Siwa

The most-favorable dancer was Jojo Siwa. Starting off on the television show Dance Moms, Siwa rose through the ranks of an influencer on YouTube, signing with Nickelodeon and having her own show in 2017. In 2021, Siwa came out about her sexuality and started posting pictures on social media of her girlfriend.

Out of those surveyed, 26% knew who Siwa was, with about a third each finding her favorable and unfavorable. Being a child star is never easy but she's clearly coming out of her shell. 

 3. Jake Paul

Controversy breeds notoriety and nobody on this list embodies that idea more than Jake Paul. The everyday bro with a Disney channel flow has been in the news multiple times since he started posting Vines in 2013. He's started his own failed group called Team 10, started multiple controversial learning programs, and has even been raided by the FBI. Most recently, he's pursued a career in boxing alongside his brother Logan.

29.5% knew about the younger Paul brother and 71.4% of those found him unfavorable. Considering Jake uses infamy as fuel for his business practices, it's no surprise that he's well known but disliked.  

2. PewDiePie

Felix Kjellberg, known online as PewDiePie, has 109 million subscribers and a truly devoted fan base. From his simple origins of playing video games and recording his reactions, he's grown to previously unimaginable heights, even getting into a subscriber race with Indian music video channel T-Series in 2019.

In his circles, Kjellberg is incredibly well known, but only 30.2% of those surveyed knew who he was. 40% found him unfavorable and 37% found him favorable, meaning a majority did at least have some opinion on him. 

1. Logan Paul

The most well-known influencer on the list might be the most controversial. Logan Paul, who started making Vines like his brother, has exploded into the mainstream with 22 million YouTube subscribers. From nearly boxing Floyd Mayweather to causing a boom of Pokemon card collecting, there's no corner of popular media he hasn't at least been seen in. In 2018, Paul dealt with the backlash of posting a vlog with a dead body in it at the Suicide Forest and briefly disappeared from the public eye. Over the next two years, he would develop his brand with the "ImPaulsive" podcast interviewing the likes of Alex Jones, Tekashi 6IX9INE and Mike Tyson.

Slightly beating out PewDiePie, Paul was known by 30.6% of people but disliked by a majority of them. 60.8% found him unfavorable, with the stigma of his suicide forest video still lingering on his public persona. The 13.5% that found him favorable must have been Mavericks or fans of the podcast.  

 

SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Polling data collected 1,040 respondents December 24, 2020 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.