Who Has the Most Subscribers on YouTube? Top 20 Channels (2026)

MrBeast has the most subscribers on YouTube, with about 525 million as of November 7, 2026, according to vidIQ's daily top 100 list. T-Series, the Indian music label, is second with about 316 million, and Cocomelon is third with about 203 million. The Wikipedia list of most-subscribed YouTube channels, updated in November 2026, shows the same top three and the same counts. Both sources were checked on November 8, 2026.

YouTube itself doesn't publish an official ranking. Trackers like vidIQ read the public subscriber count on each channel page, so the order below is only as exact as those public numbers (more on that further down).

The 20 most subscribed YouTube channels

Counts are from vidIQ (updated November 7, 2026). Language and category are from the Wikipedia list.

Wikipedia leaves out channels that YouTube generates automatically and that have no videos of their own, such as the Music and News topic channels. That's why you won't see them here, even though some show large subscriber numbers.

Who has the most subscribers on YouTube, and how long they've held it

MrBeast took the top spot from T-Series on June 2, 2024, according to the Wikipedia list, which tracks every channel that held #1 for at least 24 hours since 2006. He then became the first channel to reach 300 million (July 10, 2024), 400 million (June 1, 2025) and 500 million. TheWrap reported the 500 million mark on June 12, 2026, which he livestreamed to more than 600,000 viewers.

Before that, the #1 spot had a long and messy history. From the same Wikipedia page:

• 2006 to 2013: Smosh, nigahiga, FЯED and Ray William Johnson traded the lead. Smosh was the first channel ever recorded at #1, in May 2006, with 2,986 subscribers.
• December 2013 to March 2019: PewDiePie held #1 for 1,920 days, still the longest single run on record.
• 2019: T-Series and PewDiePie swapped places several times. T-Series took the lead for good on April 14, 2019, and on May 29, 2019 became the first channel to pass 100 million subscribers. It reached 200 million on November 30, 2021.
• June 2024 to now: MrBeast.

PewDiePie, once the biggest channel on the site, now sits at #14 with about 109 million.

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What the most subscribed YouTube channels have in common

Look at the top 20 and a few patterns stand out. These are observations from the table above, not a formula.

Kids content is huge. Cocomelon and ChuChu TV are nursery rhyme channels by name, and Vlad and Niki, Kids Diana Show and Like Nastya are family channels built around children. That's five of the top 20.

Hindi-language media companies take seven spots. T-Series, Zee Music Company and Goldmines are music and film labels. SET India, Sony SAB and Zee TV are TV networks that post their shows to YouTube. ChuChu TV makes kids' songs.

Nine of the top 20 are companies, not personalities. Three music and film labels, three TV networks, two animated nursery rhyme channels and WWE. Their videos can be watched without knowing anyone behind the camera. The personality-led channels (MrBeast, Stokes Twins, Alejo Igoa, PewDiePie) are there too, but they share the list with brands.

Language matters. English, Hindi, Korean and Spanish are the only languages in the top 20 by Wikipedia's tagging.

What this means if you're starting a channel

None of these channels are a realistic target for a new creator, and they don't need to be. A channel doesn't need hundreds of millions of subscribers to earn money. YouTube's Partner Program starts at 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, per YouTube's eligibility page. We break down the numbers in how many subscribers you need to make money on YouTube.

What you can take from the list is the format lesson. Several of the biggest channels work because each video can be watched without knowing the person behind it: a song, a cartoon, a TV episode. That's the same idea behind faceless channels. If you want to test it in a niche like history, explainers or kids' stories, a tool like VidPuff turns a title into a narrated long-form video with a visual for each scene, and you review the script, voice and images before you upload. Plans start at $25 a month, or you can pay once from $5.

The milestones on the way are smaller than the top 20, but they're real. YouTube sends a Silver award at 100,000 subscribers and Gold at 1 million (see YouTube play button levels). And for context on how crowded the field is, see how many YouTube channels there are.

Why subscriber rankings are never exact

YouTube rounds the public subscriber count. Its help page on subscriber counts says a channel with 100 million to 999 million subscribers only shows a change for every 1,000,000 new subscribers. So "525M" could mean anything from 525,000,000 to just under 526,000,000, and two channels showing the same number can't be ranked against each other from the public page.

The same page says closed accounts and subscribers identified as spam don't count toward a channel's total, and YouTube may correct metrics after checking accounts. Counts can drop as well as rise. That's one reason buying subscribers doesn't hold up.

FAQ

Who has the most subscribers on YouTube right now?

MrBeast, with about 525 million subscribers as of November 7, 2026, per vidIQ. He has held #1 since June 2, 2024.

Who is second most subscribed on YouTube?

T-Series, with about 316 million. It held #1 from April 2019 until MrBeast passed it in June 2024, according to Wikipedia's list.

How many subscribers does PewDiePie have?

About 109 million, which puts him 14th as of November 2026 (vidIQ). He held the #1 spot for 1,920 days between 2013 and 2019.

Which channel was the first to reach 100 million subscribers?

T-Series, on May 29, 2019. MrBeast was the first to 300 million, 400 million and 500 million, according to the Wikipedia list.