8. (tie) Rosanna Pansino
Income: $2.5 million
Rosanna Pansino has the nerdiest baking channel on YouTube — and also the most popular of any baking channel on the platform, period. Pansino's "Nerdy Nummies" channel puts a nerdy spin on normal recipes, including videos for food creations like "Pi Pie Pops" and "Princess Peach Cobbler."
8. (tie) Roman Atwood
Income: $2.5 million
Roman Atwood's prank-filled YouTube channel almost seems more in line with the humor you'd typically see from any number of massively popular Vine stars. Atwood was recently dubbed YouTube's "most appalling prankster" — he's pretended to kill his own toddler twice, to film his girlfriend's reaction. He's also filmed many less horrifying prank videos for his channel.
8. (tie) Lilly Singh
Income: $2.5 million
Lilly Singh does everything from comedy sketches to music videos on her one-woman YouTube channel. Singh also has a YouTube star nickname — Superwoman— and a rabid fan base. Her videos have also landed her on the Collective Digital Studio network, which has more than 700 channels of creators.
7. Michelle Phan
Income: $3 million
Michelle Phan is a 27-year-old YouTube sensation with more than 7.5 million subscribers. Besides simply filming her own makeup and hair tutorial videos, Phan is also launching her own online lifestyle video network. She also cofounded subscription makeup delivery startup Ipsy in 2011 with Marcelo Camberos, who was formerly an executive at Funny or Die, and Jennifer Goldfarb, a Goldman Sachs analyst-turned-executive at makeup company Bare Escentuals. Ipsy recently raised a $100 million round of funding.
5. (tie) KSI
Income: $4.5 million
As a teenager, Olajide "KSI" Olatunji played EA Sports' line of FIFA video games for hours on end in his parents' home. In 2009, he began uploading footage of himself playing and commentating to YouTube, under the username KSIOlajidebt: a combination of a Halo franchise clan, his first name, and "British Telecom."
5. (tie) Rhett & Link
Income: $4.5 million
Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln Neal III are a little old for the YouTube star demographic — they're 38 and 37 years old — but they're insanely well-known on the video platform. Rhett and Link are best-known for making hilarious local-style ads for real companies, like Ojai Valley Taxidermy and Red House Furniture, and they've gotten sponsorship from big brands for many of their videos.
4. Lindsey Stirling
Income: $6 million
Lindsey Stirling couldn't get signed to a big record label in 2007, so she started posting her videos to YouTube. The classically-trained violinist became known for her violin renditions of hip-hop songs. In 2010, Stirling wound up on Fox's "America's Got Talent," where she was known as the hip-hop violinist. She is now often referred to as the "Skrillex of classical music."
2. (tie) The Fine Brothers
Income: $8.5 million
Brooklyn natives Benny and Rafi Fine are two online producer/writer/directors who created the extremely successful React video series. In React's various iterations (Kids React, Teens React, Elders React, and YouTubers React), TheFineBros show viral videos to subjects and film their reactions. The duo has been sponsored by both Ford and Comedy Central. Many consider TheFineBros to be two of the first YouTube stars.
2. (tie) Smosh
Income: $8.5 million
Smosh is a comedy duo consisting of YouTube veterans Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. Smosh was one of the first YouTube sensations, becoming well known for the duo's slapstick comedy videos that parody video games and pop culture. The duo has shown no signs of slowing down, opening up multiple channels and an app for their content.
1. PewDiePie
Income: $12 million
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjelberg is a foul-mouthed Swedish video-game commentator who has absolutely dominated YouTube over the past year. Kjelberg's videos show him playing various video games while a box in the top corner of the screen shows his reactions to what is happening. Many attribute his success to the attention he pays to his fans — Kjelberg spends lots of time talking about them, answering their questions in the YouTube comments section, and forming a community of "bros."