The History of Youtube Stars (2006-2017) 

Ahh, 2009. When Fred was the biggest RU-vidr on the platform. Those were dark times

I am impressed that Smosh managed to stay among the top 5 for as long as they did, holy shit.

This video is more than a year old and only now gets recognition. RU-vid's algorythm at its work ladies and gents!!

Smosh: OMG we have so many subscribers! Pewdiepie: Hold my brofist

My teen years flashed in front of my eyes

Quite sad for some of those RU-vidrs

4:03 the giant appears...

I remember when Fred was the first to break 1 million subscribers, now Pewdiepie has over 80 million and that's insane to me

It was a war to stay at the top.... But then that swedish dude came

I love how all the names are steadily battling each other until pewds shows up out of nowhere and shoots straight up like a bullet

4:06 It's a bird it's a plane No it's PewDiePie!

Smosh was there the whole time. Legends.

Honestly back in 2008/2009 nigahiga was the only popular RU-vidr putting out quality content so its good to see that he’s still doing well and never really fell off

In all of them NIGAHIGA is GOLD till today!!!

There was a time when youtube was a hobby not job

*PLEASE MAKE AN UPDATED ONE IN THE BEGINNING OF 2019*

SMOSH longevity deserves respect

Smosh: finally I’m at the top again *pewdiepie has entered the server*

4:04 *pewdiepie has entered the lobby*

Hehe, now it's all about Pewdiepie and T-Series

I started my first RU-vid account back in March of 2006 to watch Hannah Montana episodes after it premiered. The website was SO different pre-Google. There was barely anyone on here, the big channels were only a few hundred or thousand subscribers. The content was innocent and wasn't trying to be the most influential or well made. It felt like an actual meeting place for people instead of stardom for some.

Nigahiga just proves that his effort, sincerity, ethics, and creativity are the cause of the longevity of his channel. Quality >quantity

who else was waiting for pewdiepie

pewds be like RKO from nowhere haha

So basically; Felix started then stayed at the top

Props to Smosh for being a relevant channel since the beginning

Until T-series attacked

4:06 *a WILD PEWDIEPIE APPEARS*

4:14 Pewdiepie: Hold My Beer.

2007: Smosh vs lonely girl 15 2011: Raywillianjohnson vs Nigahiga 2017: Pewdiepie vs T series 2023: Cocomelon vs T series

*"A Pewdiepie appears"* *"Pewdiepie uses stairway to heaven"* *"all you see is the clouds"*

Everyone here’s talking about pewds and T-series but I’m here amazed by how smosh has been grinding since the very start of RU-vid and they’re still doing a good job staying relevant

4:03 Smosh: Why did we just reset? Nigahiga: I don't- *_PEWDIEPIE HAS ENTERED THE GAME_*

When PewDiePie showed up we all knew it was all over

I was just waiting for the Pewdiepie line to pop out of no where and destroy the rest 😂

smosh is the only channel that hasn’t been out of the frame the whole video.

Everyone knew it was over at 4:05 lmao @Pewdiepie

Crazy how Pewdiepie came out of nowhere and just demolished everyone else

Gotta give it to nigahiga. Dudes been going at it since nearly the start and is still constantly around the top 10 most subscribed channels.

Before the dark times. Before T-Series.

I'm glad to see *nigahiga* up there most of the video.

Who was also just waitin for Pewdiepie

Summary Smosh: First to 100k Fred: First to 1M Smosh: First to 10M PewDiePie: First to 50M T-Series: First to 100M

Smosh: Were finally on top again, nothing can stop us now! *Pewdiepie appears* Smosh: Oh shit

Interestingly, even if this was updated the Paul brothers would not appear anywhere on the graph

Never realized how big Smosh was back in the day.

I love how nigahiga just kinda hangs in here

4:12 welp, that's just pewds slowly rekking 2013

T series has joined the brawl

Start of 2007 is when Smosh stopped messing around with theme songs and started making original funny ideas.

>PewDiePie joined the game >Destroys everyone

4:28 So it begins

When Smosh hits 3k... it was a giant achievement When T-Series hits 60M... it was a garbage achievement

I love it how PewDiePie comes in with the biggest upercut to the whole platform.

Ah, I remember the days. It was 2011 going onto 2012, I was my old self playing MW3 on my ps3, watching RU-vid with RayWilliamJohnson, Smosh and Nigahiga battling it out for the top spot. Oh yeah and nobody hated Machinima.

Where is rice gum? He isn’t that irrelevant right?

Omg this brings back so many memories especially from the first 3 years.

2018 T-series... Rip 9 yr old king meme clapper

Thanks for reminding me that for a while, the second most subbed channel was a chilean channel, this is so epic. *happy chilean noises*

Pewdiepie never asked for this power... Some even see it as a curse.

4:06, we see the rise of the Eternal King of RU-vid.

Sxephil:ima be 5th to hit 1m Raywilliamjohnson: *wot*

4:36 the music fits perfectly for the moment that Pewdiepie surpass every other youtuber leaving them into ashes...

BUT CAN YOU DO THIS

4:35 memories and the good times that t-gay ruined 🤒

I kinda wanted to see an updated version of this upto beginning of 2019. RU-vidRS ONLY not including company or anything.

4:06 jaws theme starts playing

Smosh: holy shit we just hit 10 mil Pewdiepie: What did you just say?

Felix rised up like a goddamn rocket......incredible

AS OF NOW: Brookers deleted her channel in 2017, geriatric1927 has passed away in 2014, and PewDiePie's 5-year #1 streak was broken in March 26, 2019 due to T-Series being the #1 for more than 24 hours, and T-Series was holding #1 for 5 days until March 31, 2019 PewDiePie releases his another diss track to T-Series called "Congratulations" and making a comeback for PewDiePie in the next day

Damn, i didnt realize Tobuscus wouldnt even show up on the radar. For a time he seemed like he was gonna blow up as big as Pewdiepie.

It amazes me that LonelyGirl was ever a thing and that Fred was the first channel in RU-vid history to hit 1 million subscribers 😂

4:04 *_"A legend was born..."_*

First RU-vidrs to reach each milestone 1,000: Smosh (I think) 2,000: Smosh 3,000: Smosh 4,000: JudsonLapply 5,000: JudsonLapply 6,000: JudsonLapply 7,000: JudsonLapply 8,000: Idk, I think Smosh 9,000: Brookers 10,000: Brookers 20,000: Geriatric1927 (RIP) 30,000: Lonelygirl15 40,000: Lonelygirl15 50,000: Lonelygirl15 60,000: Lonelygirl15 70,000: Lonelygirl15 80,000: Lonelygirl15 90,000: Lonelygirl15 100,000: Smosh 200,000: Smosh 300,000: Smosh 400,000: Smosh 500,000: Smosh 600,000: nigahiga 700,000: Fred 800,000: Fred 900,000: Fred 1,000,000: Fred 2,000,000: nigahiga 3,000,000: nigahiga 4,000,000: RayWilliamJohnson 5,000,000: RayWilliamJohnson 6,000,000: RayWilliamJohnson 7,000,000: RayWilliamJohnson 8,000,000: Smosh 9,000,000: Smosh 10,000,000: Smosh 20,000,000: PewDiePie 30,000,000: PewDiePie 40,000,000: PewDiePie 50,000,000: PewDiePie 60,000,000: PewDiePie 70,000,000: PewDiePie 80,000,000: PewDiePie 90,000,000: PewDiePie 100,000,000: T-Series 110,000,000: T-Series 120,000,000: T-Series 130,000,000: T-Series 140,000,000: T-Series 150,000,000: TBD

Wow, an entertaining and original video on RU-vid...who knew

(That feeling when Pewdiepie bursts through the bottom of the list)

4:10 Pewdiepie relax

The amount of times Smosh has risen to number 1 is honestly quite impressive

4:05 *That moment when we know that PewDiePie will win. Lol*

the real youtube rewind

5:40 that soviet russian song anthem

4:05 Hello, I'm PewDiePie!

4:14 "Excuse me.. coming through, sorry sir can you.. thanks, yea let me just scootch.. honestly this is so easy"

what's the video that starts at 5:24?

IN case you're wondering where the OG RU-vidrs are now; Smosh is now run by a new squad of people, Anthony left and they are now 38th most subscribed Judson Laipply uploaded his last video 2 years ago, he is now 105,962nd most subscribed Brookers closed her channel in 2017, though still appears on socialblade as 165,093rd most subscribed geriatric1927 died in 2014, he is now the 159,923rd most subscribed lonelygirl15 was exposed as being faked, and posted her last video in 2016, she is now 67,005th most subscribed Nigahiga still regularly uploads videos, he is 57th most subscribed Fred uploaded his last video 3 years ago, he now works on his channel lucas and is 2594th most subscribed RWJ changed his channel name to Ray and uploaded his last video 5 months ago, and is 349th most subscribed

Wait you have 22 subscribers and you appeared in suggested videos lol Btw congrats on 30 k subs

5:40 nigahiga: hey guys. I’m back

Pewdiepie was like *CAN U DO THIS!?!?!?*

Are these the flight paths of North Korean missiles?

Man I almost cried watching this. I remember all of these since 2009. Most of my life was during that time. I tried learning how to speak English from Ray William Johnson and tried to copy his accent. RU-vid has been such a massive part of my life. I was such a massive Smosh fan and liked food battle every year. I out-grew all those but damn, I miss my younger self.

When 20k subs meant you were an “internet celebrity” (brookers)

At 4:12 Pewdiepie just jetpacked all the way up... Damn!

Yup, that Pewdiepie rise is exactly how I remember it. Sporadic and unpredictable. It was in an era where Let's Plays were nearing the end of their prime (Websites like Twitch started to take off) and while he was one of many, his horror gameplay videos is what grew his audience. Though after his AO ONI run, I believe he went into Happy Wheels which sling shotted him upward.

*Before the dark times... Before T-Series...*

4:04 a new challenger has appeared

What a bunch of nice colorful lines

If this went to 2018 then T-Series would just be a straight line going up

I love how in Jun 2016 everyone is chasing Smosh like crazy

4:05 *PewDiePie has entered the match*

*T-Series running like Usain Bolt*