The Most Popular Twitch Streamers

Who is the #1 streamer on twitch?

Do you get paid on twitch?

Streaming, in general, has boomed over the past three years, from the explosion of Fortnite, game developers realizing the power of Twitch, and competition from YouTube and Facebook Gaming, it’s all snowballed to make streaming much more mainstream.

While some streamers are closely tied to playing one game, others have built up their follower base on what’s known as ‘variety’ streaming. Others attract fans thanks to their skill-based content, sometimes doubling as professional players. Others don’t play games at all, but instead are all about ‘Just Chatting’ or IRL content.

Twitch

Twitch is a live-streaming platform for gamers and other lifestyle casters that supports building communities around a shared and streamable interest.
Twitch streamers “broadcast” their gameplay or activity by sharing their screen with fans and subscribers who can hear and watch them live.
There are both free and paid versions of Twitch, with paid tiers removing ads and giving users access to more robust social, streaming, and storage features.

List of most-followed Twitch channels

This list contains the top 50 channels with the most followers on the live streaming social platform Twitch.

As of August 2021, the most-followed channel belongs to Ninja with over 16.8 million followers.

The brand with the most followers on the platform is Riot Games with over 5.1 million followers. The female streamer with the most followers on her channel is Pokimane with over 8.1 million followers.

1 Ninja Richard Blevins 16.8 Fortnite, Valorant, League of Legends
2 Tfue Turner Tenney 10.6 Call of Duty: Warzone, Minecraft, Fortnite, Apex Legends
3 Rubius Rubén Doblas 9.7 Various games, chatting
4 auronplay Raúl Álvarez 9.5 Minecraft, Valorant, Among Us, chatting
5 shroud Michael Grzesiek 9.5 Valorant, various games
6 xQcOW Félix Lengyel 9.1 Grand Theft Auto V, various games, reacting
7 pokimane Imane Anys 8.1 Valorant, various games, chatting
8 TheGrefg David Cánovas 7.8 Fortnite, Minecraft
9 Myth Ali Kabbani 7.3 Valorant, various games
10 ibai Ibai Llanos 7.2 Various games
11 TimTheTatman Timothy Betar 7 Call of Duty: Warzone, various games
12 tommyinnit Thomas Simons 6.3 Minecraft
13 NICKMERCS Nicholas Kolcheff 6.1 Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, Apex Legends
14 summit1g Jaryd Lazar 6 Grand Theft Auto V, various games
15 dreamwastaken Clay 5.3 Minecraft
16 Riot Games Riot Games 5.1 League of Legends
17 alanzoka Alan Ferreira 5.1 Various games
18 ESL_CSGO ESL 4.9 CS:GO
19 SypherPK Ali Hassan 4.9 Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone
20 juansguarnizo Juan Guarnizo 4.8 Various games
21 Mongraal Kyle Jackson 4.7 Fortnite
22 Bugha Kyle Giersdorf 4.7 Fortnite
23 dakotaz Brett Hoffman 4.7 Fortnite, Among Us,Valorant
24 AdinRoss Adin Ross 4.7 NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto V, chatting
25 DrLupo Benjamin Lupo 4.5 Escape From Tarkov, various games
26 loltyler1 Tyler Steinkamp 4.5 League of Legends
27 Fresh Harley Fresh 4.5 Fortnite
28 Fortnite Fortnite 4.4 Fortnite
29 elded Victor Calderón 4.3 Various games
30 Tubbo Toby Smith 4.2 Minecraft
31 GeorgeNotFound George Davidson 4.2 Minecraft
32 Clix Cody Conrod 4.1 Fortnite
33 Amouranth Kaitlyn Siragusa 4 Chatting
34 MontanaBlack88 Marcel Eris 4 Various games, chatting
35 Quackity Alex 3.9 Various games, chatting
36 Wilbur Soot Will Gold 3.8 Various games, chatting
37 TSM_Daequan Daequan Loco 3.8 Fortnite
38 Sykkuno Thomas 3.7 Among Us, Valorant, Grand Theft Auto V, various games
39 benjyfishy Benjamin Fish 3.5 Fortnite
40 RanbooLive N/A 3.5 Minecraft
41 Faker Lee Sang-hyeok 3.5 League of Legends
42 NOBRU Bruno Goes 3.4 Garena Free Fire
43 Philza Phillip Watson 3.4 Minecraft
44 Symfuhny Mason Lanier 3.4 Call of Duty: Warzone
45 SLAKUN10 Sergio Agüero 3.3 FIFA
46 RocketLeague Rocket League 3.2 Rocket League
47 NickEh30 Nicholas Amyoony 3.1 Fortnite
48 Syndicate Thomas Cassell 3.1 Call of Duty
49 Gotaga Corentin Houssein 3.1 Various games
50 sodapoppin Thomas Morris 3.1 World of Warcraft, various games

list of the top female gamers gaining ground on Twitch

Pokimane – 7.4M Followers
Loserfruit – 2.5M Followers
Amouranth – 2.0M Followers
LilyPichu – 2.0M Followers
Chica – 1.8M Followers
Sweet_anita – 1.6M Followers
Loeya – 1.4M Followers
ItsHAFU – 1.3M Followers
KittyPlays – 1.1M Followers
Xchocobars – 799K Followers
DizzyKitten – 649K Followers
Annemunition – 645K Followers
LegendaryLea – 635K Followers
Kaceytron – 559K Followers
Jessica Blevins – 467K Followers
DingleDerper – 444K Followers
AlexiaRaye – 391K Followers
Djarii – 372K Followers
Miss_Rage – 367K Followers
Ms_Vixen – 343K Followers

Ninja remains most followed Twitch streamer

Ninja is comfortably number one in terms of followers, with almost 17 million on his channel.

He ended his exclusive partnership with Twitch when he moved to Mixer, but came back after the platform dissolved.

While he remains on top in regards to follows, streamer Ludwig ‘Ludwig’ Aghren has overtaken the record for most subs at one time, passing Ninja’s mark of 269,154. His overall viewership may have also dropped in 2021, but he still holds the number one spot for followers by a long shot.

At the time of Ninja’s prior move, former CS:GO pro Michael ‘shroud‘ Grzesiek was in second place with over six million followers, but Tfue took advantage of Ninja’s departure to overtake shroud, who also moved to Mixer for a short while before returning to Twitch. Now, Tfue has over 10 million, and shroud has dropped to fourth, with El Rubius overtaking.

The absence of Dr Disrespect

Guy ‘Dr Disrespect’ Beahm broke the internet after being banned back in June 2020, with the reason still a mystery. But because of this, his account with 4.45 million followers has disappeared and won’t be appearing on this list, even though it would put him in 19th place.

Dr Disrespect made his return to streaming on YouTube with crazy numbers, but he won’t be able to play games with streamers while they are also streaming due to Twitch’s terms of service.
Minecraft and non-English speaking streamers

This year especially we have seen a surge in streamers in the top 20 who are famous for Minecraft. Namely, Dream and TommyInnit, who have shot into the top 20 rapidly.

Another notable feature on the list is the prevalence of non-English speaking streamers, especially Spanish ones. Although the list is still dominated by English-speakers, GregFG, Rubius, Ibai, Auronplay, and Brazilian Alanzoka all make an appearance.

Earlier in the year, Twitch had started to clamp down on bot accounts, with the likes of xQc being one of the most affected. Since then, things seem to have evened out, but that doesn’t stop the most followed Twitch streamers rankings from continually changing.

most followed streamers on Twitch

Bugha – Followers: 4.7 million

Bugha is known throughout the Fortnite gaming scene.

Known for: Fortnite/Variety

Pretty much a household name from Fortnite, Kyle ‘Bugha‘ Giersdorf is a pro player for Sentinels. Winning the Fortnite World Cup back in 2019 alongside others such as The Esports PC Rookie of the Year award set him on the path to stardom, and he has also even received his very own skin as part of Fortnite’s ongoing ICON series.

Mongraal – Followers: 4.7 million

Known for: Fortnite

Pro FaZe player, Kyle ‘Mongraal‘ Jackson, broke onto the scene in the competitive Esport back in 2019 with Team Secret before quickly securing a place within FaZe. Mongraal also has a YouTube channel that was started back in 2018, where he shared tips and tricks of his own in-game settings and keybinds.

Dakotaz – Followers: 4.7 million

Known for: Fortnite

Dakotaz actually grew his massive following without ever showing his face. While most big streamers use a camera, he only started doing so in mid-2020. While he’s still an avid Fortnite player, he’s been streaming Among Us a lot of late.

SypherPK – Followers: 4.8 million

Known for: Fortnite

American streamer Ali ‘SypherPK‘ Hassan is one of Fortnite’s top content creators. He provides tips and tricks for players who want to improve their skills, and also streams Warzone too.

alanzoka – Followers: 5.1 million

Known for: Variety

Brazilian Alan ‘alanzoka’ Ferreira initially established himself as a YouTuber playing Five Nights at Freddy’s and Fortnite. He has also become a major player in Rocket League and Valorant content.

Dream – Followers: 5.3 million

Focusing on Minecraft content, and known as Dream over on YouTube with over 22.6 million subscribers, ‘dreamwastaken’ has skyrocketed through the Twitch ranking to land at #18 lightning-fast. Gaining over 10 million subscribers incredibly quickly back when they started their YouTube channel, it looks as if their Twitch channel will follow the same pattern.

NICKMERCS – Followers: 6.1 million

NICKMERCS dominated Warzone’s Twitch numbers.

Known for: Fortnite/Call of Duty

Another big Fortnite and Call of Duty streamer, NICKMERCS spent a year as a content creator with 100Thieves before joining FaZe Clan in May 2019. He currently streams Warzone and has seen his follower count increase by 1.3m in 2020.

Summit1g – Followers: 6.0 million

Retired CSGO professional Summit1g now plays games such as GTA RP.

Known for: Variety

Jaryd ‘Summit1g‘ Lazar actually topped our list of the best streamers of the decade, and deservingly so. He’s a veteran of Twitch and has continued to drive the biggest trends on the platform, almost 10 years into his career.

TommyInnit – Followers: 6.3 million

Tommy’s activity on the private server, the Dream SMP, helped his popularity on the platform.

Known for: Minecraft

British Minecraft streamer TommyInnit is one of the youngest players on this list. At 16, he is already proving his worth as a Twitch streamer with an impressive 4 million followers.

His followers have skyrocketed, both on Twitch and YouTube, in 2020 and 2021, but he previously suggested that he might need to take some time away from streaming on Twitch to focus on YouTube more.

TimTheTatman – Followers: 7.0 million

Known for: Variety

Tim has moved from CS:GO, to Call of Duty, to Overwatch, to Fortnite, and back to Call of Duty again. No matter what he streams, he commands a huge audience and shows no signs of slowing even after such a long career.

ibai – Followers: 7.2 million

Known for: League of Legends

Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos is known for streaming League of Legends, among other various games. Starting with LoL back in 2014. Currently, he’s a content creator for G2 Esports.

Myth – Followers: 7.3 million

Known for: Fortnite/Variety

Once by far the fastest-growing streamer on Twitch, TSM Myth exploded in popularity when he made a name for himself with incredible building skills in Fortnite. Even after the hype of Fortnite died, Myth has kept his huge following interested no matter what he streams.

TheGrefg – Followers: 7.8 million

Known for: Fortnite/Minecraft

YouTube superstar TheGrefg produces some of the finest Spanish content Twitch has to offer. While he mostly streams Fortnite and Minecraft, he’s more recently spread out into Fall Guys and Among Us as his popularity exploded over the course of this year.

Pokimane – Followers: 8.1 million

Pokimane is the only female streamer to reach the top 20 list.

Known for: Variety

By far the most followed female streamer, Pokimane is a beacon for many others to aspire to. A member of Offline TV, she streams a wide variety of games, but started primarily with League of Legends, before moving to Fortnite. Pokimane was the most-watched female streamer on Twitch in 2020.

6: xQc – Followers: 9.1 million

xQc was the most-watched streamer in 2020, in terms of hours watched.

Known for: Overwatch/Variety

A former Overwatch pro, Félix ‘xQc‘ Lengyel recently joined esports org Luminosity Gaming as a content creator. While he’s mostly into FPS’s, he streams an impossibly varied number of games now, and even ‘Just Chatting’ will pull in upwards of 50,000 viewers. He was the most-watched streamer in 2020.

Auronplay – Followers: 9.4 million

Known for: Variety

Like TheGrefg, Raul ‘AuronPlay’ Alvarez Genes has also exploded during 2020. A big GTA V streamer, AuronPlay has been one of the central Among Us content creators since it blew up. He bizarrely picked up a Twitch ban in September, but it was reversed 20 minutes later.

shroud – Followers: 9.5 million

Shroud left Twitch for Mixer, but returned when the latter shut down.

Known for: Variety

First making his name for his ridiculous aim in CS:GO, and then PUBG, the former pro player Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek gained a reputation as the ‘human aimbot’. He moved to Mixer shortly after Ninja, but has returned to his original domain, and enjoyed a nice bump in followers since too.

Rubius – Followers: 9.7 million

Known for: Variety

The most-followed non-English speaking streamer on Twitch, Rubius is perhaps better known as a YouTuber, but his massive following also supports his live streams, too.

Tfue – Followers: 10.6 million

Tfue/Twitch

Tfue was the second streamer to reach 10 million followers.

Known for: Fortnite/Call of Duty

Despite being taken over in terms of subs by Pestily, Tfue continues to hold the number two spot for the most followed Twitch streamer. Although he’s largely moved on from the game now, Tfue was the only Fortnite streamer who could rival Ninja during the game’s prime in 2018, and later usurped him in viewership in 2019. Ninja’s move to mixer made way for him to top the charts.

He is only the second most followed streamer ever to hit 10 million followers on Twitch.

1: Ninja – Followers: 16.8 million

Twitch: Ninja

Ninja is by far the most-followed streamer on Twitch.

Known for: Fortnite/Variety

Like Tfue, Ninja may not be dedicated to Fortnite anymore, but it’s certainly the game that helped him reach never-seen-before levels of popularity on Twitch. A former Halo pro, he now plays a variety of big titles and reclaimed his crown as the most-followed Twitch streamer.

Twitch

Twitch is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions.

In addition, it offers music broadcasts, creative content, and more recently, “in real life” streams. It is operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.

It was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand.

The popularity of Twitch eclipsed that of its general-interest counterpart. In October 2013, the website had 45 million unique viewers, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States.

At the same time, Justin.tv’s parent company was re-branded as Twitch Interactive to represent the shift in focus – Justin.tv was shut down in August 2014.

That month, the service was acquired by Amazon for US$970 million, which later led to the introduction of synergies with the company’s subscription service Amazon Prime.

Twitch acquired Curse in 2016, an operator of online video gaming communities and introduced means to purchase games through links on streams along with a program allowing streamers to receive commissions on the sales of games that they play.

By 2015, Twitch had more than 100 million viewers per month. As of 2017, Twitch remained the leading live streaming video service for video games in the US, and had an advantage over YouTube Gaming. As of February 2020, it had 3 million broadcasters monthly and 15 million daily active users, with 1.4 million average concurrent users. As of May 2018, Twitch had over 27,000 partner channels.

TwitchCon

TwitchCon is a biannual fan convention devoted to Twitch and the culture of video game streaming.

The inaugural event was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from September 25–26, 2015. Since its inception TwitchCon has been an annual event. The second TwitchCon was held in San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center from September 30 – October 2, 2016. The third annual TwitchCon was held in Long Beach at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center from October 20–22, 2017.

The fourth annual TwitchCon was held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, from October 26–28, 2018. In 2019, Twitchcon expanded overseas and hosted their first ever European event in Berlin in April 2019, alongside a North American event later in November 2019 in San Diego. TwitchCon had planned to host an event in Amsterdam in May 2020, but this was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another TwitchCon event was planned in San Diego in September 2020, but was also cancelled due to COVID-19.

How to Make Money on Twitch ?

Building a Twitch audience

“Successful channels — like companies — are built up over years, not over days or weeks,” says Jordan Slavik, an avid gamer who has advised Twitch broadcasters on building a following. “The most important thing is to keep producing materials.”

You might make a little money here and there at first, but don’t expect a steady income until you’ve put in a lot of work. Find your niche, whether it’s a game, genre or shtick — if you’re not the most skilled player, for example, be the funniest. Set a regular streaming schedule so fans know when to tune in. Use your existing social media accounts — Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. — to promote your Twitch broadcasts. And support other Twitch users by watching and engaging with their streams.

Your marketing and networking skills are almost as important as your gaming skills, Slavik says.

Once you attract viewers, interact with them. Ask questions. Crack jokes. Respond to chats. An entertaining broadcaster gets fans to tune in stream after stream.

How to make money as a novice

When your audience grows, so does your potential to earn money. But there are a few ways you can cash in as you’re still growing your following:

Donations

Twitch users like to support their own. One of the main ways they do this is by donating money to their favorite streamers. Add a “donate” button to your channel — via PayPal or a third-party app, such as Streamlabs — and let viewers show you the money.

Brand partnerships

Companies use Twitch streamers to get their products in front of people, and the streamers get a kickback in return. This is typically referred to as a partner or affiliate relationship (not to be confused with Twitch’s partner and affiliate programs, more on that later).

Affiliate opportunities for Twitch streamers can come from companies that sell hardware and software, energy drinks and accessories, such as headsets and chairs. Commissions vary, but for example, Razer — the hardware and software company — offers affiliates up to 20% commission on the sale of its products.

Brands don’t typically come to you unless you’re a big-time gamer. Talk with other streamers to suss out affiliate opportunities.

Merchandise

If you have a dedicated audience, consider selling your own merchandise — think t-shirts, stickers, coffee mugs and laptop cases — via a third-party site such as TeePublic or Spreadshop. Just create a storefront, stock it with items — bearing your own design or curated from other sources — and promote it on your Twitch channel.
How to make money as a Twitch Affiliate

Streamers who meet a specific set of criteria can become a Twitch Affiliate. The program is invitation-only, and you must have met the following milestones within the past 30 days to be eligible, according to Twitch:

A minimum of 500 total minutes broadcasted.
A minimum of seven different broadcast days.
An average of three concurrent viewers or more.
At least 50 followers.

Joining the program comes with additional ways to earn money on Twitch:

Subscriptions

Viewers can subscribe to your channel to unlock perks, such as exclusive chat rooms, emoticons and merchandise discounts. Monthly subscriptions start at $4.99, with $9.99 and $24.99 options available. Affiliates receive a cut of each subscription.

Virtual cheers

Another way viewers lend monetary support is via virtual cheers, called “bits.” Viewers buy bits — which come in different colors and sizes — from the chat window, according to Chase, Twitch’s former director of public relations, who goes by only his first name. The price starts at $1.40 for 100 bits. Viewers then dole them out to their favorite broadcasters, who receive a cut — 1 cent for every bit used in their chat.

Game sales

Say you’re streaming yourself playing Warframe. Viewers can purchase the game and in-game add-ons directly from your channel using a “buy now” button. This button automatically appears whenever you play games sold in the Twitch store. Affiliates receive a 5% share of purchases that originate from their channel.

How to make money as a Twitch Partner ?

Partner status is the top tier for Twitch earners. Unlike Twitch Affiliates, who are automatically invited to join the program, users must apply to become partners.

Twitch Partners earn money the same way as affiliates and general users, but they also receive a share of ad revenue generated from their page. Partners are also likely to get endorsement deals and brand sponsorships.