TikTok is credited with turning ordinary people into internet celebrities overnight and launching highly lucrative careers as influencers. All they need is to resonate with people and millions will flock in and follow them.
First established in April 2014 as Music.ly, and renamed TikTok in September 2016, the platform blew up during lockdown, as people stayed connected through completing challenges and dances on the app.
While some TikTokers became famous elsewhere and then capitalised on their fame to build a TikTok following, others have the Chinese app to thank for making them household names.
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One of the latter case studies is Khaby Lame, who went from being unemployed during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic to being the second most-followed TikToker - all without saying a single word.
Who has the most followers on TikTok?
Currently, Charli D'Amelio is the most-followed person on TikTok. Her social media fame has allowed her to launch a reality TV series about her and her family off the back of her TikTok stardom. Her sister, D'Amelio, is the sixth most-followed person on TikTok.
Charli is closely followed by Khaby Lame, the only other person on TikTok with more than 100 million followers. Khaby Lame's followers are currently growing by around 7 million per month according to Socialtracker.io - considerably faster than Charlie's 2 million per day - leading many to believe he could soon overtake her as the no.1 most-followed TikToker.
Top 25 most-followed people on TikTok
From dancers and actors, to illusionists and beatboxers, these are the top 25 most-followed people on TikTok in 2021. Click on their names to read more about them.
- Charli D'Amelio - 123 million followers
- Khaby Lame - 106 million followers
- Addison Rae - 82.8 million followers
- Bella Poarch - 79.3 million followers
- Zach King - 63.3 million followers
- Will Smith - 61.9 million followers
- Dixie D'Amelio - 54.5 million followers
- Spencer Knight - 54.5 million followers
- Loren Gray - 53.9 million followers
- Michael Le - 50 million followers
- Jason Derulo - 49.5 million followers
- Burak Ozdemir - 47.9 million followers
- Kimberly Loaiza - 43.9 million followers
- Riyaz Aly - 44.3 million followers
- Brent Rivera - 40.6 million followers
- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - 40.1 million followers
- Dominik Lipa - 40 million followers
- Younes Zarou - 38 million followers
- Junya Gou - 37.7 million followers
- JoJo Siwa - 36.3 million followers
- Avani Gregg - 36.3 million followers
- James Charles - 35.8 million followers
- Rod Contreras - 35.9 million followers
- Kylie Jenner - 35.7 million followers
- Baby Ariel - 35.5 million followers
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Charlie D'Amelio was the first person ever to reach 100 million followers on the platform, while Bella Poarch is the creator of the most-liked video on TikTok.
Based on their following and level of engagement, TikTokers can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per post on the platform, as well as capitalising on lucrative brand deals as influencers.
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash/Alexander ShatovTopics: Viral, Celebrity, Social Media, TikTok