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Leaderboard era begins
Creators professionalize
PewDiePie nears 50M
T-Series passes 100M
MrBeast takes #1
This prototype uses selected anchor-year subscriber snapshots, rounded to keep the visual readable. The 2026 frame is anchored to public top-channel rankings available in April-May 2026; earlier frames combine public ranking archives, milestone reporting, and channel-history references, then the playback engine interpolates between anchors. Treat this as an editorial MVP for comparing eras, not an audited daily subscriber table. Automatically generated topic channels and obsolete VEVO-transfer channels are excluded, while both individual creators and media-company channels are included because both compete for the visible YouTube subscriber leaderboard.
Used for the April-May 2026 top-channel order, current rounded subscriber counts, and the historical progression table of channels that held the subscriber crown.
Used as a cross-check for early leaderboard eras, 2010-2013 creator transitions, the PewDiePie/T-Series rivalry, and MrBeast overtaking T-Series.
Used as a 2026 sanity check for the current top-channel mix and public-facing channel descriptions.
Used for the June 2024 inflection point when MrBeast passed T-Series, including contemporary subscriber context from Social Blade and Axios research.