Everyone knows that PewDiePie, famed gamer and comedian, is the most popular and subscribed-to YouTuber on the site. However, there are several channels jockeying for second place.
T-Series: 56 Million Subscribers
T-Series is one such channel. Social Blade classes them as a music channel, but in reality, they do so much more. The company behind T-Series is Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited, an Indian music, and film company. It’s the most viewed YouTube channel of all time, with over 43 billion views at the time of writing. With 56 million subscribers they are the second most subscribed channel, and they are closing in on PewDiePie’s 65 million. T-Series started producing their insanely popular Bollywood soundtracks in the 1980s and worked on dozens of movies over the years. Between now and 2020 alone they have 14 movies slated to release. They were also the producers on the highest selling Indian soundtrack of all time: Nadeem–Shravan’s Aashiqui. There are those that theorize T-Series will surpass PewDiePie at some point, but most doubt that the king of YouTube will be dethroned.
HolaSoyGerman: 34 Million Subscribers
Because T-Series is owned by a company and isn’t a single person or small group of people producing content they are sometimes disqualified from lists of ‘Biggest YouTubers.’ That means that runner-up for the most popular YouTuber is Chilean Germán Garmendia. Germán is actually the mind behind two top YouTube channels: HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman. HolaSoyGerman is the bigger of the two, with 34 million subscribers. Combined with JuegaGerman and Germán’s side channels, including HolaSoyGerman2, he meets PewDiePie at 65 million subscribers. However, only his top two are currently active. Germán produces all his comedy and entertainment videos in Spanish, but he includes English subtitles to appeal to a wider audience. His content is fast-paced and funny, with plenty of jump cuts, rapid-fire dialogue, and entertaining editing effects. Because both HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman have passed 10 million subscribers Germán is the proud owner of 2 Diamond Play Buttons. Because of his other channels he also has at least 4 Silver Play Buttons and 3 Gold Play Buttons. While he still has quite a while to go, it can only be assumed that he is aiming to get a Ruby Play Button for himself as well.
So, when it comes down to it, who is the second biggest YouTuber? While T-Series does have more subscribers, they are a channel rather than a single YouTuber. Their content, while extremely impressive with high production value, is the work of dozens of people and often trailers or advertisements for movies. That leaves Germán Garmendia with the silver medal and the Diamond Play Buttons. Perhaps one day he’ll match PewDiePie, but for now, they are both well settled in their respective positions.