A 9-Year-Old Is YouTube's Highest Paid Star With $29.5 Million In Earnings

Ryan Kaji is only nine years old, yet has made enough money on YouTube to be the platform's highest paid content creator of 2020 according to Forbes.

BYKeenan Higgins
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Funimation Films

While many people across the world are anticipating another stimulus check from the government to get them through the next month or so, there's literally a nine-year-old who made tens of millions of dollars this year just by posting videos on the Internet — $29.5 million, to be exact.

Meet Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, YouTube's highest-earning content creator of 2020. Oh, and try not to hate too hard.

Image: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Funimation Films

The pint-sized boss hasn't even entered double digits yet and was still able to clock in waaay more digits than that to his bank account. The announcement comes by way of Forbes, who recently published their annual Highest-Paid YouTube Stars Of 2020 list a few days ago. Ryan's bread stacks up thanks to a combination of his YouTube views (12.2 billion), subscriber count (41.7 million) and licensing deals on over 5,000 Ryan’s World products that range from bedroom decor to actual action figures. This kid garnered so much clout even that he had his own float at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which turned his superhero alter ego "Red Titan" into a larger-than-life blimp for all the world to see. His videos primarily feature him and his parents reviewing toys and doing impressive green screen work, so we definitely give the young lord his props for a job well done.

Forbes estimates these lists based on pre-tax earnings on a June-to-June basis, this time spanning from summer 2019 to summer 2020. With that said, Ryan has probably made a nice couple of millions more since the publication stopped officially counting. Must be nice, kiddo!

Check out the latest episode in Ryan's World below, which consists of Ryan making his way through a giant fort maze with life-sized crayons for over an hour, and let us know if you think this cool baby genius's content is worth all the hype:


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<b>Staff Writer</b> <!--BR--> NYC-based photojournalist, self-proclaimed sneakerhead, and fiend for legit streetwear — #nohypebeast though! — that works daily to seamlessly link style, art, urban culture and music on a common platform. Likes: Jay-Z, Aaliyah, Kendrick Lamar/TDE, Curren$y and anything '90s/early 2000s across all genres. Dislikes: Chr*s Br**n, K*nye W*st...yeah, just those two.