Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg has a lot to celebrate as he just surpassed 100 million subscribers on YouTube on August 24, making him the first individual creator to do so.
PewDiePie is the second YouTube channel to break 100 million subscribers, trailing close behind the Indian owned corporation T-Series. Despite this, he is actually the first individual creator to hit the major milestone.
Despite being the second channel to reach the subscriber count, the Swede has long been a part of the YouTube community as an individual content creator, making the feat all the more impressive.
Hitting 100 million
Much of the channel’s growth in the last year has been fueled by the ‘PewDiePie vs. T-Series’ feud that saw the YouTube community rallying behind the Swede in a movement to keep the content creator as the most subscribed channel over T-Series, which is a corporate owned channel.
While PewDiePie went on to lose that battle, it had become a cultural phenomenon, and also spawned Pewds’ two popular diss tracks called ‘Bitch Lasagna’ and ‘Congratulations’ which have over 100 million views each.
The former released immediately after T-Series passed him in subscribers and even led to a lawsuit brought on by the India-based company.
After the feud ended, his channel saw another explosion in growth in June of 2019 after the YouTube king returned to his gaming roots, and started to upload daily Minecraft episodes, which largely boosted the game’s popularity in the following weeks.
PewDiePie’s journey to 100 million
The Swedish YouTuber originally created his account in 2006, although it wasn’t until 2010 that he would register his second channel under his infamous PewDiePie moniker.
His ‘Let’s Plays’ of the popular horror game ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent‘ where he screamed at barrels was one of the first things to catch the attention of viewers. In an update vlog on August 18, he reminisced that it was the first time that he fell in love with being a YouTuber.
His weekly vlogs ‘Fridays with PewDiePie’ were also an early favorite among his growing audience. In just under a year, the YouTube star would go from 60,000 subs to 500,000 in 2012.
He also saw major growth due to his massively popular ‘Happy Wheels’ videos, where the young Swede gained fame for his explosive reactions.
It was in 2013 that he finally passed Smosh to become the number one most subscribed person on the video hosting platform, as his channel continued to grow at a rapid pace.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Despite his channel being closely associated with gaming, the Swede made multiple format changes over the years.
From the reaction style videos like ‘Pew News’ or ‘Last Week I Asked You’ to his highly popular ‘Meme Reviews’ (which even saw Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the infamous Dr. Phil host it), the changes seemed to pay off as they paved the way to this major milestone.
PewDiePie got married
Capping off what has been one of the best years of the Swede’s life was his marriage to his girlfriend of 8 years Marzia ‘CutiePie’ Bisognin on August 19.
The celebration was held at Kew Gardens in London, England where the two had a private ceremony with their closest friends and family. PewDiePie uploaded photographs from his wedding to Twitter and Instagram on August 20, where the world gushed over the couple’s union.
We are married!!! I'm the happiest I can be :heart:️ I'm so lucky to share my life with this amazing woman. pic.twitter.com/RA3iKAgMOs
— ƿ૯ωძɿ૯ƿɿ૯ (@pewdiepie) August 20, 2019
The YouTube star then uploaded his wedding video on August 24 which documented the emotional evening, from the vows and the speeches to the celebration afterwards.
While Marzia no longer uploads on the website, the two have long been seen as one of the most popular couples on the streaming platform.
The Swede is undoubtedly having the best year of his life with his channel seeing its biggest resurgence yet, his marriage to the love of his life, and his re-discovered passion for being a YouTuber all over again. And now he’s hit the 100 million subscriber milestone.
Whether you love him or hate him, there is no denying that PewDiePie is the YouTube king. He’s the most subscribed individual content creator on the platform, and for years has continuously put out daily videos, while masterfully navigating the trends – and it’s certainly paid off.
