Top YouTubers in the UK in 2026

Source: Social Blade, read 31 October 2026, for example DanTDM and Ed Sheeran. YouTube rounds subscriber counts, so channels with the same rounded figure (Ali-A and Calvin Harris) are ordered by our reading.

Biggest UK YouTubers who are creators

If you leave out musicians and media brands, the biggest UK YouTubers are:

1. DanTDM, 29.1 million
2. Sidemen, 23.4 million
3. Mrwhosetheboss, 23 million
4. Ali-A, 19.7 million
5. KSI, 19.3 million
6. TommyInnit, 14.9 million

It depends on what you count. Ed Sheeran's channel has the most subscribers and the most views, 39 billion, but it is a music artist channel. Among people who built their fame on YouTube itself, DanTDM is the biggest, with 29.1 million subscribers and more than 20 billion views.

Who is the most subscribed British YouTuber?

DanTDM (Daniel Middleton), an English gaming creator born on 8 November 1991, is the most subscribed British YouTuber among creators. He started his channel in 2012 as TheDiamondMinecart and became known for Minecraft Let's Plays.

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is an English singer-songwriter, born on 17 February 1991 in Halifax and raised in Suffolk. His channel holds official music videos, which is why it has nearly 39 billion views from only 791 videos. See his Ed Sheeran profile.

DanTDM

DanTDM is famous for family-friendly gaming, above all Minecraft. With 3,815 videos and over 20 billion views, he has one of the most-watched creator channels in the world.

Sidemen

The Sidemen are a British YouTube group: Miniminter, Zerkaa, Vikkstar123, TBJZL, Behzinga and Wroetoshaw, and formerly KSI. They make challenges, sketches and gaming videos. Their main channel averages about 15.7 million views per video, the highest of any creator on this list.

Mrwhosetheboss

Arun Maini, born on 24 October 1995, runs Mrwhosetheboss, one of the biggest tech channels on YouTube. He is the only tech creator in the UK top ten, with 23 million subscribers.

BBC News

BBC News is the only news brand in the list. It has posted 34,121 videos, far more than any other channel here.

Ali-A

Ali-A (Alastair Aiken) is an English gaming creator known for Call of Duty and Fortnite. His channel is the oldest creator channel on this list, created in 2006. Read more on our Ali-A page.

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris (Adam Wiles), born on 17 January 1984, is a Scottish DJ and producer. His channel has 19.4 billion views from just 109 videos, an average of about 178 million per video.

KSI

KSI (Olajide Olatunji), born on 19 June 1993, started as a gaming YouTuber and is now also a musician and boxer. He was a founding member of the Sidemen.

TommyInnit

TommyInnit (Thomas Simons), born on 9 April 2004, is the youngest creator here. He grew through Minecraft videos and streams, including the Dream SMP.

What the numbers show

A few patterns stand out:

• music channels get huge views from few videos, because songs are replayed;
• gaming dominates UK creator YouTube, with four of the six biggest creators coming from gaming;
• group channels like the Sidemen earn very high views per video;
• news brands post far more often but earn fewer views per upload.

Lists of the top YouTubers in the UK change a lot depending on the category you pick. Here are the most popular British YouTubers in each group from our data:

• Gaming: DanTDM, Ali-A and TommyInnit, all built on Minecraft, Call of Duty or Fortnite.
• Groups and challenges: the Sidemen, whose main channel earns the most views per video of any UK creator.
• Tech: Mrwhosetheboss, the only UK tech channel above 20 million.
• Music: Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris, whose official videos earn billions of views.
• Crossover stars: KSI, who moved from gaming into music and boxing.
• News: BBC News, the biggest UK news channel on YouTube.

Most subscribed UK YouTubers over time

Many of the most subscribed UK YouTubers started early. Ali-A, Ed Sheeran and BBC News all created their channels in 2006, a year after YouTube launched. DanTDM, KSI and Mrwhosetheboss followed in 2011–2012, and the Sidemen and TommyInnit in 2015. The newest channel in the top nine is now more than ten years old, which shows how hard it is for new UK channels to break into the top tier.

UK YouTubers vs the rest of the world

Even the biggest UK YouTubers are well behind the global leaders. PewDiePie, the Swedish creator, has about 109 million subscribers, almost four times DanTDM's 29.1 million. American creator MrBeast is larger still. UK creators are strongest in gaming and group challenge videos, where the Sidemen and DanTDM rank among the most-watched channels anywhere.

Views per video: who gets the most from each upload

Subscribers show reach, but views per video show how strongly each upload performs. Calvin Harris averages about 178 million views per video and Ed Sheeran about 49 million, both helped by music replays. Among creators, the Sidemen lead with about 15.7 million, then DanTDM with about 5.4 million and Mrwhosetheboss with about 4.8 million. BBC News averages about 220,000, because it posts tens of thousands of short news clips.

We count channels run by people or groups from the UK, using Wikipedia for nationality, for example DanTDM and Calvin Harris. We rank by public YouTube subscribers and read every count on the same day. Second channels, such as MoreAliA, are not ranked separately. Brand channels like BBC News are labelled so you can leave them out.

For the full list of British creators on every platform, see the top creators in the UK. For gaming only, see the top gaming YouTube creators. Browse all creators.