Forbes' 2025 Top Creators List Features the World's Most Influential Social Media Creators That Are Reshaping the Way People Consume Entertainment and Engage with Brands
Alex Cooper, Addison Rae, Alix Earle, Jake Shane, Adam W and Ms. Rachel Earn Spots on the 2025 List.
NEW YORK, June 16, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Forbes today unveiled its 2025 Top Creators List, the fourth-annual definitive ranking of the 50-highest earning, most influential social media-savvy stars across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and other social platforms.
The world's leading creators are setting new standards and highlighting the power of social media with a surge in brand collaborations and fan engagement. This year, the 50 Top Creators are showcasing their influence to drive global engagement, the list members estimated to have earned nearly $853 million cumulatively, up from 2024's $700 million – a jump of 18.5%. Not only are their earnings skyrocketing, but so are the fans tuning in – the list makers having more than 3.37 Billion followers combined, up from 2.7 billion followers last year and a 25% increase. Overall, these influencers' growing impact and reach have become a proof point that the creator economy is here to stay and is not slowing down anytime soon.
For the fourth year in a row, YouTuber and entrepreneur Mr. Beast holds onto the number one spot, one that has yet to be dethroned by another creator since the start of the Forbes Top Creators list. Other rising stars that made their way onto the list include TikTok creators Alix Earle, Jake Shane, Nara Smith, Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper, YouTuber Ms. Rachel, comedians Druski and Adam W, and Addison Rae who recently debuted her first album Addison. This year's list also included newcomers such as DJ and TikTok creator XANDRA, lawyer and personal finance creator Erika Kullberg and creator and model Wisdom Kaye.
When compiling the Top Creators list, Forbes takes into account three factors: earning, entrepreneurship, and clout (follower and engagement ratio), creating a formula that evaluates and ranks each creator.
"The 2025 Top Creators list is a testament to the evolution and expansion of the creator economy as the global influence these creators hold has become even more powerful," said Steven Bertoni, Assistant Managing Editor, Forbes. "These creators are no longer utilizing just one platform, many have amassed followings on several different social media accounts and are venturing into mainstream media with movies, TV shows, music albums and more. We'll continue to see influencers turn from creators on our phone screens to recognizable celebrities with their own brands and business ventures."
To celebrate the Top Creators list, Forbes will be hosting its 2025 Forbes Top Creators List Launch Celebration at Influential Beach during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in partnership with Lowe's Creator. NYX is a supporting level sponsor for the event.
To coincide with the Top Creators List, Forbes will also be releasing the first-ever Forbes Top Creators DIY 50, in partnership with Lowe's Creator, featuring social media's most influential home improvement stars. To build this debut list, Forbes partnered with creator marketing firm Influential to crunch data on engagement rates for thousands of internet personalities.
Additionally, to spotlight these creators, a selection of Forbes Top Creator list makers will be featured in Times Square on OUTFRONT's iconic screen, The Cube, on 2 Times Square in Duffy Square.
To view the full list and features, visit: Top Creators, 2025 and Forbes Top Creators DIY 50.
To join the conversation on social, follow #ForbesTopCreators.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250616204599/en/
Contacts
Media: Christina Vega Magrini, cmagrini@forbes.com Feryal Nawaz, fnawaz@forbes.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Tread Lightly!' Jets Star Considers Taunting Steelers Fans
'Tread Lightly!' Jets Star Considers Taunting Steelers Fans originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The best corners are invisible on Sundays, doing their work out of the broadcast angle's frame, shadow-realming top receivers and leaving their fingerprints on their opponents' plans. Advertisement And yet, defensive backs are showmen. They boast after wildly inaccurate passes, lead their teammates to the end zone after turnovers, and crave the spotlight as much as their spiritual counterparts on the other side of the line of scrimmage. New York Jets corner Sauce Gardner is no different. As one of the top corners in the sport and an electric young talent, Gardner's quick start earned him that attention. And with a knack for getting just physical enough to impact the receiver without generating a penalty, he has no shortage of critics waiting for his next mistake. He welcomes that challenge, and he isn't afraid to put himself in the crosshairs of a fanbase. The New York faithful might remember Gardner parading with a Cheesehead after defeating the Green Bay Packers. Gardner already has his eyes on Week 1. Advertisement The Jets star is considering taunting Pittsburgh Steelers fans with a terrible towel gesture to open the season. "I don't know. Pittsburgh, you get a little in the trenches in there," Gardner said. "I might have to tread lightly, but we play (in New York). We on home court. I don't know, I've got to think about it." Pittsburgh dismantled New York in quarterback Russell Wilson's debut, 37-15. Now, Wilson is in East Rutherford, playing for the New York Giants. Even so, Week 1 will be full of storylines. The Steelers signed former Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers in June, providing what should be an upgrade over Wilson and Justin Fields a season ago. Of course, Fields will get his shot at revenge, too, having signed a two-year deal with the Jets early in free agency. Advertisement Gardner may be emboldened by a new-look offense, but Pittsburgh will be favored, even on the road. Playing at MetLife Stadium takes some of the punch away from any terrible towel-based taut, but the threat will put him on Steelers fans' radar. He'll have criticism waiting for him if he doesn't make good on his playful confidence. Related: How Much Are the Steelers Paying Aaron Rodgers? Related: Soul-Bound: Rodgers Looked Inward for Steelers Signing This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 14, 2025, where it first appeared.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Meet The Fashion Designer Who Popularized Ballet Flats, Wrap Dresses, Denim, Leggings And Pockets For Women—Yet Many Have Never Heard Of Before
Claire McCardell Courtesy of the Maryland Center for History and Culture There is a designer that defined American fashion—who brought pockets into womenswear (thank you for that), popularized ballet flats (also this) and ushered wrap dresses, mix and match separates, denim, leggings and even hoodies into the fashion conversation. Unfortunately, at least until a new book comes out on June 17, most have probably never heard of her. Claire McCardell is the titular subject of Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson's new biography, with the compelling subtitle The Designer Who Set Women Free ('That's how she thought of herself,' Evitts Dickinson tells me on Zoom). McCardell epitomized the 'American look' in fashion, was the first woman to have a Seventh Avenue manufacturer label and the first to be given full control over her designs. As Evitts Dickinson writes in Claire McCardell, 'Much of what hangs in our closet is Claire McCardell, but it's Dior we remember.' 'I had no idea that Claire McCardell was responsible, effectively, for most of the clothes in my closet,' Evitts Dickinson tells me. After discovering her designs in the late 1990s, 'I'd always wondered why I'd never heard of her, and I never forgot her.' Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson Courtesy of Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson After writing a feature story about her for The Washington Post Magazine, Evitts Dickinson realized that there was a book here. 'I realized there was so much more to her story than even I appreciated,' she says. 'She was so revolutionary, and I don't think we appreciate how revolutionary she was because we take for granted that we can wear the clothes that we wear today. But back then, she was a visionary. She was forging new ground.' Evitts Dickinson was captivated by how a young woman from Frederick, Maryland went to New York City 'and in a few short years became one of the most important fashion designers in America,' she says. 'And so I wanted to understand how she did that. That was my desire to write this story.' A graduate of Parsons (then known as the New York School of Fine and Applied Art), McCardell got her start in the 1930s during a 'forgotten moment of time between the wars [World War I and World War II] where women were breaking new ground in a lot of arenas,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'I think that there is this forgotten feminism that was happening back then, a level of career advancement and advocacy for one another. And in New York, it was a fascinating moment in the '30s and '40s. I mean, you had the [Great] Depression and the world war sort of bookending her professional career, so she's working under these extreme circumstances.' There was a group of women who pulled together to 'effectively invent the fashion industry,' Evitts Dickinson says, and 'McCardell was at the center of it. She was a star, but she wasn't alone.' While McCardell's name and photograph are on the front cover of the book, it was important to Evitts Dickinson to write a story about women working together to build an industry. The pioneer of American sportswear, McCardell was Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tory Burch before any were even born. When McCardell's 1956 book What Shall I Wear?: The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion came back in print in 2022, Burch—whose Spring/Summer collection from the same year was inspired by McCardell—wrote the foreward. 'So many of McCardell's ideas and innovations are taken for granted now,' she wrote. 'While other designers looked to Paris couture for inspiration, McCardell elevated the practical needs of American women. It isn't an exaggeration to say she has inspired every designer, and I think she deserves far more recognition.' McCardell 'wasn't Dior making singular, exquisitely handmade pieces that only a handful of women in the world could wear,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'She was dressing every woman.' McCardell questioned haute couture fashion, theorizing that that didn't really work for a woman like her 'who was working, who was taking the subway, who didn't have a ton of money to spend on clothes,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'And so really what she did was pioneer a new kind of unstructured, body-friendly, pragmatic but also elegant style of clothing that allowed you to live in what you were wearing. And it wasn't precious and it wasn't something that she thought about material and whether it wrinkled—she thought about if you could wash it.' The 'American look' stepped away from mimicking Parisian fashion and became its own entity. McCardell put her name on her own label and was the first multihyphenate designer—not just designing dresses or coats but also sunglasses, scarves, jewelry. 'She really created, effectively, what is and what we understand to be the fashion brand today,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'So many not only admire her design chops, they also really admire her business acumen and the way she was able to effectively create what we still know today as the American designer.' McCardell wanted to make her own designs, not just copy others. She had an "ingenious, rebellious mind,' Evitts Dickinson writes, adding that for McCardell, it was 'always about far more than clothes.' McCardell's fingerprints are still felt all over modern fashion today, and even Betty Friedan once wrote that McCardell 'changed the world's meaning of fashion.' Growing up in Frederick, McCardell's grandfather owned his own candymaking factory, so business came more naturally to her than it might to someone else. McCardell's family largely supported her dreams—her desire to go to college, and her desire to go into business for herself. She married in 1943, but 'she also kept her private life very private,' Evitts Dickinson tells me. 'And so for me, it was a little bit of a challenge getting to know her as a private citizen.' She forged a path for herself as a woman entrepreneur when said path did not exist. 'She had to really imagine a business model that didn't exist yet,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'It didn't exist. There were no women at the upper levels. Women did not own the forms. They were not partners in the business. She eventually—and through a lot of hard work—got her name on the label and got a higher stake in the business. And then the other smart thing that she did, which I hadn't appreciated until researching this book, is she also created her own Claire McCardell Enterprises.' She trademarked her name. She protected her designs. She safeguarded her brand. She eschewed the male gaze while designing in favor of the woman's own experience in her clothes—fashionable, yet practical. She subverted the rules—and enjoyed doing it. She encouraged women to not so much worry about fashion, but to find their own style. 'She really emphasized that difference between fashion is what comes out every season—style is what is yours,' Evitts Dickinson says. McCardell's name likely got lost to history because of her sudden death at just 52 years old on March 22, 1958, only one year after she received a diagnosis of terminal colon cancer. There were no succession plans for her business, and the Claire McCardell label closed. 'Claire, again, was a few steps ahead of the curve,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'And if she had lived a little longer, I wonder if we would remember her name.' During her short life, 'Claire was the most famous fashion designer in America when she was alive, arguably, and well-known around the world,' says Evitts Dickinson, whose book—rightfully so—puts McCardell back in the conversation.. 'And her message was, 'You don't have to listen to fashion designers. Take your cues and let us help you. But it's your life. Live your life.''
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
DAVID MARCUS: What surprised me most when Never Trump and MAGA met in DC
In the 19th century, steam locomotives were very cool, and as my son and I discovered at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, they are also one of the few things that can bring MAGA and Never Trump together. That was the strange scene the morning of the U.S. Army 250th Birthday Parade and the Washington anti-Trump protests, both scheduled for later that day, at the American History Museum, families with "No Kings" T-shirts next to folks in MAGA hats, all admiring our nation's greatness. It felt a bit like the dance at the gym in "West Side Story," neutral territory for our political Jets and Sharks, but with less jumping. Beyond the museum walls was a festival atmosphere of flags and patriotic adornments, but also the signs of hyper-security, even snow plow trucks back-to-back blocking the District's streets. I met Jeremy from Virginia, whose crew dropped the eight miles of concrete barriers protecting the parade route. I ask if they do this work often, he said, "this kind of thing is a small part of our business but has great margins. It's a nice bonus." And it made me think, as he and his guys took a smoke break, how much of the much ballyhooed $25-$45-million-dollar price tag of the U.S. Army parade went to companies like this? These are the little stories beneath big national ones. Likewise, the protest of 1,000 souls or so marching to and fro, very near the parade site required a heavy police presence, which made me wonder how much 2,000 No Kings protests all across the country costs states and localities. And nobody elected anybody to decide to spend that money, which isn't to say people shouldn't protest, but those who use taxpayer money to complain really shouldn't rain on anyone else's parade. Katie and Cindy had come up from Georgia to be at the Army Parade and were typical of the Trump supporters in town, "we just love him," Katie told me, hair in a ponytail behind her MAGA hat. But there were people there to protest, too. Scott had come from Seattle and wore his No Kings shirt, adorned with American flag imagery, "I don't think any protests will pop off at the parade," he told me. He was right. A rule of thumb that I have discovered all over the country held firm in D.C.: when people are together, in person, in relatively small groups, rational and respectful political discourse can -- and does -- happen. At one point, I watched as two women in Trump shirts politely tried to explain to two men in pride gear that Trump is not a racist or a homophobe. I don't know if any minds were changed but just the tone was a welcome and hopeful sign. Physical interaction is an antidote to hatred and fear, and that is exactly why both sides often try to silo their supporters to maintain ideological purity, whether it's the right saying, ignoring the mainstream media, or the left blocking certain channels from their parents' cable news diet, and bragging about it in the New York Times. This siloing tactic works so long as you keep everything online, so long as you tell people to cut out family members on the other side from their lives, so long as the algorithm provides soothing reinforcement of beliefs. The touch of human breath, in a real conversation, breezes all of that conditioning away, and two people, who are just being people, can truly talk about anything. On Saturday, Washington, D.C. was unique in that it held court to one major event bringing out Donald Trump supporters and another for those who despise him. Despite the proximity, order held and both groups seemed to claim success by nightfall. There were fireworks in the sky, but blessedly none on the ground. The highlight of the Museum of American History, especially as it was also Flag Day, is Old Glory herself, the original Star Spangled Banner that flew over Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812. "I didn't think it would be this big," my son said, gazing beyond the glass at the 32' by 40' historical treasure. It is a big flag. And today it represents a very big and diverse nation, one with fractures running through it made of politics, race, and identity. But when we get small, when we talk one on one and really listen, those fractures mend. And I saw some of that in our nation's capital this weekend. Let's pray it is a growing trend.
