These social media stars conquered the internet. They still wanted more.

Yahoo

7 days ago

From the top of your feed to the top of the charts: Why the biggest social media stars like MrBeast, Addison Rae and Alex Warren still chase mainstream fame.
A jumble of young people in trendy athleisure outfits gathered in a living room in Feb. 2020 to watch an internet-famous magician do card tricks. This was a typical day for members of the Hype House, a group of mostly teenage social media-famous stars who lived and worked together to create as much content as possible. Two people in this particular video stand out, though: the scruffy guy shoving his camera into the magician's face, and the woman with the longest, blondest hair and the biggest smile.
They're Alex Warren and Addison Rae. You might not have been familiar with them then, but five years later, the two 24-year-olds are among the biggest pop stars in the country. Warren, who has honed his voice and his wife guy persona, is well on his way to having the song of summer with 'Ordinary,' an unavoidable track dominating TikTok posts, charts and radio airwaves. He's about to tour his brand-new album, You'll Be Alright, Kid, which was released July 18.
Rae, meanwhile, is the heir apparent to Charli XCX's Brat summer era, embracing both melancholy and party girl aesthetics with her June 2025 album, Addison. People just can't stop talking about the visually stunning 2010s aesthetic Rae, who is also on the cusp of a tour, has cultivated by surrounding herself with the era's pop icons, like Lana Del Rey, and how she has subverted irrelevance after her first single, 2023's 'Obsessed,' flopped.
What's so fascinating about Warren and Rae's breakout success is that they were among the most followed people on TikTok in 2020, when people — including their target audience of Gen Z-ers — were spending more time on their phones than ever. TikTok is now less of a phenomenon and more of a staple in the massive creator economy projected to have $500 billion flowing among platforms, influencers and audiences annually by 2027. According to a 2024 survey from Morning Consult, 88% of Gen Z respondents say they follow influencers, and many trust them more than traditional celebrities.
If Warren and Rae had remained solely influencers, evolving online in accordance with trends in the usual ways young people do when they grow up, they would be financially successful, profiting from ad revenue on social media and brand deals. We've already seen them recover from their fair share of career missteps, like Warren's participation in the failed Netflix reality show about the Hype House, and Rae's performance in the social media-tinged, gender-swapped reboot of He's All That. They're both resilient and really good at commanding an audience online. They just wanted something more.
Making it
Getting signed to a major label, landing a TV show on a popular streaming service or getting a movie made by a big Hollywood studio is the 'pinnacle of acceptance,' Paul Telner, head of programming at influencer marketing agency Viral Nation, tells Yahoo. Stars still benefit from having popular social media accounts as their home base, or 'HQ,' but they also want to 'extend their brands' to be seen by audiences beyond TikTok, he says.
'Hollywood is Soho House, and we all want to get into it, see people, shake hands and be seen. That's the cool club!' he says. '[These influencers] want to be big stars and be accepted in that way, but there are levels [to fame] … you don't need to be on TV to make it.'
For some creators, making enough money on social media that it becomes a full-time job is the dream. Others see themselves as their own companies with infinite potential, and posting online is just one potential revenue stream. Telner says traditional fame is appealing to some creators because it offers the opportunity to have a bigger production budget to 'help bring big ideas to life.'
Since social media is so volatile — algorithms change, platforms rise and fall, even TikTok is still technically on the verge of a U.S. ban — traditional fame offers a 'more structured ecosystem that can sustain careers,' Chimene Mantori, founder of influencer management company Solace Talent, tells Yahoo.
'Building a presence outside of the platform they're known for isn't just smart, it's essential for brand growth and long-term sustainability,' she says. 'When your identity is tied solely to one format, it can limit how people see you and how far you can go.'
A handful of stars known for their television, movie and music careers got their start as creatives sharing their craft online, and then jumped at the chance for bigger budgets, more acclaim and wider reach.
Quinta Brunson was a BuzzFeed video star who's now the Emmy-winning actress and creator of her own network TV show, Abbott Elementary. Danny and Michael Philippou are YouTubers turned trailblazing horror movie auteurs behind some of the genre's most-praised hits of the decade. Liza Koshy has gone from Vine star to a scene-stealing actress in big-budget studio films like The Naked Gun. Chaotic social media powerhouses Jake and Logan Paul are now athletes. Emma Chamberlain began her career as a quirky YouTuber and became a Vogue mainstay who sits front row during Paris Fashion Week. Justin Bieber wasn't really an influencer, but he was discovered after going viral for his singing videos. The same has happened on YouTube, Tumblr and MySpace for singers like the Weeknd, Halsey and dozens of others.
Mainstream fame offers creative validation to creators who have been uploading their own content and crafting their image, Lucy Robertson, head of brand marketing at influencer agency Buttermilk, tells Yahoo. It's the 'ultimate external stamp of success' to be noticed and corralled into Hollywood — especially for influencers who consider themselves artists, she says.
It's truly impressive when a star becomes so famous that their internet roots aren't what they're best known for, as the lines between online and traditional fame are more blurred now than ever. Movie stars like Scarlett Johansson are encouraged to maintain social media accounts. On the other hand, MrBeast, host and executive producer of Prime Video's most-watched competition series ever, is arguably the most influential creator in the world with 417 million YouTube subscribers on his main channel. He isn't rushing to leave his online fame behind. He might be driving 50 million views on his streaming series, but that's nowhere near his biggest YouTube video's 857 million views. At the moment, he's got the best of both worlds.
Like MrBeast, even mainstream entertainers can't ignore how easy it can be to make money off of an online audience, but that doesn't make them want mainstream stardom any less.
Liam Parkinson, cofounder at creator payment company Inflverse, tells Yahoo that he spoke with a successful comedian who said she makes 10 times as much money posting online as she does performing for a crowd, but 'that buzz of being in front of a live audience would never be replaced by numbers online.'
'Creators still crave traditional fame because it offers a different kind of permanence and legitimacy. Online fame can be fast and fleeting. … Traditional media still carries real cultural weight,' Parkinson says. 'It puts you in front of new audiences and embeds you in public consciousness in a way the internet often doesn't. … Creators can earn serious money online, but many still see legacy media as the next level. Even if the paycheck is smaller, it's about reach, credibility and building something that lasts.'
Front pages, not followers
There are certain measures of success that are still only attainable by the traditionally famous, like in-person performances, prestigious awards and magazine covers. Young creators are driven by those tangible, nostalgic goals, Justine D'Addio, founder and lead publicist at Hyde Park PR, tells Yahoo.
'Some creators may have always fantasized about becoming a pop star when they were younger, so they started filming themselves dancing around in their rooms when a powerful algorithm suddenly catapulted them to online fame,' she says. 'Millions of followers later, they not only want to make their childhood dream a reality, but they're being actively encouraged to do so because they have the resources and a dialed-in audience to make it happen.'
As a publicist, D'Addio worked with creators who are more excited about seeing their names in print than getting millions of views on a TikTok post. The rise of social media — which mints droves of influencers that are extremely famous among much smaller audiences than the superstars who came before the digital age — has 'made traditional fame extremely scarce.'
'These days, only a handful of creators can even come close to embodying the level of popularity that Britney Spears or Justin Bieber once did. But they can try,' D'Addio says.
Though it's not everyone's motivation, it's worth noting that achieving traditional fame can make creators feel like they truly belong. Not everyone is accepted. Some people are quietly deemed unworthy of prestigious, mainstream spaces, entertainment journalist Tatyana Arrington tells Yahoo.
'It's the same reason that Kylie Jenner got backlash for attending awards season events with Timothée Chalamet — she's not 'supposed to' be there,' she says.
Being featured in a Netflix film, touring your critically acclaimed album and helming your own TV show signals credibility to broader audiences. Kendale King, a CPA who works as a business manager for creators and brands, tells Yahoo that older generations and gatekeepers are less likely to value online success as a singular measure of fame.
Joke's on them, though, because no matter how people become famous, they've accomplished something amazing. Creative people 'are always seeking platforms where they can engage people,' Nikhil Malik, visiting faculty at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, tells Yahoo. The fact that so many people do it themselves and find wide audiences without the help of the Hollywood machine is just a testament to their talent and hard work.
Malik says it's too soon to tell if elevating influencers to mainstream success is 'financially wise' for the traditional entertainment industry, but he wouldn't be surprised if many of the biggest stars in the next few decades get their start on social media.
'Creators want … institutional validation from people who have been around for decades. At some point, being very successful with your narrow audience isn't satisfying anymore. I think they're trying to break out of their echo chambers,' he says.
This sentiment seems to be clearly reflected through Warren, whom I spoke with at the creator economy conference VidCon 2022. He had just reached the peak of his internet fame and had begun trying to figure out his next move. He told me that all he wanted to do was sing. I was surprised — he was so well-known for his prank videos, and his success story was already so moving.
At 18, he got kicked out of his house and began living in his car. His social media posts brought him fame, fortune and even introduced him to his now-wife, Kouvr Annon. At the time, he didn't see that success as the end of his story, but the beginning. He channeled the money and connections he made online into voice lessons and writing sessions. Now in July 2025, he's got the No. 1 song in the country.
There are many reasons to strive to break out of internet fame to become traditionally famous. It can be financially lucrative, creatively rewarding and personally satisfying. If your dreams are coming true, even on a smaller scale, you might as well swing for the fences like Warren.