Forbes' 2026 Top Creators list, published June 23, 2026, shows the top 50 creators earned $1.02 billion between March 2025 and March 2026, up 20% from $853 million a year earlier. MrBeast earned $300 million, about 29% of the total. Those figures are earnings, not net worth, and the ranking does not follow earnings strictly. Source: Forbes Top Creators 2026.
Updated November 15, 2026. Earnings and ranks are attributed to Forbes or to the named outlet.
Who are the top earners on the Forbes 2026 list?
MrBeast, Dhar Mann and Steven Bartlett earned the most on the Forbes 2026 Top Creators list, at $300 million, $65 million and $52 million. The table orders the top earners by earnings, using figures reported by Complex, Business Today, Nigerian Bulletin, HypeFresh and The Creator Economy newsletter from the Forbes list.
| Creator | Forbes earnings | Followers |
|---|
| MrBeast | $300 million | 873 million |
| Dhar Mann | $65 million | 171 million |
| Steven Bartlett | $52 million | 38.7 million |
| Markiplier | $38 million | 76.8 million |
| Rhett & Link | $37 million | 45.6 million |
| Codie Sanchez | $31 million | 10 million |
| IShowSpeed | $30 million | 184 million |
| Mark Rober | $30 million | 90.7 million |
| Druski | $20 million | 38.5 million |
| Charli D'Amelio | $18 million | 209.8 million |
What changed from the 2025 Forbes list?
Three headline numbers changed from 2025. The top 50 earned $1.02 billion, up 20% from $853 million, and it was the first time in the list's five-year history that the total passed $1 billion, according to Forbes as quoted by Tubefilter.
| Measure | 2026 list | Comparison | Source |
|---|
| Combined earnings of the top 50 | $1.02 billion | $853 million in 2025 and $570 million in 2022 | Tubefilter, quoting Forbes |
| Combined followers | 3.6 billion | 3.37 billion the year before, up 7% | Net Influencer |
| Number one | MrBeast, $300 million | Top spot for the fifth year in a row | Net Influencer |
| Where it was announced | Cannes Lions, June 23, 2026 | Annual list, first published in 2022 | Business Today |
Does Forbes rank creators by earnings alone?
Forbes does not rank creators by earnings alone. Xtrafrica reports that Forbes said the ranking considered estimated gross earnings, audience size, engagement and business ventures, and the published order shows it.
Several ranks are confirmed by outlets that quote the Forbes list directly: MrBeast at number 1, Dhar Mann at number 2, Steven Bartlett at number 3 and Markiplier at number 4, and IShowSpeed at number 8 with $30 million, according to The New Times. Ashton Hall is number 41 with $10 million, per the same report. Outlets disagree on some of the middle positions, so check the Forbes page before quoting a rank that is not in the table below.
| Forbes rank | Creator | Earnings | Source |
|---|
| 1 | MrBeast | $300 million | Forbes, via Complex |
| 2 | Dhar Mann | $65 million | The New Times |
| 3 | Steven Bartlett | $52 million | The New Times |
| 4 | Markiplier | $38 million | The New Times |
| 8 | IShowSpeed | $30 million | The New Times |
| 41 | Ashton Hall | $10 million | The New Times |
How concentrated are the top creator earnings?
The top five creators on the Forbes 2026 list earned $492 million, which is 48% of the $1.02 billion total, by Everything-PR's arithmetic from the published figures. MrBeast, Dhar Mann, Steven Bartlett, Markiplier and Rhett & Link account for that sum.
The other 45 creators earned about $528 million, an average of $11.7 million each. MrBeast alone earned about 4.6 times the second-place figure of $65 million. Forbes says the list has grown 80% since its first edition in 2022, according to Business Today. Compare that with the platform-level data in How Creators Actually Get Paid.
Which top creators run companies, not just channels?
Most of the top ten run operating companies, not just channels. The Creator Economy newsletter counted eight of the top ten as multi-line businesses and named Charli D'Amelio and IShowSpeed as the two who earn mainly from personality-driven content.
HypeFresh reports that Dhar Mann employs about 200 people and signed a deal with Fox Entertainment for 40 vertical dramas. It also reports that Steven Bartlett has built Steven.com into a $425 million holding company. Business Today lists MrBeast's businesses as Feastables, Lunchly, Viewstats and Beast Games on Amazon Prime. His structure is covered in The Creator Holding Company Index.
How do Forbes earnings compare with creator net worth estimates?
Forbes earnings are far smaller than most net worth estimates for the same creators, because they cover one year. Marques Brownlee's $10.9 million in earnings compares with net worth estimates that run from about $4 million to $150 million, and none of those estimates cites a filing.
Year-to-year changes matter too. HypeFresh lists Khaby Lame at $9.9 million on the 2026 list, while Everything-PR's profile of Khaby Lame cites $20 million from the 2025 list. Charli D'Amelio's $18 million on the 2026 list compares with the $23.5 million cited in her Everything-PR profile. Mikayla Nogueira appears at $9 million. Complex also reports Tana Mongeau at $8 million, Nara Smith at $7.5 million and iJustine at $3.4 million. Use one source for each figure and name the year.
Should this page say 2026 or 2027?
This page says 2026 because that is the name of the Forbes edition it covers. Forbes published the list on June 23, 2026, for earnings from March 2025 to March 2026, so the next edition would be the 2027 list, expected around the same time next year. Until then, "Forbes Top Creators 2026" is the label that matches the source and the way people search for it.
How should you cite the Forbes Top Creators list?
Cite the Forbes Top Creators list as estimated earnings for March 2025 to March 2026, and name Forbes and the June 23, 2026 publication date in the same sentence. Write "earned," not "is worth."
Link the Forbes page for any rank you quote, because secondary summaries disagree on some positions and several omit followers or earnings. The full roster of creator profiles is in The Creator Operators Directory, and the wider market context is in The Creator Economy.
