PewDiePie surpasses 90 million YouTube subscribers as battle with T-Series continues

Swedish YouTuber has been neck-and-neck with Indian music label for months

PewDiePie has become the first Youtuber to reach 90 million subscribers following a sustained campaign from his fans and fellow content creators.

The 29-year-old, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, made the incredible comeback just hours after being dethroned as YouTube's most subscribed channel by Indian music channel T-Series.

Expressing his gratitude to fans for their support during a crucial time, he said: “Thanks for 90 million subs, feels weird celebrating but just wanted to say thanks for all the support and love especially as of late.”

PewDiePie's six-year reign came to an end when the Indian music channel, which releases lavish music videos, edged ahead of the Swedish star.

The two channels have been neck-and-neck for months and after T-Series gained the lead, PewDiePie's fans called for others to “fight back” by subscribing to his channel.

The fan reaction helped him briefly regain his throne, but Tuesday afternoon, T-Series was back on top.

His other memorable stunts in recent weeks include calling on Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to host a popular segment on his channel called Meme Review.

Both channels now have more than 90 million subscribers and are expected to reach the 100 million milestone by June.

“It’s incredible to see how media companies like T-Series are flourishing in this space. Whilst YouTube continues to be a pivotal platform for influencers like PewDiePie, media companies have really doubled down on the platform this year,” Denis Crushell from social video analytics firm Tubular Labs recently told The Independent.

“T-Series and its sister channels now see well over 4 billion views per month, making it YouTube’s most viewed media company globally.”