Youtube's top 15 most subscribed channels in 2019

Where do Justin Bieber, Eminem, Ed Sheeran rank among the indy creators and corporate juggernauts on the list of YouTube's most-subscribed-to channels?

PewDiePie's six-year reign as the world's most popular YouTube channel appears be finally coming to an end, as Indian channel T-series once again overtook his subscriber count after weeks of see-sawing between the two accounts.

Both channels passed 90 million subscribers in March, following a neck-and-neck battle that began in October 2018 when T-Series first began to challenge the dominance of the Swedish star.

PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, waged a campaign to keep ahead of the Indian music channel that saw supporters go to increasingly extreme measures to boost his sub count.

The battle saw both channels pull away from other popular YouTube channels, with third-place channel 5-minute Crafts currently around 40 million subscribers off the pace.

Less than 20 million subscribers separate the third and 15th placed channels, suggesting things could continue to be shaken up in the rankings of the most popular YouTube channels in 2019.

At their current rate of growth, both PewDiePie and T-Series are projected to pass 100 million subscribers this year, though the Indian channel will likely reach the milestone first.

The popularity of T-Series has proved controversial among some corners of the YouTube community, with some seeing it as a signal that the video-sharing platform is turning its back on Independent creators in favour of large corporations that hold greater potential for attracting advertising revenue.

"It's incredible to see how media companies like T-Series are flourishing in this space," Denis Crushell from social video analytics firm Tubular Labs recently told The Independent.

"Whilst YouTube continues to be a pivotal platform for influencers like PewDiePie, media companies have really doubled down on the platform this year. T-Series and its sister channels now see well over 4 billion views per month, making it YouTube's most viewed media company globally."

Eminem is among the top 15 most popular YouTube channels in 2019 (Getty Images) (Theo Wargo / Getty Images)

Despite this perceived shift, independent creators continue to thrive on the platform as it continues to experience huge growth.

The 15th most popular channel in 2019 now has more subscribers than the most popular channel of 2011, while not one of the top 15 channels from that year made it into the current list.

Several high-profile celebrities, who gained fame outside of YouTube, have made their way into the top 15, including Ed Sheeran and Eminem.

Other notable inclusions are the juggernauts of WWE and Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India.