Forbes just dropped its 2026 Top Creators list at Cannes Lions, and for the first time in the ranking's five-year history the top 50 collectively cleared a billion dollars. The number: $1.02B in trailing-year earnings, up 20% from 2025 and roughly 80% from the $570M baseline when Forbes debuted the list in 2022. MrBeast holds the top slot for the fifth year running with $300M. The creator economy is not a side hustle anymore.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Forbes' top 50 creators crossed $1B in one year for the first time ever ($1.02B total, up 20% from 2025).
- MrBeast holds slot #1 for the fifth straight year at $300M, alone accounting for 29% of the entire pool.
- Beast Industries reportedly took venture funding at a $5B valuation; Diary of a CEO was valued at $425M.
- Forbes' entrepreneurship score now rewards owned IP, not brand deals: a 4 only goes to creators building independent companies.
- Top 50 earnings are up roughly 80% in five years, signaling creator-to-conglomerate as the new default trajectory.
What actually happened?
On Monday, June 23, Forbes unveiled the 2026 ranking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The headline math: 50 creators, $1.02 billion earned between March 2025 and March 2026, a 20% jump from the $853M the same cohort booked a year earlier. The methodology counts gross income (not equity) and weights three factors per Net Influencer's breakdown: earnings, entrepreneurship scored 1 to 4, and clout measured as followers times engagement.
The top of the list reads like a CEO roster, not a creator one. MrBeast clocks $300M off Beast Industries, the holding company that runs his YouTube channels (640M+ combined subs, 5B+ annual views), Beast Games on Amazon Prime, Feastables, and analytics tool Viewstats. Behind him: Dhar Mann at $65M with a 200-person studio pushing nearly 300M views a week, Steven Bartlett at $52M, Markiplier at $38M, and Rhett & Link at $37M. Druski clears $20M; Charli D'Amelio clears $18M.
Why does this matter for creators?
Because Forbes literally rewrote its methodology to reward the operators. The entrepreneurship score (1 to 4) gives a 4 only to creators who build independent companies, brands, and services, and a 1 to those still living off brand deals. That is a leaderboard for who escaped the platform-dependence trap, not a leaderboard for who got the most views. The list now penalizes you for being a guest on someone else's app.
The valuations tell the same story. Beast Industries reportedly took venture money at a $5 billion valuation. Bartlett's Diary of a CEO franchise was valued at $425 million in an eight-figure round led by Slow Ventures and Apeiron, with Bartlett retaining more than 90% ownership.
None of that is brand-deal income. It is equity in vertically integrated media businesses, accruing to people who used to be called YouTubers.
"For the first time in the five-year history of the Top Creators list, the ranking of the 50 most powerful influencers collectively broke the billion-dollar mark."
Forbes, 2026 Top Creators report, via Tubefilter
Where does this go from here?
The top tier has become unreachable for everyone else: MrBeast alone accounts for 29% of the entire pool. But the deeper signal is the floor moving, not the ceiling. Forbes attributes the 80% five-year jump to creator IP deals with Netflix and Amazon, box-office runs from creator-led films, the expansion into FAST TV, and longer brand partnerships replacing one-off integrations.
Watch what happens to the platform-fee debate next. When the top 50 are clearing a billion in 12 months, every percentage point a platform skims off the top is real, compounding money. The next tier of creators (the ones building toward this level in 2026) will price every platform decision through that lens. The 'free distribution' trade looks different when the implicit tax bill runs into the millions.
The other shift to track: this list increasingly favors creators with their own IP, their own studios, and their own product lines. Beast Industries' acquisition of finance app Step, Bartlett's podcast franchise spinning out into investment vehicles, Dhar Mann's deal to produce 40 microdramas with Fox. The creator-to-conglomerate path is now a documented playbook, and Forbes is the official scorecard.
What does Fanvault think?
The Forbes list is a working definition of arrival, and it also exposes the math no one wants to discuss: every dollar in that $1.02B passed through someone's fee structure. Fanvault was built for the cohort climbing toward that ranking next. We charge 8% per transaction (creators keep 92%), versus Fanvue at 15%, Passes at 10% plus $0.30, and Fanfix at roughly 20%. Pair that with a storefront for authenticated memorabilia (auctions and buy-it-now drops) and a Telegram-based automation layer so creators run the business through chat instead of a dashboard, and the playbook Forbes just rewarded becomes reachable without giving 20% back to the house.
The creators who topped the list this year became companies. The next class needs the economics to follow.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the Forbes Top Creators list ranked?
Forbes estimates each creator's gross earnings between March 2025 and March 2026, counting income rather than equity in public or private companies. The ranking weights three factors: earnings, entrepreneurship (scored 1 to 4, where a 4 reflects creators building independent companies and a 1 reflects brand-deal income), and clout (followers multiplied by engagement). The 2026 cycle measured 50 creators and totaled
Why did the top 50 cross $1 billion for the first time in 2026?
Forbes attributes the jump to four trends: creator-led films breaking out at the box office, creator IP deals with Netflix and Amazon, creators launching their own retail brands and production studios, and longer-term brand partnerships replacing one-off integrations. The cumulative effect is that creators have stopped trying to break into show business and have become it. Complex covered the methodology shift alongside the headline numbers.
Who are the top 5 creators on Forbes' 2026 list?
MrBeast at $300M, Dhar Mann at $65M, Steven Bartlett at $52M, Markiplier at $38M, and Rhett & Link at $37M. Druski clocks $20M and Charli D'Amelio clocks $18M just behind them. The full ranking was unveiled at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on June 23, 2026.
What does the Forbes ranking tell us about platform fees?
When the top tier is clearing a billion in trailing-year earnings, every percentage point of platform fee compounds into real money. A creator earning $1M loses $150K to a 15% platform fee, $100K-plus to a 10% platform, and roughly $200K to a 20% platform. Fanvault's