This former Hampshire Tesco worker is the world's richest YouTuber

A former Tesco employee from Hampshire has been named the world's highest earning YouTuber.
Dan Middleton - a.k.a. DanTDM. Picture: YouTubeDan Middleton - a.k.a. DanTDM. Picture: YouTube
Dan Middleton - a.k.a. DanTDM. Picture: YouTube

Dan Middleton, who goes by the online name DanTDM, earned more than £12m in 2017.

The 26 year-old, from Aldershot, began his channel five years ago by uploading Minecraft and Pokémon streams.

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When the online career he took off he was making ends meet working in a local Tesco supermarket.

Picture: YouTubePicture: YouTube
Picture: YouTube

Since then he has accrued over 16 million subscribers and more than 10 billion views across the world.

Global fame

Middleton hasn’t just made his fortune from the huge YouTube views.

This year he went on a worldwide stadium tour – including 39 venues across the USA and four sold-out shows at the Sydney Opera House.

Picture: YouTubePicture: YouTube
Picture: YouTube
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The tour and online ad revenue helped him rake in £12.3m ($16.5m) for 2017, some $1m more than the second highest earner, Evan Fong.

Rapid rise to riches

The YouTube sensation has been making videos for just five years, after starting out at 21-years-old.

In 2016 he didn’t even make the top 10 highest earners.

But a surge in popularity and big fees for real-life appearances have seen him rocket up virtual rich list.

Last year Swedish streamer PewDiePie, real name Felix Kjellberg, topped the list, but he fell to sixth place in 2017 following a string of racism controversies.

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The rest of the list of the world’s richest YouTubers is made up by Evan Fong, Dude Perfect, Markiplier, Logan Paul, PewDiePie, Jake Paul, Ryan ToysReview, Smosh, and Lilly Singh.