Forbes releases list of highest-paid TikTok celebs and most are teens

The future of TikTok may currently be under attack by President Trump, but the social media app is continuing to hold strong among its users. For the first time ever, Forbes has released its list of the highest paid TikTok celebrities and the numbers, including both the income level and the ages of those on the list, are impressive.The top five performers on Forbes’ list are under 19 and the top four performers are women who have expertly navigated the relatively new medium, turning their celebrity into sponsorship deals with major brands that typically reserve their advertising space for movie stars and musicians.Topping the list is Addison Rae Easterling, who brought in $5 million between June 2019 and June 2020. Following the success of her choreographed dance videos, the 19-year-old left college last fall to pursue TikTok fulltime. Easterling scored sponsorship deals with Reebok and Daniel Wellington watches before earning a massive deal as the global spokesperson for clothing brand American Eagle. In addition to her podcast Mama Knows Best, which she hosts with her mother, Easterling has also launched and a new makeup line with Madeby, cementing herself as the top earner on TikTok.Right behind Easterling are the D’Amelio sisters. Sixteen-year-old Charli D’Amelio earned $4 million in the past year thanks to the success of her dance videos, which earned her a spot opening for the Jonas Brothers with Bebe Rexha. The TikTok star has appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and made sponsorship deals with Sabra Hummus and EOS Cosmetics. She often shares her TikTok screen time with her older sister Dixie, who earned $3.2 million in the past year. The 18-year-old is pursuing a music career while also booking sponsorship deals with Hollister and makeup company Morphe. In June, Forbes reports that Dixie dropped her first single “Be Happy,” which trended on YouTube ahead of Kanye West and Travis Scott’s music video that was released the same day.

@charlidamelioTHANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR 64 MILLION!! also please let me know who made this dance!!! ?♬ Then Leave - BeatKing

Singer Loren Gray has also found major success on TikTok, securing sponsorship deals with Burger King, Sketchers, and Revlon, which included creating the makeup company’s first TikTok account. The 18-year-old’s efforts helped her earn $2.6 million last year, landing her ahead of 19-year-old Canadian Josh Richards, who brought home $1.5 million. Tying for the number six position on Forbes' list are 20-year-old Michael Le and 28-year-old Spencer X, who both earned $1.2 million last year.

@joshrichardsDo you buds think I’m improving?♬ Outta There - Moe

TikTok became available in North American in August 2018 and has exploded with kids and teens. Users can upload videos between three and 15 seconds and loop videos up to one minute in length. Owned by Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok’s dominance soared to new levels this year following the global lockdown, which helped propel it to the most downloaded app in the world. A new study shared by TechCrunch found that kids ages four to 15 are spending an average of 85 minutes per day on YouTube and 80 minutes on TikTok, with the new app threatening to take over YouTube in terms of popularity in the coming months. The app has been embraced by celebrities, many of whom have taken on TikTok’s ‘challenges,’ including the Wipe It Down challenge and the Flip The Switch challenge.

 

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Late night Tiktoks?? @jlo . Follow me at AROD13!!!

A post shared by Alex Rodriguez (@arod) on Mar 8, 2020 at 8:27pm PDT

On August 5, Facebook launched Instagram Reels as its answer to TikTok. The short-form video app looks and feels like TikTok and people have noticed.

well... this looks familiar ?? https://t.co/V8GyRSXkPu

— TikTok (@tiktok_us) August 6, 2020

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