Every couple of years, a new app comes along and redefines the way we use social media, and 2020 was undoubtedly the year that TikTok took over (at least with Generation Z). It now has around a billion users, but which ones have turned sharing videos on the platform into a lucrative career?
We discovered what the biggest TikTokers earned from the platform last year by analyzing the total number of ads they posted and the amount they charge per ad.
The top TikTok earner overall is dance and choreography star Michael Le. He netted over $20 million in 2020 and has amassed a following of over 44 million fans.
1 | Michael LePerformance | $20,378,000 Earnings in 2020 |
2 | Charli D'AmelioPerformance | $18,224,000 Earnings in 2020 |
3 | Addison RaePerformance | $14,722,500 Earnings in 2020 |
4 | Joe Albanese Entertainment | $8,711,000 Earnings in 2020 |
5 | Avani Gregg Performance | $6,798,000 Earnings in 2020 |
6 | Kira Kosarin Performance | $6,651,500 Earnings in 2020 |
7 | Dixie D'Amelio Performance | $6,534,000 Earnings in 2020 |
8 | Loren Gray Performance | $5,355,000 Earnings in 2020 |
9 | Q Park Entertainment | $5,224,500 Earnings in 2020 |
10 | Spencer Polanco Knight / Spencer X Entertainment | $3,577,000 Earnings in 2020 |
11 | Demi Bagby Fitness | $3,266,500 Earnings in 2020 |
12 | Noah Beck Entertainment | $2,817,500 Earnings in 2020 |
13 | Gilmher Croes Entertainment | $2,669,000 Earnings in 2020 |
14 | Zach King Entertainment | $2,216,000 Earnings in 2020 |
15 | David Dobrik Entertainment | $2,150,500 Earnings in 2020 |
16 | Jason Coffee Entertainment | $2,090,000 Earnings in 2020 |
17 | Bella Poarch Performance | $1,907,500 Earnings in 2020 |
18 | Brent Rivera Entertainment | $1,800,000 Earnings in 2020 |
19 | Lauren Godwin Entertainment | $1,742,500 Earnings in 2020 |
20 | Abby Roberts Beauty & Style | $1,736,500 Earnings in 2020 |
21 | Jayden Croes Entertainment | $1,631,000 Earnings in 2020 |
22 | Kimberly Loaiza Performance | $1,416,000 Earnings in 2020 |
23 | Rod Contreras Performance | $1,134,000 Earnings in 2020 |
24 | Savannah LaBrant Performance | $988,000 Earnings in 2020 |
25 | Dominic Andre Learning | $884,000 Earnings in 2020 |
26 | Sameeksha Performance | $857,500 Earnings in 2020 |
27 | JoJo Siwa Performance | $795,000 Earnings in 2020 |
28 | Awez Darbar Entertainment | $780,000 Earnings in 2020 |
29 | Glitterandlazers/ Anna O'Brien Beauty & Style | $750,000 Earnings in 2020 |
30 | Josh Richards Performance | $720,000 Earnings in 2020 |
31 | Baby Ariel Performance | $706,000 Earnings in 2020 |
32 | Riyaz Aly Entertainment | $657,000 Earnings in 2020 |
33 | Lani Randol Beauty & Style | $539,000 Earnings in 2020 |
34 | Denise Mercedes Beauty & Style | $533,000 Earnings in 2020 |
35 | Avneet Kaur Performance | $452,000 Earnings in 2020 |
36 | Chase Hudson Entertainment | $444,000 Earnings in 2020 |
37 | Stokes Twins Entertainment | $438,000 Earnings in 2020 |
38 | Arishfa Khan Entertainment | $429,000 Earnings in 2020 |
39 | Garima Chaurasia Performance | $426,000 Earnings in 2020 |
40 | Nisha Guragain Performance | $420,000 Earnings in 2020 |
41 | Brittany Xavier Beauty & Style | $408,000 Earnings in 2020 |
42 | Ilumin_arty /Tiffany Beauty & Style | $374,000 Earnings in 2020 |
43 | thenavarose Beauty & Style | $367,500 Earnings in 2020 |
44 | Antonie Lokhorst Fitness | $322,500 Earnings in 2020 |
45 | Krysten Mayers Learning | $314,500 Earnings in 2020 |
46 | Lucas and Marcus Entertainment | $272,000 Earnings in 2020 |
47 | Sydney Brown Fitness | $264,000 Earnings in 2020 |
48 | Tabitha Brown Food | $253,000 Earnings in 2020 |
49 | Jacob Sartorius Performance | $240,000 Earnings in 2020 |
50 | Gabrielle Alexis Beauty & Style | $210,000 Earnings in 2020 |
51 | Mackenzie Ziegler Performance | $200,000 Earnings in 2020 |
52 | Chef Matt Broussard Food | $176,000 Earnings in 2020 |
53 | Vivian Aronson Food | $161,000 Earnings in 2020 |
54 | Devanondeck Beauty & Style | $144,000 Earnings in 2020 |
55 | Jannat Zubair Entertainment | $141,000 Earnings in 2020 |
56 | Shereen Pavlides Food | $139,500 Earnings in 2020 |
57 | Drake Anthony Learning | $127,500 Earnings in 2020 |
58 | Taylor Hage Beauty & Style | $127,500 Earnings in 2020 |
59 | Eitan Bernath Food | $120,000 Earnings in 2020 |
60 | wigofellas Entertainment | $116,000 Earnings in 2020 |
61 | Danielle Marcan Beauty & Style | $115,000 Earnings in 2020 |
62 | Kody Antle Entertainment | $109,500 Earnings in 2020 |
63 | James Lamprey Food | $96,000 Earnings in 2020 |
64 | Pauliesfx Beauty & Style | $85,000 Earnings in 2020 |
65 | Keilidh Mua Beauty & Style | $84,000 Earnings in 2020 |
66 | Emson Mallari Beauty & Style | $51,000 Earnings in 2020 |
67 | onlinekyne Learning | $36,238 Earnings in 2020 |
68 | Jony Sios Beauty & Style | $35,000 Earnings in 2020 |
69 | The Pasta Queen Food | $30,000 Earnings in 2020 |
70 | jasontodolist Travel | $28,800 Earnings in 2020 |
71 | Chef Chris Cho Food | $25,500 Earnings in 2020 |
72 | Pernilla Soe Fitness | $24,590 Earnings in 2020 |
73 | Joshua Weissman Food | $22,000 Earnings in 2020 |
74 | John Derting Travel | $20,000 Earnings in 2020 |
75 | riotravelers Travel | $17,992 Earnings in 2020 |
76 | Chef Ryan Peters Food | $17,000 Earnings in 2020 |
77 | Zachary Burrabel Travel | $16,970 Earnings in 2020 |
78 | Steve Prince Fitness | $14,017 Earnings in 2020 |
79 | handluggageonly Travel | $12,550 Earnings in 2020 |
80 | drjuliesmith Learning | $12,500 Earnings in 2020 |
81 | Eric Damier Travel | $11,000 Earnings in 2020 |
82 | Ulisses Fitness | $10,500 Earnings in 2020 |
83 | Jennifer Tavernier Fitness | $10,000 Earnings in 2020 |
84 | eatlivetraveldrink/ Nicole Sunderland Travel | $6,136 Earnings in 2020 |
85 | Maths With Miss Chang Learning | $6,128 Earnings in 2020 |
86 | Jesse James West Fitness | $5,892 Earnings in 2020 |
87 | terplanet Travel | $5,500 Earnings in 2020 |
88 | Stefana Avara Fitness | $4,270 Earnings in 2020 |
89 | Rebecca Louise Fitness | $4,243 Earnings in 2020 |
90 | Nadine Christine Travel | $1,888 Earnings in 2020 |
91 | The Jax Tutor Learning | $1,306 Earnings in 2020 |
92 | Eyal Booker Fitness | $1,305 Earnings in 2020 |
We researched the 50 most followed TikTok accounts and the most followed for each key TikTok category using online resources like Social Tracker and Influencer Marketing Hub.
Next we scraped all the videos each TikToker published in 2020 and extracted the hashtags and mention tags from those videos. We labeled all tags as commercial or non-commercial (for example, #ad is a commercial tag) and calculated the number of ads per TikToker in 2020.
Following the Guardian’s estimation that TikTok stars could be paid up to $0.005 per follower for sponsored posts, we calculated how much each TikToker could charge for one commercial video and finally calculated total earnings by multiplying cost per post and total number of ads.