It seemed that in 2020 streaming took a huge step forward specifically because of the coronavirus pandemic, as most of the population hardly ever left their homes. But in 2021, when the impact of COVID-19 on the world waned, Twitch statistics continued to grow rapidly and expand its audience. Let's see how much the most popular streamers' statistics on the platform increased in a year, and which of the content creators failed to remain in the Top 10.
Top 10 most watched streamers on Twitch in 2021
| Place
|
Name
|
Hours Watched
|
|
#1
|
xQc
|
274.96M
|
|
#2
|
Gaules
|
165.39M
|
|
#3
|
AuronPlay
|
121.14M
|
|
#4
|
ibai
|
106.24M
|
|
#5
|
loud_coringa
|
100.15M
|
|
#6
|
summit1g
|
92M
|
|
#7
|
shroud
|
85.68M
|
|
#8
|
HasanAbi
|
83.36M
|
|
#9
|
NICKMERCS
|
81.29M
|
|
#10
|
TheGrefg
|
79.82M
|
#1 xQc
Like last year, Felix "xQc" Lengyel is the most popular streamer in 2021 as he collected over 274 million Hours Watched. Compared with 2020, Hours Watched number of his broadcasts increased by 78%, while the Canadian spent 50 hours less on air. It should be noted that xQc outperformed his closes pursuer by 64% in Hours Watched.
#2 Gaules
Brazilian streamer Alexandre "Gaules" Borba remained second in the ranking with 165 million HW. He did it mostly thanks to his channel being almost always online: at the time of compiling the top, Gaules had already spent 8,447 hours (352 days) on air in 2021. Compared with last year, the total Hours Watched of his broadcasts increased by 22.6%.
#3 AuronPlay
Spanish streamer Raul "AuronPlay" Alvarez made a huge jump in the ranking (from sixth to third place). Over the year, the number of Hours Watched on his channel increased from 69.9 million to 121.14 million. AuronPlay surpassed other content creators in the top with the highest Average Viewers number — in 2021 the streamer gathered 109K AV.
#4 Ibai
One more Spanish streamer, Ibai "Ibai" Llanos, went up by one position compared with last year. In 2021, the total Hours Watched number of the channel increased from 70.6 million hours to 106.2 million, and the broadcast of the fighting tournament among streamers hosted by Ibai peaked at 1.54 million spectators.
#5 Loud_coringa
Victor Loud_coringa Augusto is a newcomer on the list of the best content creators in 2021, but ranked 5th right away with 100.1 million Hours Watched. He managed to get regular viewers quickly, as the streamer represents the popular Brazilian organization LOUD, which joined Twitch in November 2020. Loud_coringa mostly plays GTA Online on the RP servers.
#6 Summit1g
Jaryd Summit1g Lazar is one of those who dropped his position in the ranking of the most popular streamers in 2021. In 2020, he was in third place with 109.9 million Hours Watched, but this year he ranked only sixth with 92 million Hours Watched. The popularity of Summit1g last year was due to his regular VALORANT broadcasts, which he almost gave up in 2021.
#7 Shroud
Michael "shroud" Grzesiek did not make the Summit1g mistake and instead focused most of his airtime on VALORANT, and that decision helped him get into the list of Top 10 streamers of 2021 with 85.6 million Hours Watched.
#8 NICKMERCS
Nick "NICKMERCS" Kolcheff increased his total Hours Watched number from 75.9 million hours to 81.2 million compared with 2020, but still dropped from fourth to ninth place in the top.
#9 HasanAbi
American streamer Hasan "HasanAbi" Dogan is another newcomer in the ranking of the best content creators of the year. He took eighth place with 83.36 million Hours Watched. HasanAbi discussed various political news on his broadcasts, so most of the airtime he spent in the "Just Chatting" category.
#10 TheGrefg
Top 10 rounded out by yet another Spanish creator David TheGrefg Martinez who got 79.8 million Hours Watched. He also became a leader by Peak Viewers on the platform: presentation of his own Fortnite skin was simultaneously watched by over 2.4 million viewers!
***
One of the top Spanish streamers Rubén "Rubius" Gundersen, Call of Duty: Warzone star Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar (he's now streaming on YouTube) and the most successful streamer of World of Warcraft — Zach "Asmongold" — took the last three places in 2020 ranking, but they didn’t manage to get into the top 10 in 2021.
The audience of the most popular streamers on Twitch has grown significantly compared with 2020. According to statistics, maintaining your level is not enough to stay in the top ten; you need to constantly develop and come up with extraordinary ideas to attract new viewers to your channel.
Streams Charts is pleased to present a special page where any Twitch streamer can generate their channel's 2021 recap. Explore by yourself, compare or compete with your friends, and share with your followers.
