As a livestreaming service that recently celebrated 20 years since its first upload, YouTube has a goldmine of videos and channels that would take years to cover and account for fully. With billions of hours of content available on the Google-owned platform, across categories and genres, there are a lot of records and data that stats nerds, especially, would be thrilled to uncover.
Having started its journey two decades back as a simple video-sharing service, YouTube has become so much more in 2025. It is safe to say that, today, the red platform has a versatile and diverse community that houses perhaps the largest roster of content creators globally. Those who are active not only as regular users but also as full-time streamers span diverse segments like arts, gaming, sports, politics, and news.
With so much history and a legacy for being not just a video-sharing service but also a social media network, a vast music library, a website, and a content creation powerhouse, among other things, rolled into one, milestones on YouTube are not to be scoffed at. In a continuation of our Hall of Fame series for the world’s top platforms, Streams Charts has collated all the livestreaming records on the service.
General records on YouTube
All-time Peak Viewers: 19,599,635 (Jan 05, 2025)
This milestone was reached at the start of the year during the incredibly popular ASEAN Championship 2024, which hit almost 20 million Peak Viewers (PV) during the second match of the two-legged final between Vietnam and Thailand. Both Southeast Asian nations are known to be football-crazy, but it was the audience from Vietnam who majorly contributed to this astonishing number, as they witnessed their side clinch the title for a third time.
All-time Peak Channels: 46,465 (May 4, 2025)
This figure was reached in May this year, with events in the gaming and non-gaming genres contributing. Over on the esports side, popular competitions like the BLAST Rivals Spring 2025, the LCK 2025 Season, and the MPL Indonesia were running, while we also had content from segments like Sports, Entertainment, and News & Politics filling up the airtime and contributing to the milestone day.
Top category by Peak Viewers: Sports (10,967,250 on Jan 5, 2025)
On the same day as the new peak concurrent viewership record was created on YouTube, the segment most responsible for this milestone also hit a new high. With a fair number of channels, especially from the SEA region, covering the action at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Championship 2024, the Sport category hit almost 11 million PV.
Top gaming category by Peak Viewers: Garena Free Fire (3,800,000 PV on May 30, 2021)
Despite the recent rise of games like League of Legends and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Garena Free Fire continues to be the number one game by peak live viewers on YouTube. The mobile-based battle royale shooter hit an incredible 3.8 million PV during the record-breaking Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore, which held the tag of the most popular esports tournament for a few years.
Top category (non-gaming) by Peak Channels: Entertainment (11,300 on May 4, 2025)
Gaming might be a big part of the YouTube Live experience in 2025, but that is just a small part of the platform’s appeal. It continues to flourish on content related to news, politics, and music, although it is the Entertainment segment that holds the record for the most channels livestreaming at the same time, led by celebrations for the iconic Star Wars franchise.
Streamer records on YouTube
Overall streamer with the highest Peak Viewers: CazéTV (6,147,242 on Dec 9, 2022)
At this point in 2025, it would be fair to say that Casimiro “CazéTV” Miguel is an institution in himself on YouTube, such is his popularity among Brazilian Portuguese viewers. His sports coverage is what has made him a celebrity in his homeland, and it was one such livestream that created this record. His broadcast of the 202 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals between Brazil and Croatia attracted over six million live viewers, a figure that remains hard to beat.
Female streamer with the highest Peak Viewers: Najwa Shihab (1,016,047 on Feb 4, 2024)
Najwa Shihab is a popular actress and journalist from Indonesia known for her talk show program Mata Najwa. Someone who made a name by covering hard-hitting stories from the ground, including the devastating 2004 tsunami, she is a renowned figure in her homeland. It was during one of her livestreams of the 2024 Indonesian general election, the Candidate Debate Party Fifth Round, that she touched just over a million peak concurrent viewers.
VTuber with the highest Peak Viewers: Aqua Ch. (735,149 on Aug 28, 2024)
One of the most beloved Virtual YouTubers not only on the red platform but across livestreaming services, Minato Aqua (Aqua Ch.) reached this landmark during an emotional livestream. It was her graduation from Hololive, meaning she was departing the prominent VTuber agency, and her farewell broadcast attracted an impressive 735,000 concurrent viewers.
Gaming streamer with the highest Peak Viewers: DjMaRiiO (1,087,181 on Jun 24, 2023)
Mario “DjMaRiiO“ Garrido, one of the most popular Spanish-speaking YouTubers globally, hit over a million PV during his celebrity football match. Labeled Partidazo de Youtubers, it was held in June 2023 and pitted some of the most followed streamers from the Spanish and Latin American markets against each other.
Most subscribed overall channel: MrBeast (434 million subscribers)
One of the world’s most recognizable faces today, James “MrBeast” Donaldson started his livestreaming journey in 2012 as a video gaming creator. By 2017, he was beginning to lean on the kind of content that would make him world-famous in 2025, uploading challenge videos and paying people to complete them. This earned him a reputation as “YouTube's biggest philanthropist," a tag he has used well to become a megastar and celebrity today.
Most subscribed female streamer: Taylor Swift (61.4 million subscribers)
Taylor Swift needs no introduction, as she is arguably the most popular musical artist globally today. Her popularity has also seen her transcend pop culture, with her loyal legion of fans, tagged Swifties, ensuring that every move of hers, including songs and album releases, becomes an event in itself. This love and fame among fans has seen her accrue over six million subscribers and 40 billion-plus views on YouTube
Most subscribed VTuber: Gawr Gura Ch. (4.72 million subscribers)
Another VTuber who graduated recently from her agency, Gawr Gura Ch. was at that point Japan's most followed Virtual YouTubers. Her announcement of her exit from Hololive via a livestream on April 16 reached over 229,000 peak concurrent viewers, setting a record among English-speaking VTubers and becoming one of the most popular broadcasts ever in the genre.
Other achievements
Overall organization with the highest Peak Viewers: FPT Bóng Đá Việt (4,893,909 on Jan 5, 2025)
FPT Bóng Đá Việt, the sports that comes under Vietnam's FPT Corporation, pulled in over 4.8 million PV during the above-mentioned ASEAN Championship 2024. It remains YouTube’s second-most popular channel, behind only CazéTV.
Gaming organization with the highest Peak Viewers: Nintendo 公式チャンネル (2,490,518 on Apr 2, 2025)
Nintendo’s highly anticipated Switch 2 showcase on April 2, a highly anticipated one, ended as the most popular gaming showcase in livestreaming over the past five years. The much hyped Switch 2 reveal was a big reason for this success, making this showcase the most popular livestream event in the Japanese company's history.
YouTube channel with the most total views: T-Series (310 billion)
T-Series is an Indian record label and film production company, known for its music and movie production. For a while in 2018, it “competed” against PewDiePie for the title of the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, which made news globally. But it is firmly one of the most visited pages on the platform in 2025.
Most viewed YouTube video: Baby Shark Dance (16.21 billion views)
Baby Shark is a children's song that was first uploaded to YouTube by Pinkfong, a South Korean entertainment company, in 2016. Its catchy tune made it a viral and global sensation, and since November 2020, this version of the song has held the title of the most-viewed YouTube video of all time.
