11 Celebrities Who Got Famous from YouTube

YouTubers, this one is for you; today we speak of the 11 celebrities who got famous from YouTube. Famous artist Andy Warhol, founder of the pop-art culture, predicted that everybody will have their 5 minutes of fame in the 21st century. Truth be told, Andy was right; today we have instant celebrities who got their fame on the Web, specifically from YouTube.

YouTube was founded in 2005, and from then it has been a place where we can explore and enjoy various videos of any type. The YouTube content is immensely large, from our favorite music to funny videos and even tutorials for learning new skills. People are continuing to post videos every day, giving YouTube the popularity and chance to compete with the social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Considering this fact, it didn’t take much for people to realize that YouTube can be a breakthrough point for those who want to escape their anonymity and step into the world of fame.

The content is what determines will the video go viral on the Web, or it will just be viewed by your nearest friends and family. Statistics says that the majority of videos fail to attract public interest. More than a half posts get less than a hundred views during their first month; in fact, only 30% of the videos are clicked more than 200 times. But these celebrities prove that there are exceptions to this rule, and that a quality video can go extremely popular; up to the measure of ensuring instant fame for its creator.

Fame is everything in the modern world, and celebrities have become prominent figures in every aspect of public life. Their enormous popularity enables them to influence the public opinion, and we wrote an article about the 11 celebrities who should run for president, proving what fame can accomplish today.

And now from words to actions; let’s find out who earned his fame from your clicks, we give you the list of the 11 celebrities who got famous from YouTube.

11. August Alsina

August Alsina had his breakthrough when he was 14 years old with a cover of Lyfe Jenning’s track “Hypothetically”. This 22-year-old artist is now popular for his single “I Luv This Shit”, and also for his collaboration with pop stars like Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown. August is the proof of instant fame, by posting cover videos of famous songs, placing him on #11 of our list.

10. Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy is a Chicago-born hip-hop artist who is primarily known for his self- published single “Crank That.” In 2007, he reached first place on the Billboard Hot 100 list, and finally signed a contract with a respected hip-hop label Interscope Records. “Crank That” attracted a large number of viewers on YouTube, putting Soulja Boy on the path of fame.

9. Kate Upton

Kate Upton is among the hottest models in the world; she is featured on the covers of the prestigious magazine “Sports Illustrated” many times. Kate owes her fame to YouTube by posting a video of herself “doing the Dougie” during the L.A Clippers match. The video went viral acquiring her millions of views. Kate Upton now earns millions of dollars from advertising jobs and modeling, all that thanks to YouTube.

8. Gotye

Another example of instant fame is Gotye with the song “Somebody I used to Know”. This Belgian-Australian singer uploaded his hit-single in 2011 and since then the video viewed 700 million people. After his great online success, the song was awarded the Grammy Award for “Record of the Year” and reached #1 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 list. A good song on YouTube can launch you to the stars as it did for Gotye.

7. Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey is one the most famous singers nowadays for her eccentric songs and videos. After recording her debut album, she posted a video of the song “Video Games” which went extremely popular on YouTube. With her new fame, Lana was invited to perform on “Saturday Night Live”, and she confirmed her status in the world of pop stars.

Lana Del Rey knows the recipe for creating good song videos, and her popularity is still growing.

6. Karmin

Number 6 on our list is Karmin, a pop duo who started on YouTube, making covers of songs performed by popular artists. One of the most popular covers of Karmin is a cover of “Look at me now” by Chris Brown that made them worldwide famous. Lead singer of this group Amy Heidemann impressed YouTube viewers with her incredible rapping speed, and her skill to harmonize with swag, Fergie – style. The group soon made a contract with Epic Records and had an appearance on “Saturday Night live”.

5. Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian-born singer who became famous in her country, but the thing that made her an international superstar is a YouTube video that she posted. She filmed herself performing her big hit “Call me Maybe”, which Justin Bieber noticed and shared. Bieber tweeted about her hit song, and the next thing that happened is that this song made a big wow in the U.S. Pop charts. This song became the biggest earworm in 2012, placing Carly Rae Jepsen at #5 on our list of the 11 celebrities who got famous from YouTube.

4. Rebecca Black

“Friday” is a low-budget video on YouTube that made unknown singer Rebecca Black internationally famous. This song soon became so viral that inspired several parodies and received millions of views just in a couple of weeks. Thanks to this success Black also earned an appearance on the “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, and she was also noticed by celebrities like Bieber and Jonas Brothers. Rebecca now has 1.2 million subscribers on her YouTube channel and has won the Choice Web Star reward.

3. PSY

In 2012, PSY posted a video of the song “Gangnam Style”, and soon after collected over a billion views on YouTube. This catchy tune, followed by his funny dance moves, went extremely popular in the entire world. PSY is the best example of what YouTube clicks can do, and there is no person in the world who doesn’t know of him. “Gangnam Style” will be remembered as the first video in the YouTube history to have over 1 billion of views.

2. Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian is the most famous member of the Kardashian family.”Keeping up with the Kardashians” is one of most viral reality television shows on the globe. The success of the reality has led to creating the spin-offs “Kourtney and Kim Take Miami” and “Kourtney and Kim Take New York”. Every day, millions of viewers all over the world follow her show on YouTube.

1. Justin Bieber

You may not be familiar with the fact that Justin Bieber started in Ontario Canada by uploading videos to YouTube of himself performing R&B songs. He attracted the attention of his future manager Scooter Braun only seven months and ten thousand views later. Bieber signed a contract with R&B singer Usher at the age 13. To this day he sold more than 15 million albums around the globe, placing him on No.1 on our list of the 11 celebrities who got famous from YouTube.