A study has determined which 10 gaming streamers were the most successful on Twitch in 2021. The study considers the number of viewers, followers on Twitch and social media, and growth over the last 12 months. Topping the list is shroud, one of the returnees from Mixer. The most successful German gaming streamer is MontanaBlack at rank 35.
Where does the list come from? The list comes from GAME, the largest video game retailer in the UK – something like the “British GameStop”. They have about 250 stores.
How is the list created? For the list of the 10 most successful streamers of 2021, 4 criteria are important:
- Followers on Twitch
- How the number of followers has changed in the last 12 months
- The number of Twitch views in the last 12 months
- The number of followers on social media (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube)
The data refers to the past 12 months since June 2021.
The creators of the analysis say: Each of these criteria was checked for hundreds of streamers and then rated on a scale of 1-50.
For example, the streamer with the most Twitch followers, Ninja, receives 50 points. The one with the second most followers, Tfue, gets 49 points.
The 10 most successful streamers according to this list are:
Here are the Top 3: Rank 1 belongs to Michael “shroud” Grzesiek. He switched from Twitch to Mixer in October 2019 but returned to Twitch in 2020 when Mixer shut down.
Shroud is primarily in rank 1 because he scores excellently with Twitch followers (49) and Twitch views (47). He only scores moderately with social media (29). That fits him: “The human aimbot” focuses on gaming, he doesn’t care much for PR.
Rank 2 belongs to Turner “Tfue” Tenney, a streamer who has somewhat faded from the media spotlight since he moved away from Fortnite: He mainly plays COD: Warzone and Minecraft.
The US streamer has extremely high values for followers (49 points), strong viewer counts, and many fans on social media. Only the follower growth on Twitch costs him rank 1 – here he only gets 22 points.
Rubius at rank 3 symbolizes one of the Twitch trends of 2021: The Spaniards are coming. Rubius has excellent values for followers and social media. He is a star in Spain. With Ibai (rank 4) and auronplay (7), two other Spanish-speaking Twitch streamers are in the Top 10.
What’s up with Ninja, doesn’t he have the biggest Twitch channel? Ninja returned like shroud from Mixer in 2020 and is clearly number 1 on Twitch with followers, receiving the most points (50). Ninja is also huge on social media (499 points).
However, Ninja’s viewer numbers have not developed well. Here he loses a huge amount of points.
What about xQc, doesn’t he stream the most? The streamer xQc, who often ranks high on total numbers on Twitch, is only in 13th place on the list.
This is because he has hardly any points for “social media followers.” Unlike other streamers who maintain huge channels on Instagram and YouTube, xQc practically only uses Twitter and seems to have disadvantages in “overall marketing”.
His YouTube account has 1.6 million followers – shroud’s has nearly 7 million.
For summit1g, it’s even more extreme: He is in 15th place because he scores even fewer points on social media than xQc. Summit1g’s YouTube channel has only 700,000 subscribers.
The two are considered “constant senders” on Twitch – leaving social media apparently neglected.
Pokimane beats Amouranth among the biggest female streamers on Twitch 2021
Where is the highest woman? The biggest gaming streamer in the world in 2021 is Pokimane. She collects many points on social media and followers, landing her in 6th place.
Other female streamers who were popular on Twitch in 2021 still have a long way to go: Amoranth is in 23rd place. She has high growth, but the number of Twitch followers is still very low compared to Pokimane.
MontanaBlack is the most successful German streamer in 2021
Who is the most successful German gaming streamer? That is of course MontanaBlack, who recently considered leaving Germany. He is in 35th place.
MontanaBlack has decent values everywhere (21-24), only the growth of Twitch followers is lagging a bit (15).
For that, he would probably need to stream more or discover a new game again.
Who is the biggest rising star? That is the 17-year-old TommyInit. Although he has relatively small numbers for views, he is clearly on the rise as a Minecraft streamer: He gets 49 points for the biggest growth.
These are the 5 biggest games on Twitch: The biggest games have been in a slump phase in 2021, according to 7 different index forums, relatively old games like GTA 5, Apex Legends, Among Us, Valorant, and League of Legends.
He is already big on social media thanks to Minecraft.
The list disadvantages the “icons of Twitch”
Is the list really correct? Well, that’s debatable. What can certainly be criticized is the influence of “social media” on the list.
To be the “most successful Twitch streamer”, according to Game’s list, you also need large channels on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
This especially costs points for those who stand for Twitch, like xQc, summit1g, Sodapoppin, or Tyler1.
Especially bitter for Twitch veteran LIRIK. He scores excellently with views (45), but is so weak on social media (1) that it only ranks him at 45th place.
That the total number of followers accounts for a quarter of the points again favors streamers who were strong a few years ago, but have been less talked about in 2021, like Ninja or Tfue. The “biggest rising stars” of 2021, who weren’t known before, but made a name for themselves in the last 12 months, like Clix, Symfuhny, or Sykkuno, don’t get high scores and are far from the Top 10.
It’s also a bit strange that channels of companies and institutions are included in the list, like RiotGames (50 points for Twitch views), ESL_CSGO, or Fortnite (50 points for social media): They cannot be considered “streamers”.
Anyone who prefers German streamers on Twitch will find them in this list:
Twitch: The 5 currently largest German streamers by active viewers
