Forbes Africa reports that Senegalese-Italian TikToker inventor Khaby Lame has the highest number of followers on the site in the first half of 2024. He has over 162 million followers, closely followed by influencer Charlie D’Amelio, who has over 155.
Lame has been the most popular TikToker since 2022, when he surpassed D’Amelio, who was previously recognized for her dancing videos before becoming a fashion and lifestyle influencer. Lame has gained over 2 million TikTok followers since July of last year, while American influencer D’Amelio has gained approximately 4.3 million, which is helping her narrow the gap, Forbes Africa reports.
The following are the top 5 most followed TikTokers as of June 30:
- Khaby Lame: 162,600,000
- Charli D’Amelio: 155,400,000
- MrBeast: 96,900,000
- Bella Poarch: 94,200,000
- Addison Rae: 88,800,000
Before becoming a content maker, Lame was an industrial worker in Chivasso, Northern Italy. However, when COVID-19 struck, he was among the many workers laid off around the world as a result of the contagion’s impact on businesses and the global economy.
During the COVID lockdown, he used TikTok to broadcast comedic clips that quickly gained popularity. His most watched video received almost 158 million views. The video mocks a TikTok user who cut himself free from a car door that ripped through his T-shirt. Lame produces the same movie, but instead of cutting himself free with scissors, he merely unlocks the door and shrugs.
His development on the social media platform has been completely organic, and his films lack the professional touch of other well-known TikTok stars, some of whom have been approached by Hollywood. His work mocks or debunks overproduced content on various social media platforms.
By the end of 2022, Lame had over 160 million TikTok followers, catapulting him to notoriety as one of the world’s most important black individuals.
Lame, who has a social media following of over 250 million, earned $16.5 million in 2022, according to HowAfrica (2023), making him one of the highest-paid content creators globally. At the time, his revenues ranked him 11th on Forbes’ list of the world’s top creators.
A portion of his revenue comes from several endorsement arrangements with some of the world’s most well-known firms. He was chosen a World Cup ambassador for Qatar National Bank (QNB), the largest financial institution in Africa and the Middle East, ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
In addition, he was appointed as a brand ambassador for Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, to address misconceptions about Web3 and collaborate on special NFT collections.
He also has relationships with sports team PSG and fashion brand Hugo Boss. In February 2022, Peopleofcolorintech stated that Lame will star in Hugo Boss’ rebranding ads and co-design a capsule collection with the fashion house as part of a multi-year partnership.
Last month, media business Group Black and American multinational consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G) teamed with Lame for the series “Khaby Is Coming To America“.