Khaby Lame and Charli D'Amelio: A look at TikTok's two most-followed stars

On June 24, Khaby took over Charli to become TikTok's most-followed creator

By Husain Rizvi

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Published: Sun 3 Jul 2022, 7:33 PM

It’s usually several minutes before you realise how many videos you have scrolled through on TikTok. Love it or hate it, but you cannot deny the fact that TikTok is quite entertaining. And once you are on a scrolling spree, you tend to lose yourself in the countless videos that are, at times, informative as much as they are entertaining.

TikTok’s inception dates back to 2016 when Chinese tech company ByteDance cashed in on the opportunity to buy the then popular app Musical.ly. Everyone remembers it, the widely-used lip-sync app. However, once the Chinese acquired Musical.ly, they decided to merge it with their own lip-syncing app named Douyin. The result, as we know, is TikTok.


As per various data reports, TikTok’s current value is estimated at around $75 billion in 2022, which is $25 billion more than its official value in 2020. And with its pace and usage, the future only looks bigger for the social media platform.

Naturally, TikTok got a solid boost at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and it was downloaded over 300 million times in the first quarter of 2020 alone. Currently, there are more active users on TikTok than Twitter and Snapchat.


Data shows that around 60 per cent of TikTok users are Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012. TikTok, however, has content for all age groups. Be it people dancing, comedy skits, funny videos, easy life hacks, or even doing the most random thing, there’s something for everybody on TikTok. The user base not only comprises normal people, but also celebrities who use the platform to grow their fanbase. Some are even called TikTok stars. As the name suggests, these people get their stardom from TikTok and have built a huge fan following.

And it’s not even surprising anymore, the ways through which they achieve stardom. Khaby Lame, who sits on TikTok’s throne as the most followed person on the app, did it without saying a word. We know it is hard to believe, but we are pretty sure you may have come across a young man who creates video content reacting to absurd life-hack videos and recreating the video himself to show an even easier and more logical hack. He pairs that with his signature wide-eyed stare and hand gesture that points at the obvious. And that has become such a huge trend in the modern world that even professional footballers have enacted the same as part of goal celebrations.

This latest achievement of the 22-year-old puts him above Charli D’Amelio, now the second most-followed creator on TikTok. Charli, an 18-year-old American dancer, was dethroned on June 24 by the Senegalese-Italian Khaby. Today, Khaby is still TikTok’s most followed star with 145.4 million followers. Charli, meanwhile, is also witnessing steady growth in her followers and currently boasts 143.2 million followers.

Charli addressed the same during a recent event in the US and she wasn’t upset about losing her No. 1 title. “I had No. 1 for two years. It’s time for someone else to have that spot, and I’m proud of him. He’s a friend, and there’s no bad blood,” Charli said. “It feels great to know that someone else is getting that spot — someone that is sweet and a good person and loves what they do.”

She also revealed that she has 2,400 TikTok drafts (videos that never made the feed). Can you imagine?

Khaby’s first viral video was posted in November 2020 and garnered over 17 million views. In the short clip, Khaby was seen reacting to a life hack where a man locks a woman’s backpack to a post. Through his signature expressions and gestures, Khaby showed how the woman could easily extricate herself by just taking off her backpack.

Khaby’s first ever video on TikTok was in March 2020 after he was asked to leave his factory office during the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from 145.4 million followers on TikTok, Khaby has 78.5 million Instagram followers as well.

Earlier this year, the TikTok star also made his way to the Cannes Film Festival. You no longer need millions of dollars and a distribution deal to win prizes at the Cannes Film Festival - just a mobile phone and a bit of ingenuity will do.

In its 75th edition, the world’s leading film gathering knew it needed a shot of youth and made TikTok an official sponsor. That brought some of the video platform’s biggest stars to the French Riviera - including Khaby and his followers - inevitably breaking the festival’s usual taboo against selfies on the red carpet. TikTok had also sponsored a short film competition, with prizes awarded by a jury of film professionals, as well as Khaby.

Last Thursday, Khaby was also announced as a global brand ambassador for Binance, a trading platform. The new partnership was made in a bid to increase Web3 awareness and adoption.

The famous Tik Tok creator was inspired by celebrities like Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, French actor Omar Sy, as well as several cartoons. In an official statement released in 2021, Lame had expressed he was passionate about entertaining people and making them laugh.

“I am passionate about entertaining and making people laugh since childhood, and I am thankful to TikTok for offering me a global stage to share my passion with the rest of the world. I will continue to work towards my dreams, knowing I can count on a beautiful community ready to cheer me on. Thank you and I love you all,” read the statement by Khaby.

His TikTok bio rightfully states: “If you want to laugh, you are in the right place.” It remains to be seen if Khaby will remain unsurpassed, or a new ‘king’ will emerge.

(With inputs from ANI, AFP )


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