Is There a YouTube Play Button for 100 Million Subscribers?
Yes – YouTube offers a prestigious Red Diamond Play Button award exclusively to channels that have surpassed 100 million total subscribers. As of February 2023, only 7 channels have achieved this incredible milestone.
Reaching 100 million YouTube subscribers puts a creator in rarefied air as one of the most influential personalities on the global internet today. In this detailed guide for fellow creators and YouTube enthusiasts, I’ll cover everything about this coveted achievement – from the origins of YouTube‘s awards program to an in-depth analysis of the elite channels awarded Red Diamond Play Buttons thus far.
A Brief History of YouTube‘s Play Buttons
YouTube first introduced its awards program in 2012 as a way to celebrate creators‘ growth and give them tangible milestones to strive towards. Inspired by the platform‘s iconic play button logo, YouTube designed stylish plaques and trophies to reward channels for hitting major subscriber counts.
Over the years, YouTube has added higher subscriber tiers to the program – modifying plaque designs and incorporating precious materials like gold, silver, diamonds and crystal. These rare play button prizes have become status symbols and profound career achievements that creators proudly display.
YouTube‘s Play Button Tiers
Here is a breakdown of YouTube‘s current play button tiers, from the Silver Award at 100k subscribers up to the ultra-exclusive Red Diamond Award at 100 million:
| Award | Subscriber Milestone | Estimated Channel Percentage* |
|---|---|---|
| Silver Play Button | 100,000 subscribers | Top 39% of channels |
| Gold Play Button | 1 million subscribers | Top 3% of channels |
| Diamond Play Button | 10 million subscribers | Top 0.11% of channels |
| Red Diamond Play Button | 100 million subscribers | Top 0.008% of channels |
According to unofficial statistics, less than 0.01% of active YouTube channels have surpassed 10 million lifetime subscribers – underscoring just how remarkable accumulating 100 million subscribers is.
The Exclusive 100 Million Subscriber Club
As of February 2023, only 7 YouTube channels in history have received a prestigious Red Diamond Play Button for surpassing 100 million total subscribers:
| Channel | Total Subscribers** |
|---|---|
| T-Series | 237 million |
| PewDiePie | 116 million |
| Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes | 116 million |
| SET India | 115 million |
| Zee Music Company | 114 million |
| WWE | 104 million |
| MrBeast | 102 million |
These 7 channels span massive Bollywood record labels, children‘s animation, global sports entertainment, comedy/commentary, philanthropy, gaming, and music – showing the universal appeal that YouTube holds.
Together they have over 904 million total subscribers, demonstrating incredible influence and viewership. For perspective, India has over 1.4 billion citizens and the United States 330 million – meaning these 7 channels have ‘audiences‘ larger than many countries.
The Design and Significance of the Red Diamond Award
The exclusive Red Diamond Play Button features a large faceted dark red crystal set in a gold-plated play button triangle. Etched around the iconic play button logo are the words “Red Diamond Creator Award” and the channel’s name.
YouTube designers chose to incorporate a red crystal to symbolize the passion, creativity and determination demonstrated by channels who have built audiences of over 100 million loyal, engaged subscribers on the platform.
The Red Diamond Award represents the pinnacle YouTube accomplishment for creators – recognized for their profound talent and connection with a global viewership exceeding most nations, companies, and brands.
These awardees serve as inspirations for the entire YouTube creative community – proving that with consistent quality, understanding your niche, responding to fans, and constantly optimizing – massive popsularity and influence is tangible for creators on the platform.
Notable Red Diamond Play Button Moments
PewDiePie was the first individual YouTube channel to receive a Red Diamond Play Button in September 2019 after becoming the first to pass 100 million subscribers. An emotional PewDiePie reflected “YouTube has been my life…"
Indian music giant T-Series received its Red Diamond Play Button in 2021 after engaging over 1 billion monthly Indian viewers. T-Series averages 800+ new music video releases a year – fueling its market-leading sub count.
Young entrepreneur MrBeast received his Red Diamond Award in January 2023, tweeting: “10 years ago today I uploaded my first YouTube video and tonight we just hit 100 million subscribers. I have no words, truly thank you all!"
These emotional moments showcase how meaningful YouTube‘s coveted awards are – recognizing humble beginnings developing into massively influential entertainment careers thanks entirely to the platform.
Strategic Insights From Top Channels
Reviewing the uploading strategies of Red Diamond recipients reveals key themes across these massively popular elite channels:
Consistency – Posting high volumes of quality content on extremely consistent schedules, rarely missing uploads.
Understanding the Niche – Producing videos tailored exactly towards subcultures and loyal fanbases – such as young children, Indian music listeners or WWE wrestling fans.
Community Interaction – Frequently responding to fans, liking comments and featuring audience submissions to foster a tight-knit community.
Constant Optimization – Analyzing audience retention, clickthrough rates, and subscriber sources to tweak formats optimizing viewership and growth
Adapting Trends – Modifying content types, editing styles, and features to resonate with how YouTube viewership evolves – from memes to Shorts to vlogging formats.
Combining these strategic pillars alongside innate talent and creative passion is how elite Red Diamond channels have separated themselves into the top 0.008% tier of overall YouTube creators.
- *Unofficial statistics calculated from regular YouTube channel audits
- *Total public subscriber counts as of February 2023
Reaching 100 million loyal, regular subscribers on YouTube is a truly remarkable accomplishment – putting creators in an echelon above nearly all other entertainment figures, brands or outlets on earth today in terms of influence.
The Red Diamond Play Button award stands as the ultimate symbol of achieving YouTube glory – recognized for fostering profound cultural impact and human connection at a magnitude exceeding most nations.
