[Tubefilter Charts is a periodic rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by GospelStats. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given time frame. We use data directly from YouTube and in terms of subscribers, YouTube rounds that data to the first three significant figures. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]
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The April 2025 edition of our Global Top 100 chart gives us our first chance to look back on a monumental YouTube policy change that took effect on April 1. That’s when the Shorts views started going up, and our rankings haven’t been the same since.
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By counting Shorts views whenever a viewer engages with a short-form clip for any amount of time, YouTube has ensured that its vertical video all-stars will beat out their long-form counterparts in terms of raw data. Here are a few of the changes we’re seeing:
What’s changed on Shorts? We’ll try to keep it short.
Let’s start with three numerical changes we’ve noticed since last month’s Global Top 100 went live.
The number of channels gaining at least two million subscribers in a single calendar month went from 22 to 25, even though April has one fewer day than March. The number of Top 100 channels that operate primarily on Shorts increased from 81 to 83, and the new-look chart has more diversity as well. There are 25 countries represented in the April ranking, compared to 23 countries in March.
There are also some differences between the March and April charts in terms of the creators who cracked the ranking. Everyone’s favorite barking Ronaldo fan, iShowSpeed, moved from 80th in the March Top 100 up to 34th in April. He added 1.8 million new subscribers even though he didn’t upload a single long-form video during the fourth month of the year.
Instead, Speed is thriving on YouTube thanks to clips from his streams and snippets from his cross-continental travels. His current success suggests that the new view-counting rules favor streamers, since clips from their live broadcasts make for the perfect YouTube Shorts fodder.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fZWufgrkCcw
But you don’t have to be Speed to benefit from YouTube’s new policy. Any channel that operates primarily on Shorts seems to be in line for an uptick. Up and down the Global Top 100, there are channels that saw significant viewership and subscriber bumps beginning on April 1.
Take Cadel and Mia, for example. The Australian couple channel is known for collaborations with another pair, Jasmin and James. In April, Cadel and Mia jumped nearly 200 spots in the Global Top 100 after adding 1.57 million new subscribers.
Was this YouTube’s plan all along? By promoting both short-form content and live streams, the Google-affiliated hub is reminding its creators that they can benefit by embracing as many formats as possible. Apparently, if YouTube needs to adjust the numbers to make that point clear, that’s exactly what it will do.
Channel Distribution
Here’s a breakdown of the Top 100 Most Subscribed channels this month in terms of their countries of origin:
- India: 29
- United States: 25
- Spain: 6
- Hong Kong and South Korea: 5
- Japan and Mexico: 4
- Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and Vietnam: 2
- Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, China, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Venezuela: 1
This month, 83 channels in the Top 100 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.
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