[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly 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. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]
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During the second week of December, MrBeast got one million new subscribers to bring his YouTube-leading total up to 454 million. As impressive as that total is, the Argentinan answer to MrBeast is outdoing his American counterpart on a week-to-week basis. Alego Igoa “only” has 97 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel, but he added 1.5 million weekly subs to lead our Global Sub Top 50 ranking.
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South American creators are using categories like challenges, pranks, and reaction videos to flourish in our charts, but this week, the Asian invasion is in full swing. The chart is filled with East Asian tastemakers, and the biggest pop culture phenomenon of the summer may still be responsible for that uptick.
Who needs KPop Demon Hunters when you have J-Rock Mystery Players?
The hot new music group on YouTube Shorts is a Japanese rock band that’s shrouded in mystery. Few people know how many members Zutomayo has, and the true identities of its musicians is a mystery as well. But those missing details aren’t stopping fans from eating up the band’s new music.
It’s safe to say that the second week of December was the biggest seven-day stretch Zutomayo has ever had on YouTube. Even though the group has been active since 2018 (with anonymous frontwoman ACA-Ne leading the way), it picked up about a third of its lifetime subscribers during our most recent week-long measurement period. With 1.15 million weekly subs, Zutomayo ranked #2 in the Global Sub Top 50, trailing only Alejo Igoa.
The typical upload on Zutomayo’s YouTube Shorts channel is a brief snippet of a music video from the band’s catalog. In December, however, the group reminded its 3.3 million subscribers that it hasn’t forgotten about the long-form side of YouTube. A new track titled “Yushinron,” which pays homage to fellow J-Rock group Radwimps, has received more than 1.7 million views about three weeks after its initial upload date.
The Radwings homage is a nice tribute, but is it really nice enough to push Zutomayo into the runner-up position in the Global Sub Top 50? It feels as if there have to be other forces in play here — and one of them may be coming from across the Sea of Japan. When we talk about East Asian pop music in 2025, KPop Demon Hunters is never that far away, and the Netflix original movie still has an outsized presence in our rankings.
Aorun-520 is one channel that continues to harness worldwide interest in Rumi, Mira, Zoey, and the rest of the KPop Demon Hunters cast (but let’s be real, it’s mostly just Rumi). It’s almost as if there’s a new rule for success among East Asian family channels: Take your normal content, throw in some purple hair dye, and profit.
That formula is certainly working for Aorun-520. After peaking during the summer — when KPop Demon Hunters ruled the cultural zeitgeist — the popular hub has slowly inched forward over the last few weeks. It added 410,000 new subscribers during the week that was.
Data via Gospel Stats
K-pop and J-rock are pretty different (despite both using initials in their names), so it wouldn’t be fair to say for sure that KPop Demon Hunters is responsible for Zutomayo’s recent uptick. But global recogition for Asian pop music isn’t just helping purple hair dye sales. Zutomayo is about to head out on tour, and if fans are still this excited about East Asian culture when the tour begins, box office returns are likely to soar.
Channel Distribution
Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:
- United States: 9
- Brazil: 6
- India and Spain: 4
- Australia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Japan, and Mexico: 2
- Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Czechia, Germany, Russia, Türkiye, and United Kingdom: 1
This week, 40 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.
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