[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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For the second week in a row, MrBeast is #1 in both our viewership and subscriber charts. His lead in the Global Top 50 is modest, but the Global Sub Top 50 is a veritable blowout. MrBeast added three million new subscribers during the second full week of May. No other channel even got halfway to that mark.
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An upcoming global event, however, could shift the balance of power in our charts. The World Cup is almost here, and it has a chance of producing a matchup that rewrite both the soccer record books and the YouTube charts.
Will Ronaldo and Messi give us the World Cup match of the century?
Regular readers of this column will understand how big soccer is on YouTube Shorts. Channels that discuss the beautiful game — or play it in the form of skills-based challenges — have become mainstays in our charts.
Many of the biggest soccer channels on YouTube are centered around the sport’s most heated rivalry: Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi. The 41-year-old Portuguese striker and the 39-year-old Argentinian forward both have arguments as the greatest of all time, and channels that compare them often get millions of views per week.
Ronaldo and Messi played for years on rival Spanish clubs (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, respectively), but for all of their showdowns against one another, they’ve never met on the pitch at the FIFA World Cup. That could change in 2026, and if it does, it will be a huge moment for YouTube soccer channels.
Ronaldo’s Portugal is Group K for the upcoming tournament in North America, while Messi’s Argentina is in Group J. If Portugal wins its group while Argentina finishes third, the two superstars would face each other in a knockout match on July 3.
That path is far from a foregone conclusion, but if it does happen, how high would Ro7 and Si10 climb? Buoyed by pre-World Cup hype, the U.S.-based hub added 532,000 new subscribers during the second week of May, which put it in 15th place in the Global Sub Top 50. Ro7 and Si10 has pinned its stock to Ronaldo-Messi hype, so if the two stars face each other, I’d expect this week’s #15 to move into the top five, at least.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Any World Cup matchup between Portugal and Argentina is unlikely this year, as it would in most cases require deep runs from both of those sides. The Ronaldo vs. Messi stans probably won’t get to see the global showdown of their dreams.
Channels like Ro7 and Si10, however, will continue to thrive even if the Messinaldopocalyse never arrives. Soccer content is crushing on YouTube Shorts in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup, and the numbers will keep going up as the tournament’s June start date approaches.
We can map out that upward trajectory by looking at Siu, a channel that takes its name from Ronaldo’s signature goal celebration. Less than two months before the World Cup’s opening kickoff, Siu got more than 150 million weekly views for the first time ever. In the latest Global Sub Top 50, Siu sits in 27th place with 340,000 weekly subscribers.
Data via Gospel Stats
There’s no question soccer viewership on Shorts will continue to rise until it peaks during the World Cup. But the size of that spike depends on the fate of the sport’s two aging GOATs.
If Ronaldo and Messi can will their respective countries to deep World Cup runs, the short-form numbers are going to be even bigger than the two stars’ respective goal totals. As someone who wants to see how grand this phenomenon can get, I have to apologize to Argentina. I hope they do well at the tournament, but I’m also rooting for them to be third in their group.
Channel Distribution
Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:
- United States: 13
- India: 12
- Mexico: 5
- Brazil: 3
- Russia: 2
- Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, Ukraine, and United Kingdom: 1
This week, 37 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.
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