Gaming has transformed into a juggernaut in the entertainment world, competing with the multi-billion-dollar TV and music industries. Games and everything related to gaming now boasts million-dollar budgets and insane numbers in viewers and creators alike. The gaming live stream world is led by Twitch, a streaming platform that started in 2011.
Twitch is now an everyday part of gamers and non-gamers alike. The streaming platform allows people to create, watch and share anything, including games, news, art, music, and recently, even politics. Twitch allows creators and streamers to earn money through multiple sources, like subscriptions, advertisements, donations, and lately, cheers and bits!
With the live stream industry experiencing its highest of highs, here are the highest-earning twitch streamers in the world.
Note: Twitch and most streaming platforms keep payouts and contracts private. This list of highest-earning twitch streamers is based on estimates and leaks in 2021.
The Top 5 Highest Earning Twitch Streamers:
CriticalRole
CriticalRole is the highest-earning Twitch channel on our list. It is the only channel that works as a collaborative on our list too. The channel features multiple professional voice actors, created and led by Matthew Mercer. CriticalRole started as a group of voice actors playing Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game, but has since evolved into everything from art and comic books to animated series.
A 2021 Twitch leak showed CriticalRole earning a whopping $9.6 million from Twitch from 2019 to 2021 alone! Their estimated earnings add up to over $160,000 every month.
xQc
Felix Lengyel, better known as xQc, started out his gaming career as a professional Overwatch competitor. He first gained popularity playing GTA 5 but blew up when Fall Guys and Among Us exploded in the gaming scene. Since quitting his competitive career in 2019 and shifting his focus primarily to streaming, the Canadian streamer has become the most followed Twitch streamer in the world with over 10 million followers.
The 2021 leak showed xQc received an $8.4 million payout from Twitch. His earnings come in at over $300,000 a month!
Summit1g
Another professional player turned streamer, Jaryd Russel Lazar, used to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professionally and built up a loyal viewer base due to his talent and competitive nature. He has been in the streaming scene since its inception and is one of the industry’s pioneers. Since retiring from professional play, Summit1g has focused on a variety of games, mainly in the shooting genre.
Twitch leaks showed him taking away over $5.8 million from 2019 to 2021 alone. Estimates have him earning over $200,000 monthly from Twitch.
Nickmercs
Nicholas Kolcheff, better known as NICKMERCS, is a Twitch streamer and a co-owner of the super popular gaming organization, FaZe. He has been streaming on Twitch since it was known as ‘Justin.tv’ way before anyone thought of gaming and streaming as potential income generators. He was a consistent and popular streamer but blew up with the rise of Fortnite and other battle royale games. His skillful gameplay, paired with his fun squad games, has made him one of the most followed streamers on Twitch.
The same leaks we mentioned before showed he took home almost $5.1 million from Twitch, and his estimated earnings are at $229,500 per month.
Ludwig
Ludwig Ahgren recently moved his streaming career to YouTube, but he left a considerable mark on Twitch with his time spent there. While he was already a popular streamer in the Super Smash Bros community, Ludwig made history with his subathon in 2021. His subathon, which is basically a subscriber marathon, lasted for 31 days!
The 2021 Twitch leaks revealed Ludwig received almost $3.2 million from Twitch. His estimated earnings were calculated to be around $180,000 per month.
