Khaby Lame Has Become The Most Followed TikTok Star
Topics: TikTok
Tom Sanders
Featured Image Credit: @khaby00/Instagram
Topics: TikTok
Khaby Lame has officially dethroned Charli D’Amelio to become the most followed account on TikTok.
The 22-year-old Senegalese comedian has been locked in a follower battle with D’Amelio for months, before finally pipping her to the punch earlier today and surpassing the 18-year-old dancer’s 142.1 million followers.
At the time of writing, Khaby has 142.4 million followers... which isn't bad for someone whose account has only been active for just over a year.
D’Amelio has long been the reigning queen of TikTok, joining in 2019 and quickly amassing a vast number of followers with her viral dance routines which mirrored the growth of the site itself.
For a long time her popularity on the site was unmatched, and when she became the first person to hit 100m followers back in 2020 she responded by sharing a video with the caption "A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED ME REACH 100 MILLION SUPPORTERS!!! AND ANOTHER HUGE THANK YOU TO @tiktok I LOVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!"
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In the video she said that the achievement was ‘like a dream’, and added "I can't believe there's 100 million supporters following me right now. That is insane, oh my goodness.
"Y'all can't grasp that this is real, I still feel like it's a dream, kind of waiting to wake up. Very insane. Oh my goodness, thank you!"
However, despite her seemingly untouchable popularity, Khababe Lame - who produces dialogue-free parody clips - was soon hot on her heels.
Despite only creating his account in April 2021, Khaby, a former factory worker in Italy, quickly charmed his way to the top of the platform and managed to rack up a staggering 140.8 million followers with a mastery of physical comedy and funny facial expressions reminiscent of Mr. Bean.
The key to Khaby’s popularity lies in his ability to satirise the absurdity of the so-called ‘life hacks’ pushed by other content creators on the platform.
A typical video of his usually involves simplifying another creator’s life-hack and pointing out how it can be done in a more hassle-free manner. He then usually signs off with his trademark wide-eyed stare, expressing disbelief and disappointment with the obvious.
This deadpan style of humour has seen his popularity rise at a rapid rate, with social media analytics site Socialblade revealing that he has been gaining an average of 3M followers a month compared to D’Amelio’s 1M, steadily gaining momentum until he finally beat her to the top spot.
Others users noticed Khaby’s rapid rise in popularity too, and by starting the hashtag #KhabyToNumberOne a movement was born which helped boost his growth on his way to the top.
So enjoy wearing the crown Khaby, you’ve earned it. But as your own meteoric rise has proven, the next challenger could be right around the corner.