PewDiePie briefly knocked off YouTube top spot by Bollywood music channel T-Series
- Bollywood channel leapt ahead of Swedish comedian and video game player/commentator and held the top spot for more than two hours
- But PewDiePie regained a narrow lead after both pages surpassed 90 million subscribers
Internet sensation PewDiePie was briefly dethroned as YouTube’s most subscribed channel by Bollywood music channel T-Series.
T-Series, a Bollywood production company which releases lavish music videos, had been poised to overtake PewDiePie for a few months now.
The two channels have been neck-and-neck for some time, and for eight minutes on February 22, T-Series overtook PewDiePie, real name Felix Kjellberg. But this week the Bollywood channel leapt ahead of the Swedish comedian and video game player/commentator and held the lead for more than two hours.
PewDiePie and T-Series now boast more than 90 million subscribers, but as of March 19, both channels were locked in a close race to become No 1, according to a live subscriber count being broadcast on YouTube.
When T-Series first pulled ahead, PewDiePie launched a campaign to maintain his top spot, which he has held since 2013. Other YouTubers have rallied to his cause and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk came on his show to assist his bid to stay ahead.
The campaign to keep the top spot gained notoriety last week when the gunman in the New Zealand mosque massacre said “subscribe to PewDiePie” during the attack.
PewDiePie said on Twitter that he felt “absolutely sickened having my name uttered by this person”.
