Indian music channel T-Series has claimed the top spot from Felix Kjellberg with over 90 million subscribers.
The news comes after months of competition between the two channels, with Kjellberg making several videos – including a diss-track – on his competitor.
It also follows a series of short-term wins for T-Series, with the channel briefly overtaking Pewdiepie in late-February, early March and on Wednesday this week before Kjellberg reclaimed the title.
In response to a question from a viewer about T-Series, the YouTuber said in a video: “I don’t really care about T-Series – I genuinely don’t – but I think if YouTube does shift in a way where it does feel more corporate, then something else will take its place.
“I think people enjoy this connection so much. I think something else will just show up.”
Describing itself as “India’s largest music label and movie studio”, T-Series uploads up to six videos a day, compared to the two daily videos uploaded by Kjellberg.
SocialBlade, a website which allows users to view their social media statistics, initially estimated that Pewdiepie would be overtaken on 27 October 2018, while analytics company Tubular Labs predicted the moment would happen a day later.
However, Kjellberg remained over 430,000 subscribers ahead of the company on 28 October, with some claiming American creator MrBeast was responsible for the boost in Pewdiepie’s lead.
In a video uploaded in October, Jimmy Donaldson revealed that he had bought billboards and advertising in his home city encouraging members of the public to subscribe to Pewdiepie.
LA YouTuber Justin Roberts also purchased an advert to promote the Swedish creator’s channel, reportedly spending $1 million on an display at New York’s Times Square.
On 2 December, Kjellberg appeared to concede defeat to T-Series, with the 29-year-old taking to Twitter to say “it looks like this is it bois”.
The post prompted further support for the YouTuber, with fellow creators Mark Fischbach and Seán McLoughlin hosting their own livestreams calling on their subscribers to back Kjellberg.
Kjellberg later went on to thank creators and fans for their support, before announcing a charity fundraiser for Child Rights and You, which works to protect children’s rights in India.
The campaign later went on to raise nearly $240,000 (£181,000) for the organisation.
The battle later intensified when Bhushan Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director at T-Series, took to Twitter to call on people to subscribe to the music channel.
“This is a historic moment for all of us. So let’s come together and subscribe to T-Series’ YouTube channel and make India proud,” Mr Kumar said in a video.
Kjellberg was eventually overtaken in the early hours of Thursday 21 March, with T-Series leading with over 20,000 subscribers at the time of writing.
The record label’s new title also brings an end to Pewdiepie’s five-year reign at the top spot, which began in August 2013.
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