MrBeast has taken the Internet by storm. Born James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, he’s a 25-year-old YouTube streamer and philanthropist who creates videos with elaborate challenges and big monetary giveaways. His willingness to do ridiculous things and his generous heart are what have struck a chord with viewers.
Donaldson is now the most subscribed-to person on YouTube, with 222 million subscribers (at the time of this writing). He’s also the second-most subscribed YouTube channel overall, behind only the T-Series music channel from India. He became the first person to surpass the children’s educational program CoComelon on the list.
MrBeast’s most popular video posted in 2023 is $1 vs $1,000,000,000 Yacht!, which garnered 267 million views in just five months. But that video doesn’t even crack the top 10 list of his most viewed videos of all time since he started posting more than a decade ago. The following list rounds up MrBeast’s 10 most popular videos of all time.
10. Anything You Can Fit In The Circle I’ll Pay For (272 million views)
In this mysterious, almost 20-minute video, MrBeast begins by heading out with shoppers in an electronics store. He places a circle on the floor and says he’ll pay for anything they can fit inside it. The first young man picks several gaming consoles, even a TV, and manages to fit them all using Tetris-like precision. The catch? If any item touches the red tape, everything has to be put back, and the person loses.
MrBeast moves from electronics to a grocery store, bringing tears to the eyes of workers from a soup kitchen who are told they can keep whatever they fill the massive floor circle with. Outside, he offers people $100 to stand in a circle for a specified period of time. The theme is the same, no matter the setting: giving away money and goods. It’s like Christmas morning, so it’s no wonder fans love the feel-good video.
9. Would You Sit in Snakes for $10,000? (282 million views)
A bathtub full of snakes? That’s the premise of this video where MrBeast offers brave folks $10,000 to give to their mothers if they sit in it. Don’t worry; a professional snake handler is on hand to help. As is typical with his videos, the stakes are raised when things switch to a tank full of money and cockroaches: you keep whatever you can grab in 60 seconds.
The challenges get stranger and sillier from there, like having a man curl 1-pound dumbbells for $1 each time while another lets a tarantula crawl on him for 30 seconds to win cash. It’s fun to see which people do what challenges and who opts out, deeming the money not worth the stress. As for the guy with the dumbbell? It’s a very happy ending for him.
8. Press This Button To Win $100,000! (284 million views)
Who can see a button, be told to push it (or not to push it), and resist either way? That’s the premise of this silly video wherein MrBeast tells people they will either be punished if they push the button or win $100,000. The punishments are downright ridiculous, like wearing pants full of mayonnaise or using baby dolls to break a two-by-four.
It’s like a strange game show. The twist is that players are playing to win money for their sisters, not themselves, which is all part of MrBeast’s theme of giving. One young man does win in the end, but there’s a lot of entertaining, frat party-like debauchery to get there.
7. Ages 1 to 100 Fight For $500,000 (285 million views)
There’s a lot of money on the line with this video: half a million, to be exact. MrBeast enlists 100 people aged one to 100 who must remain in transparent cages. The last person to leave wins the money. They have a bed, TV, and water in the room and are monitored 24/7 through cameras. In an interesting social experiment, MrBeast says he wants to see what generations are most resilient and how each age group will behave.
The kids devise an interesting strategy, making tons of noise to drive others to leave (spoiler alert: it works on many). A 100-year-old World War II veteran is confident he’ll make it through, calling the challenge “peanuts” compared to what he has been through. Follow the people through several days of the challenge as they fight boredom. They do everything from building pillow forts to writing on the walls with deodorant and ChapStick to help pass the time. How old was the person who won in the end? You’ll have to watch to find out.
6. $1 vs $500,000 Plane Ticket! (301 million views)
In this video, MrBeast flies on a private jet that costs half a million dollars per flight, one that costs $25,000, a $10,000 first-class seat, and more, including hopping aboard the cheapest plane in the world. It’s an interesting education in how different the experience of flight travel is for the elite versus everyday joes.
What viewers arguably love the most, however, is living vicariously through him as he travels in luxury. Even a first-class seat for a long-haul flight is out of the budgetary realm for most people. But looking at flights that are in the six figures? He’ll show you what it’s like so you can dream of one day being able to afford it yourself. By the way, he discovers that even with the $10,000 first-class ticket, you must purchase onboard Wi-Fi. As for the most expensive flight? There’s a theater, gold-plated sinks, and an obscene number of bedrooms.
5. I Spent 50 Hours In Solitary Confinement (307 million views)
This video is different from his usual videos that involve extravagance and giveaways. It’s darker in premise but still has the same light-hearted feel. MrBeast decides to spend 50 hours in solitary confinement, one of his typical self-challenges to document for entertainment purposes. He does have a TV but can’t control what’s played on it.
There’s no big prize in the end: if he doesn’t last, he gets slimed. If he does, his three friends and partners do. He’s not entirely in solitary confinement since he can communicate with his friends on the outside. Naturally, they don’t make it easy on him, playing annoying sounds and videos on repeat as a form of torture. Among the noises is an iPhone alarm chiming for over an hour. Does he make it? It’s a long journey, but you’ll be entertained the whole way through. Even though there’s no large sum of money involved, you’ll still be anxious to find out how it ends.
4. I Spent 50 Hours Buried Alive (311 million views)
MrBeast took solitary confinement to another level when he had himself buried alive for 50 hours. He calls this the “dumbest thing he’s ever done,” lying in a coffin covered with mounds of dirt. Of course, he has a camera to chronicle the entire thing and a two-way radio to communicate. It was all done safely as well, with water, an AC unit pumping into the coffin, and a medic on standby in case of emergency. His friends, frequently appearing in his most recent videos, are camping out nearby.
What are the parameters of the challenge? If he needs to leave early, his buds get to tase him. The video shows that there’s nothing MrBeast won’t try for clicks, and this one got a lot of them.
3. $1 vs. $1,000,000 Hotel Room! (316 million views)
Another in his $1 vs. $1,000,000 video series, MrBeast looks at hotel rooms of varying dollar amounts. He starts with the cheapest hotel in the world, actually just a mat in India you can rent for $1 a night to sleep on. By the end, however, he’s living it up in a hotel room reserved for the rich and famous.
These aren’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill hotels, though. The $ 1,000-a-night one, for example, is in a cave underground. The $ 10,000-a-night villa is underwater. He travels to an island and a cruise ship, and spends time in a room that comes with a $10,000 dinner and has its own bowling alley. It’ll inspire you to book your next trip and maybe even treat yourself by spending a bit more than usual.
2. Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000 (377 million views)
Ranking as MrBeast’s second most viewed video, Last To Leave Circle Wins $500,000 is just as it sounds. He puts 100 people in a giant circle and the last person remaining wins the money. They can’t touch the red line around the circle or they’re out. Adding to the intensity is the fact that the money is placed right in the middle of the circle to tempt everyone. There’s nothing quite like lying in a bed of money to motivate you.
The players become further tempted when they realize that random prizes are being given out to people who decide to leave before the game is over. There are tears, laughs, and shocked faces as quitting earns money and cars and staying means being presented with a filet mignon dinner to help keep your strength up. As the days go by, the circle shrinks both physically and in terms of number of people. It’s a fascinating watch to see how people break down over time. A winner is eventually crowned after a few games that test skill, balance, and resilience. Note: you need to subscribe to the channel to see who wins.
1. $456,000 Squid Game In Real Life! (541 million views)
Squid Game: The Challenge has been a huge hit for Netflix. Released this month, the Netflix game show based on the popular Netflix series gave 456 players a chance to win $4.56 million dollars. But MrBeast beat them to the punch with his own Squid Game interpretation launched two years ago, shortly after the show took the streaming world by storm. His prize was $456,000 versus 1 million, but the premise was the same. Not surprisingly, he managed to get 456 people into the games as well, a testament to his popularity.
The elaborate sets include a re-creation of games in Squid Game, from Red Light, Green Light to Tug of War (don’t worry, you only fall in foam) and Marbles. It’s not quite as sophisticated as the rebuilds in Squid Game: The Challenge, nor is the production value as high. But you get the same feel. He ends with a favorite childhood game everyone knows and loves for the final competition (one that wasn’t featured in the show nor the game show; nope, it isn’t Rock, Paper, Scissors). The moment of excitement for the person who wins in the end is worth the investment of time to watch.
