It clearly pays to be the sister of the world’s biggest TikTok star.
Charli D’Amelio, who has the most-followed account on the short-form video app, earned a cool $17.5 million in 2021, making her the highest-paid TikToker of the year, according to estimates by Forbes magazine. Her older sister, Dixie, came in at the No. 2 spot for 2021, with estimated income of $10 million.
Since Charli posted her first video in May 2019, the 17-year-old has amassed nearly 133 million followers on TikTok to date. Dixie, who is 20, currently is the ninth most-followed TikToker, with 56.6 million followers.
The D’Amelios have also secured deals off-TikTok. They’re featured in Snapchat’s “Charli vs. Dixie,” a head-to-head competition show from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Media. The sisters and their parents, who originally hail from Connecticut before moving to L.A., also are featured in Hulu’s “The D’Amelio Show,” a reality series that bowed last September. Both are repped by UTA.
Meanwhile, TikTok celeb Addison Rae, who was estimated to be the highest-earning TikTok star in Forbes’ inaugural 2020 rankings, pulled down an estimated $8.5 million to take third place on the magazine’s 2021 list.
These are the top-earning TikTokers of 2021, per Forbes’ estimates:
1. Charli D’Amelio: $17.5 million
2. Dixie D’Amelio: $10 million
3. Addison Rae: $8.5 million
4 (tie). Bella Poarch & Josh Richards: $5 million
6 (tie). Kris Collins & Avanni Gregg: $4.75 million
As TikTok has grown to over 1 billion users worldwide, the going rates that influencers can charge for sponsored content on the platform have boomed. TikTok stars can now charge as much as $500,000 for a single post, with most earning an average of $100,000 to $250,000 per post, according to Forbes estimates — more than doubling in the past two years.
To compile the list, Forbes looked at influencers who rose to fame on TikTok (excluding celebrities active on the app like Will Smith and Jason DeRulo). The most recently ranking estimated what TikTokers earned from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2021, from sponsored content and other income sources.
Pictured above: Charli D’Amelio (l.) and Dixie D’Amelio
