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Cristiano Ronaldo launches YouTube channel, racks up 7 million subscribers in hours

Wade-Peeryby: Wade Peery08/21/24

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most famous athletes of all-time. And it didn’t take long for his popularity to showcase itself when the soccer legend decided to launch his YouTube channel on Wednesday evening, racking up 7 million subscribers in a matter of hours.

Those are simply Earth-shattering numbers.

Ronaldo has accomplished incredible things in his legendary soccer career, which he’s spent more than two decades at clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. He’s won 33 trophies, five UEFA Champions Leagues, five Ballon d’Or awards, and three UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Awards (a record). Ronaldo has the record for most appearances, goals, and assists in both the Champions League and European Championship. He also currently has the record for most international goals and international appearances.

Ronaldo has scored more than 890 career goals for both his club and country, making him the top goal scorer of all-time.

And while his accomplishments on the soccer field are near impossible to match, he isn’t (as of now) the most popular person on the planet on YouTube. That honor would go to Mr. Beast–who currently boasts 311 million subscribers.

Cristiano Ronaldo is gaining subscribers at a record-setting pace

But Ronaldo is certainly gaining on him in rapid fashion. Just 1 hour and 29 minutes into launching his YouTube channel, it had cleared one million subscribers, becoming the fastest in the site’s history to reach that milestone. That’s yet another record for Ronaldo to add to his ever-growing list. Here’s a link to the first video he posted on his channel. As of 11:34 PM EST on 08/21/24, the soccer legend had reached 12.3 million YouTube subscribers.

Let’s put into context just how insanely popular Ronaldo is. It took Mr. Beast 132 days to reach 10 million subscribers on YouTube–becoming the fastest to ever reach the milestone. Ronaldo broke that record on Wednesday by reaching 10 million subscribers in less than 12 hours.

Since 2022, Ronaldo has played for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. He signed a 2.5 year deal with the club worth $75 million annually, according to Ben Jacobs and James Benge of CBS Sports. Fabrizio Romano noted that the soccer superstar could earn at least $200 million per season through his commercial deals with the club. As one of the richest athletes on planet Earth, he currently has a net worth that is estimated at $500 million, according to Wealthy Gorilla.

One of the more fascinating facts about one of the world’s most famous athletes is that his story almost never happened. His mother has revealed that she wanted to abort him due to poverty, his father’s alcoholism, and having too many children already. But her doctor refused to perform the procedure.

It’ll be interesting to see just how many more subscribers Ronaldo can rack up in the future. With his popularity, it’s a safe bet to pick the number to grow substantially in the coming days and weeks.