Top Trends
The marriage of Minecraft and YouTube has spawned entire genres of video born of the creativity that both platforms provide. Here are some of the most impactful trends from the history of the game on YouTube.
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100 Days
Animation
Minecraft, But ...
Parody
Role-Play
Speedrun
Survival Games / Hunger Games
Survival Multiplayer
Demonstrations of skill requiring creators to survive 100 days in hardcore Minecraft
Animated shorts based on the Minecraft aesthetic
Videos that demonstrate Minecraft creators’ skill, ingenuity, and creativity at not just playing but manipulating the game
Music video parodies of popular songs
Scripted and improvised stories based on fictional characters
Attempts to play through Minecraft as quickly as possible
A popular mod that influenced the battle royale game genre
Collaborative content rooted in Minecraft’s survival multiplayer servers
Minecraft Over Time
Reaching one trillion views of Minecraft videos could not have happened without the collective efforts of tens of thousands of creators playing, experimenting, streaming and uploading Minecraft videos. By analyzing over a decade of data, we’ve been able to assemble a timeline of some of the most impactful creators and videos since Day 1.
Top 50 per year
2010
Welcome To Minecraft
While several large-scale projects like the re-creation of the Starship Enterprise in Minecraft go viral, the first full year of Minecraft on YouTube is defined by creators like paulsoaresjr, davidangel64, and SeaNanners introducing players and viewers to Minecraft.
2011
*Creativity Intensifies*
Minecraft videos expand beyond the world of tutorials and “Let’s Plays” as YOGSCAST Lewis & Simon demonstrate the potential for creative storytelling with their “Shadow of Isphael” series. Meanwhile CaptainSparklez uploads wildly popular music video parodies. Episodic stories and music video parodies continue to be popular today.
2012
Come Together
Collaboration within the community reigns as IHasCupquake organizes the first “Hunger Games,” a multiplayer competition that many feel inspired the future battle royale video game genre. Also notable in ‘12: Generikb establishes the Hermitcraft SMP, a vehicle for collaborative storytelling that is still going strong today.
2013
Minigames, Mods, and Squads
The large group of collaborating creators known as Team Crafted (headlined by Sky Does Everything) become synonymous with Minecraft in 2013 thanks to videos like “Minecraft Mini-Game : COPS N ROBBERS!” and “Minecraft Mod Showcase : EXPLOSIVES+!” which allow viewers to explore the vibrant, evolving world of minigames and mods.
2014
Role-playing in Games
DanTDM and stampylonghead become dominant personalities within the world of Minecraft on YouTube with their common focus of entertaining younger viewers through storytelling in Minecraft.
2015
Minecraft Goes Mainstream
Creators from beyond the Minecraft community begin referencing the game and its hallmarks in their content through formats like Minecraft in Real Life and by mashing it up with other well-known games like Super Mario Bros.
2016
It Gets Real
One of the biggest trends of this period is mixing Minecraft and reality, either by bringing Minecraft elements into the real world as in FilmDice’s “Minecraft In Real Life with Mods | Nerf, Mario, LEGO & More” or by imaging actual people (or creatures) within the game environment, as in LowLevelNoob’s “REALISTIC MINECRAFT ~ HULK”
2017
Bem Vindo, Brasil!
Led by AuthenticGames, more than ten of the 50 most-viewed channels in 2017 hail from Brazil in 2017. Brazil will eventually become the #3 contributor to Minecraft viewership on YouTube.
2018
Global Appeal Grows
Just as Brazilians start to emerge as top Minecraft creators (foreshadowing how important Brazil will become to Minecraft viewership), 2018 sees the emergence of Russian creators like Аид [VyacheslavOO] and Ярик Кент. Russia will grow to become the #2 contributor to Minecraft viewership overall on YouTube.
2019
It’s Minecraft, But It’s Bigger Than Ever
PewDiePie’s “return” to the game and Keemstar’s Minecraft Mondays help kick off a renaissance of Minecraft creativity on YouTube (and the emergence of a new generation of creators in the ranks of Minecraft’s most-viewed and most-subscribed). Meanwhile, “It’s Minecraft, But” titles start to grow as a category of challenge videos demonstrating their creators’ skill, ingenuity, and creativity at not just playing but manipulating the game.
2020
Speedruns
Speedrunning, or completing a game as quickly as possible, becomes a major trend, largely through the efforts of Dream and his friends, whose “Manhunter” series reframes the format as an antagonistic exercise in which participants try to prevent the speedrunner from winning.
2021
Evolution
In a world long dominated by male creators, the creator who now generates the most views of Minecraft videos is a woman. Aphmau, who is known for episodic storytelling through role-play, has been uploading videos for over nine years and became most-viewed Minecraft creator in 2020. Episodic storytelling is a prominent 2021 theme with the popularity of the Dream SMP, the stalwart “Hermitcraft” series, and other similar projects. However, 2021 also saw the opposite of long-form storytelling take hold: the Shorts format has inspired a new take on Minecraft video creation in which creators like Jake Fellman riff on the game in 60 seconds or less.
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cumulative views
181.7 million
3.5 billion
14.6 billion
35.5 billion
72.4 billion
135.8 billion
217.6 billion
311.9 billion
422.2 billion
554.3 billion
767.5 billion
1 trillion
2010
Welcome To Minecraft
While several large-scale projects like the re-creation of the Starship Enterprise in Minecraft go viral, the first full year of Minecraft on YouTube is defined by creators like paulsoaresjr, davidangel64, and SeaNanners introducing players and viewers to Minecraft.
2011
*Creativity Intensifies*
Minecraft videos expand beyond the world of tutorials and “Let’s Plays” as YOGSCAST Lewis & Simon demonstrate the potential for creative storytelling with their “Shadow of Israphel” series. Meanwhile CaptainSparklez uploads wildly popular music video parodies. Episodic stories and music video parodies continue to be popular today.
2012
Come Together
Collaboration within the community reigns as IHasCupquake organizes the first “Hunger Games,” a multiplayer competition that many feel inspired the future battle royale video game genre. Also notable in ‘12: Generikb establishes the Hermitcraft SMP, a vehicle for collaborative storytelling that is still going strong today.
2013
Minigames, Mods, and Squads
The large group of collaborating creators known as Team Crafted (headlined by Sky Does Everything) become synonymous with Minecraft in 2013 thanks to videos like “Minecraft Mini-Game : COPS N ROBBERS!” and “Minecraft Mod Showcase : EXPLOSIVES+!” which allow viewers to explore the vibrant, evolving world of minigames and mods.
2014
Role-playing in Games
DanTDM and stampylonghead become dominant personalities within the world of Minecraft on YouTube with their common focus of entertaining younger viewers through storytelling in Minecraft.
2015
Minecraft Goes Mainstream
Creators from beyond the Minecraft community begin referencing the game and its hallmarks in their content through formats like Minecraft in Real Life and by mashing it up with other well-known games like Super Mario Bros.
2016
It Gets Real
One of the biggest trends of this period is mixing Minecraft and reality, either by bringing Minecraft elements into the real world as in FilmDice’s “Minecraft In Real Life with Mods | Nerf, Mario, LEGO & More” or by imaging actual people (or creatures) within the game environment, as in LowLevelNoob’s “REALISTIC MINECRAFT ~ HULK”
2017
Bem vindo, Brasil!
Led by AuthenticGames, more than ten of the 50 most-viewed channels in 2017 hail from Brazil in 2017. Brazil will eventually become the #3 contributor to Minecraft viewership on YouTube.
2018
Global Appeal Grows
Global Appeal Grows Text: Just as Brazilians start to emerge as top Minecraft creators (foreshadowing how important Brazil will become to Minecraft viewership), 2018 sees the emergence of Russian creators like Аид [VyacheslavOO] and Ярик Кент. Russia will grow to become the #2 contributor to Minecraft viewership overall on YouTube.
2019
It’s Minecraft, But It’s Bigger Than Ever
PewDiePie’s “return” to the game and Keemstar’s Minecraft Mondays help kick off a renaissance of Minecraft creativity on YouTube (and the emergence of a new generation of creators in the ranks of Minecraft’s most-viewed and most-subscribed). Meanwhile, “It’s Minecraft, But” titles start to grow as a category of challenge videos demonstrating their creators’ skill, ingenuity, and creativity at not just playing but manipulating the game.
2020
Speedruns
Speedrunning, or completing a game as quickly as possible, becomes a major trend, largely through the efforts of Dream and his friends, whose “Manhunter” series reframes the format as an antagonistic exercise in which participants try to prevent the speedrunner from winning.
2021
Evolution
In a world long dominated by male creators, the creator who now generates the most views of Minecraft videos is a woman. Aphmau, who is known for episodic storytelling through role-play, has been uploading videos for over nine years and became most-viewed Minecraft creator in 2020. Episodic storytelling is a prominent 2021 theme with the popularity of the Dream SMP, the stalwart “Hermitcraft” series, and other similar projects. However, 2021 also saw the opposite of long-form storytelling take hold: the Shorts format has inspired a new take on Minecraft video creation in which creators like Jake Fellman riff on the game in 60 seconds or less.
cumulative views
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181.7
million
3.5
billion
14.6
billion
35.5
billion
72.4
billion
135.8
billion
217.6
billion
311.9
billion
422.2
billion
554.3
billion
767.5
billion
1
trillion
1
billion
500
billion
The story of Minecraft on YouTube is one of endless creativity fueled by changes to the game, changes to YouTube, and the ever-evolving interests of both creators and their viewers. Believe it or not, all that energy and output seems to be gaining momentum. As our data shows, it took around eight years for this community to generate 500 billion views, but only another two or so to double that and hit one trillion. What future heights they hit we can only guess at, but as with this milestone, it will be fun to watch it happen.