Being ‘internet famous’ is very much a marker of our times.

Social media platforms have made it possible for people to access an audience from around the world – if they play their cards right.

To determine the most influential people on the internet right now, TIME evaluated contenders by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news.

Here’s who made this year’s list.

In no particular order:

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande put out a second album, Thank U, Next, just months after her Grammy-winning 2018 project Sweetener. At one point in February, all three held top spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Her success was buoyed, in part, by hype she built via Twitter call-outs that doubled as song lyrics and music videos designed for (and steeped in) internet culture, including a Mean Girls-inspired concept for the album’s title track.

She recently became Instagram’s most-followed musician, with a platform of more than 223 million followers across Instagram and Twitter.

Lil Nas X

Proof that viral fame can lead to IRL stardom. Rapper Lil Nas X went from social media viral video star to topping the Billboard Hot 100 for 15 weeks, logging nine of the 11 biggest streaming weeks of all time.

Cardi B

Cardi B’s career can be traced back to Instagram, where she has more than 47 million followers.

BTS

South Korean supergroup BTS are well on their way to becoming a household name, thanks to their massive following on the internet.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

The British royal family are notoriously private and close-knit, so when Meghan and Harry started their own Instagram account, people went crazy.

The handle reached 1 million followers in its first six hours, a platform record. (It’s since accrued 9.1 million.) While baby photos are among @SussexRoyal’s draws, most posts are dedicated to the pair’s work as royals. Each month, in an effort to highlight advocates and organizations focusing on issues such as climate change and mental health awareness, the account rotates the users it follows—a savvy strategy that has driven headlines.

In June, the palace confirmed that the couple will be leaving the Royal Foundation, which was started by Prince Harry and Prince William in 2009, to launch their own, separate charitable organisation.

Donald Trump

Unfortunately, Trump has a massive following on the internet.

President Donald Trump has ramped up his digital presence over the past year. On March 17, he sent out 29 tweets in a single day, including a tweet pondering whether federal agencies should investigate Saturday Night Live for criticizing him and a retweet of Jack Posobiec, a conservative news host who promoted the Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy theories. But that still paled in comparison to his output on May 1, when he posted a whopping 84 times.

There’s an upside. The increased frequency of his tweets has lowered his interaction rate, which means that fewer people are engaging with him.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

She might be a junior member of the House of Representatives, but her social media game is varsity level. She has 4,8 million followers on Twitter, more than most members of congress.

Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith hosts Red Table Talk with her daughter Willow and mother Adrienne.

Since its debut in 2018, the Daytime Emmy-nominated series has become one of Facebook’s most popular originals. Its biggest episode: Jada’s one-on-one interview with Jordyn Woods, the Kylie Jenner comrade who was accused of hooking up with Khloe Kardashian’s then-boyfriend Tristan Thompson.

The conversation attracted nearly 33 million views and more than 250 000 comments.

Chris Godfrey

You might not have heard of Chris Godfrey, but you’ve definitely heard about the world’s most famous egg.

Rahaf Mohammed

Teenage runaway Rahaf Mohammed opened a Twitter account in January and catapulted her plight—and the status of Saudi women—onto the world stage.

Then 18, Mohammed had escaped a family she described as abusive and a system in which male guardians are given authority over their female relatives’ life decisions, including the ability to travel abroad. She found herself alone in Bangkok, stripped of her passport and facing imminent deportation to a homeland known for disappearing renegade women and killing dissidents. Online, she rallied approximately 45,000 followers in a single day, and the hashtag #SaveRahaf amplified her plea for asylum, catching the attention of the U.N. Refugee Agency, which eventually helped place her in Canada.

Since then, many Saudi runaways have also used social media to raise awareness.

Liza Koshy

Liza Koshy went from Vine star to interviewing Barack Obama and celebs on Vogue’s Met Gala red carpet.

Koshy revels in the weirdness of Internet culture, which in turn has catapulted her from six-second novelty act to YouTube star to fashion maven to film and television actress (with appearances in Hulu’s Freakish and Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween). Koshy has thrived in each of these spaces—as well as on Instagram (17.9 million followers) and TikTok (14.1 million followers)—but her uproarious and bizarre sense of humor shines most clearly on YouTube. There, she creates frenetic skits stuffed with virtuosic dancing, alter egos, fourth wall-breaking, groan-inducing puns, and plenty of mugging to the camera.

She’s also starring in an upcoming comedy film produced by Alicia Keys.

Brian Kolfage

This is the guy who started a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $25 million to help construct Trump’s wall without government assistance – the largest sum in GoFundMe history.

That’s going well.

James Charles

Fashion and beauty vlogger James Charles still has a massive fanbase despite his falling out with beauty vlogger, Tati Westbrook.

More on that here.

Germán Garmendia

Since uploading his first skit to YouTube in 2011, Germán Garmendia has earned over 13 billion views, making him the world’s most popular Spanish-language YouTuber.

Carlos Maza

Vox journalist and vlogger Carlos Maza spoke up about being harassed online.

For two years, Maza had been the subject of videos from popular right-wing commentator Steven Crowder, who repeatedly denigratedMaza’s sexual orientation and ethnicity—actions that appeared to violate YouTube’s terms of service. But when Maza reported Crowder, he says YouTube didn’t respond. So at the end of May, Maza went public with his struggles on Twitter.

His thread quickly went viral and YouTube started making some changes.

Zhang Dayi

Zhang has more than 11 million followers on Weibo, where she regularly promotes new products from her clothing, lingerie and makeup lines via Livestream videos watched by hundreds of thousands of fans.

JoJo Siwa

JoJo Siwa is a relentlessly enthusiastic 16-year-old from Nebraska who sings, dances, and vlogs on YouTube and TikTok.

Ben Shapiro

Right-leaning Ben Shapiro hosts a podcast with millions of right-wing listeners who like listening to him ‘debating’ leftists.

DrLupo

Benjamin Lupo is the most beloved gamer on Twitch, mostly for his charity work.

Emma Chamberlain

In high school, Emma Chamberlain pioneered an approach to vlogging that shook up YouTube’s unofficial style guide. Two years and eight million subscribers later, the 18-year-old is being described as the most important person on the platform.

Yashar Ali

Few journalists direct virtual attention quite like Yashar Ali, who uses his platform of more than 425 000 followers on Twitter to break news.

Jameela Jamil

Famous for her role in The Good Place, Jameela Jamil is one of the internet’s most outspoken advocates for body positivity.

Ady Barkan

Ady Barkan was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in 2016, and decided to dedicate what time he had left toward fighting for “Medicare for All” and other progressive priorities. He’s now one of the most powerful activists in America.

The Hong Kong protesters

The movement to preserve Hong Kong’s freedoms does not have an official leader.

But while there’s no single organizer at the center of the demonstrations sparked by the controversial extradition bill, there is still a center to much of their organization: online platforms put to effective use by protesters who want to stay both active and anonymous. Users on Internet forum LIHKG and encrypted messaging app Telegram have been tied to everything from a march past foreign consulates to a siege of police headquarters.

Their online presence and organisation are unparalleled.

School strikers

You can read more about Greta Thunberg and the school strikers here.

So, that’s your top 25.

You can read the full profile of each here.

[source:time]