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Jake Brigstock
Aug 13, 2024
- YouTube
PewDiePie had the most subscribed YouTube channel for years, from August 2013 right up until April 2019.
He famously became embroiled in a battle with T-Series, an Indian record label, through 2018 and 2019 to see which YouTube channel could get the most subscribers and who could reach the 100million mark first.
After the lead see-sawed through early 2019, T-Series took the lead for good in April 2019 and a month later became the first YouTube channel to pass the landmark.
But what happened to PewDiePie and why is he now living in Japan?
PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, had a number of controversies surrounding him since he started creating content more than a decade ago.
He's previously taken breaks from YouTube but at the time of writing still has an incredible 111million subscribers.
PewDiePie had been talking about moving to Japan for a number of years - he proposed to his wife Marzia there in 2018 and the couple took a number of trips to the Asian country.
After plans were put on pause due to the Covid pandemic, the couple moved to the Land of the Rising Sun for good in 2022 and have since had their first child together.
Speaking about why they moved in a YouTube video, PewDiePie said: "There's many things that I like about Japan... It's complicated. I just like it here.
"Yes I still get recognised but it's usually foreigners living here that recognise me. I've never been approached by a Japanese person."
PewDiePie's uploads have become more spread out and while he still does post videos of himself playing video games from time-to-time, a lot of his videos are centred around vlogging his and his family's life in Japan.
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