1. Crazy Little Yang Brother – S$607mil
The top-earning influencer is 28-year-old Zhang Qingyang from the Anhui province.
Better known as Xiao Yang Ge aka Cazy Little Yang Brother online, he raked in a jaw-dropping 3.21bil yuan (S$607mil) last year.
Rather than just relying on his own efforts, Qingyang is a co-founder of an e-commerce company that manages several popular influencers, most notably The Boss Seven.
Qingyang was the first person to amass 100 million followers on Douyin in 2022 and his live streams attract more than one million people. The number once peaked at 1.9 million watchers.
In 2023, he revealed that he pays out 50mil yuan (S$9.3mil) in wages every month.
Also, he proclaimed that he “doesn’t avoid taxes” and paid 200mil yuan (S$3.7mil in taxes in 2022.
Experts have attributed Qingyang’s success to his family-friendly and humorous content which comes without risk of censorship.
Photos: SCMP