A comedian battling cancel culture, a beer-drinking transgender influencer and a red-bearded musician belting out of the woods and into cyberspace were among some TikTok celebrities who crossed into the mainstream this year.
Over the last 12 months, online platforms like TikTok and others have allowed American artists and creators to go viral and amass millions of followers who consume their content.
From controversial social media personalities on the front lines of the culture war to influencers landing business deals – here are five social media celebrities who have made headlines in 2023.
The country musician born Christopher Anthony Lunsford, from Farmville, Virginia, who performs under the stage name Oliver Anthony, became an overnight sensation in August when his anti-establishment song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” quickly hit the soul of every working-class hero struggling to survive in an inflated U.S. economy.
Anthony, 31, is married with three children and previously worked in low-wage plant and sales jobs before breaking into the music industry.
His iconic song is a twangy, soulful bluegrass anthem for the blue-collar citizens fed up with high taxes, politicians nationwide, and the leadership in Washington, D.C., for turning their attention away from the working men and women of America.
“The universal thing I see is that it’s like no matter how hard they push and how much effort they put into whatever it is they’re doing, they just quite can’t get ahead,” Anthony said at the time. “Because the dollar’s not worth enough, it’s being overtaxed.
“People are just sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he added.
Anthony’s song, which originally appeared on TikTok, became an instant hit when it had initially racked up about 5 million views.
Since releasing his music video, Anthony has generated hundreds of millions of views across the web, leading him to become the first artist ever to top a Billboard chart without having previously appeared on one.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” made Billboard history, debuting at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. After settling into his new-found fame, Anthony left the DIY scene and signed with United Talent Agency for global representation.
TikTok transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney hit mainstream media channels this year after a polarizing Bud Light promo that caused the popular beer company to find itself at the center of the American culture war for a season in 2023.
Although the controversial post has been linked to Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser Busch, losing $395 million in U.S. revenue at the end of the second quarter this year, Mulvaney’s rise to popularity had only just begun.
Mulvaney, 26, said she struggled with cruelness and “dehumanization” from critics of the promo and noted it’s clear that “winning over everyone” is simply impossible, but the backlash only fueled Mulvaney’s rise to fame in 2023.
Not only did the social media personality receive top scores for posting on TikTok and gaining 10.3 million followers on the video platform, Mulvaney has – so far – accrued more than 494 million likes since joining the site.
Mulvaney also partnered with major brands such as Nike and Kate Spade while earning “Woman of the Year” from Attitude Magazine.
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The TikTok star appeared on the covers of lifestyle magazines Them and The Cut, while Allure magazine placed Mulvaney on its A-list for 2023, according to Newsweek. The Streamy Awards recognized Mulvaney as the best breakout content creator of the year.
In early December, Forbes Magazine placed Mulvaney in its “30 Under 30” list, which commemorates “young movers and makers changing the world,” according to American business magazine.
Andrew Tate gained attention for promotion a luxurious, “alpha-male” lifestyle to his millions of online followers.
Tate, a 37-year-old British American professional kickboxer, made international headlines this year when Romanian officials indicted him, his younger brother Tristan, and two Romanian women in June on rape, sex trafficking and organized crime charges.
Tate, who has resided in Romania since 2017, claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged the case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him. Although his case is still pending, the Tate brothers scored a major win in November to move freely through the country after serving three months in jail and another 90 days under house arrest.
Tate was nearly banned from social media last year after TikTok, YouTube and Meta platforms permanently suspended his account for frequently making controversial posts and remarks about women that some viewed as misogynistic.
However, Tate reclaimed his voice on social media after billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk reinstated his Twitter account, which now has 8.5 million followers, after Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the social media platform that has since been rebranded as X.
Tate argues his content aims to help his following, many of them young men and schoolchildren, become better versions of themselves, which has put him in the ranks of one of the Internet’s top social media influencers.
Not all who face the contemporary cultural phenomenon known as cancel culture are ostracized from the public square.
Although Comedian Matt Rife caused an online uproar this year after his debut Netflix special “Natural Selection” jested at domestic violence, the Ohio native still maintains over 18 million followers on TikTok.
Rife, 28, first gained traction in his career from a recurring role on the sketch improv comedy and rap show “Wild’ n Out” beginning in 2015. But it wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that the comedian’s name exploded in the mainstream when he posted a two-and-a-half minute clip on TikTok titled “The Lazy Hero,” which he told The New York Times collected about 20 million views in three days,
“It became this massive chain reaction and an explosion of an audience,” he said. “From then on, every video I posted went viral.”
Rife faced more backlash on social media this year after allegedly telling a 6-year-old boy that his mother buys his presents with profits from OnlyFans.
TikToker Bunny Hedaya claimed in a video that initially garnered over 13 million views that Rife had started a “beef” with her child online and denied Rife’s OnlyFans claim.
Rife later put out a statement, directing social media users to a link offering an “apology” if they had ever been offended by a joke he told. The link brought users to a website where they could purchase special needs helmets.
But Rife’s controversial humor hasn’t stopped companies like Netflix from continuing to partner with the rising comedian.
The streamer formally announced in December that a second installment of its “Netflix is a Joke Fest” multi-day event would feature Rife along with other famous comedians, including Chris Rock, Ali Wong and David Letterman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
TikTok creator Alix Earle – dubbed the “It Girl” and the Internet’s “hot best friend” – captured the attention of millions of users for her Midas touch to sell out a product within a matter of hours after posting about it on the social media platform.
Earle, 23, became a popular creator this year for her “Get Ready with Me” (GRWM) videos, which helped her amass more than 6 million followers on TikTok and score lucrative brand deals with companies like GrubHub, White Fox Boutique and Rare Beauty. Earle’s ability to market products in her videos, along with her popularity and relatable personality, became a phenomenon coined as the “Alix Earle Effect.”
Experts at influencer marketing company Ubiquitous found that just one of Earle’s videos can cause searches for a product to skyrocket by 100% on Google Trends, according to data shared with Fox News Digital.
Influencer marketing manager Jessica Liliann previously estimated Earle earned between $40,000 and $70,000 for a brand partnership.
The TikTok influencer later broke into the podcasting arena in August with her show “Hot Mess with Alix Earle.”
Forbes Magazine also included Earle in its “30 Under 30” list for 2023.
Earle also recently confirmed she is dating Miami Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios. The two will be featured in Episode 5 of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which has been following the Dolphins throughout the 2023 NFL season.
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