Livestream viewership records: Highest peak viewers on Twitch & YouTube all-time

Calum Patterson
Twitch and youtube logos

Throughout the years, there have been some impressive records made during the livestreams. Here are some of the all-time viewership records from Twitch and YouTube.

January 11, 2021, was a historic day for Twitch. It was the day Spanish streaming sensation David ‘TheGrefg’ Cánovas Martínez shattered the record for most concurrent viewers, as he revealed his very own Fortnite skin. He reached another top 3 Twitch record on January 29, 2023, peaking at over 1.7 million for his streamer awards.

However, on June 25, 2022, another Spanish streamer, Ibai, destroyed that record, reaching over 3 million live viewers to watch his second boxing event. Over on YouTube, Casimiro set the record there, with over 6 million viewers.

When Ibai’s event returned in 2023, he once again beat his own record, with La Velada del Año 3 reaching over 3.4 million concurrent viewers. French streamer Squeezi is third on Twitch now, with 1.3 million for his racing event.

North American streamers still make up the bulk of this list, but non-English speaking streams are growing rapidly on Twitch and YouTube. Expect to see more streamers from other regions fight for a place among the most-viewed streams ever.

Contents

ibai boxing event screencap
Ibai drew in over 3 million viewers during his La Velada Del Año II event, and has beat this record again in 2023.

Most viewed Twitch streams ever

  1. Ibai: 3,442,725
  2. Ibai: 3,356,464
  3. TheGrefg: 2,470,347
  4. TheGrefg: 1,745,462
  5. Ibai: 1,502,295
  6. Squeezie: 1,340,960
  7. ELXOKAS: 1,208,144
  8. aminematue: 1,155,060
  9. Kingsleague: 1,098,636
  10. ELEAGUETV: 1,088,063
  11. PlayStation: 1,014,646
  12. Squeezie: 1,018,187
  13. Riot Games: 988,867
  14. DOTA2TI_RU: 845,224
  15. ONEXTWO_: 764,151
  16. Gaules: 707,648
  17. Zerator: 707,071
  18. Fortnite: 700,529
  19. Shadoune666: 690,360
  20. Tommyinnit: 650,237

Spanish streamer Ibai holds the record for peak viewers on a Twitch stream, with 3.4 million. This was achieved during his ‘La Velada del Año 3‘ event, topping his previous record.

In second place is fellow Spaniard, TheGrefg. He was revealing his new Fortnite skin at the time, attracting viewers around the world. As the stream starting hitting record numbers, more people joined just to be part of the frenzy.

This list, via Twitch Tracker, includes streams from companies, rather than just individual creators.

See below for the list for solo streamers only.

Ninja on Fortnite stream
Ninja was the previous record holder, thanks to his popularity at the peak of Fortnite.

Most viewed streams for a solo Twitch streamer (companies excluded):

  1. Ibai: 3,442,725
  2. Ibai: 3,356,464
  3. TheGrefg: 2,470,347
  4. TheGrefg: 1,745,462
  5. Ibai: 1,502,295
  6. Squeezie: 1,340,960
  7. ELXOKAS: 1,208,144
  8. aminematue: 1,155,060
  9. Squeezie: 1,018,187
  10. ONEXTWO_: 764,151
  11. Gaules: 707,648
  12. Zerator: 707,071
  13. Shadoune666: 690,360
  14. Tommyinnit: 650,237
  15. Ninja: 616,693
  16. Auronplay: 602,308
  17. Axozer: 557,151
  18. N3KOGLAI: 543,743
  19. Casimito: 534,644
  20. Shroud: 516,289

Twitch might still be considered the home of video game livestreaming for now, but YouTube has been making up major ground in this area.

youtube-gaming-end-screen_1920.0.0
YouTube Gaming is the home of livestreams on the platform and directly competes with Twitch

YouTube peak viewers record

Here are the highest viewership peaks on YouTube livestreams, via PlayBoard:

  1. ISRO Official – 8 million (Chandrayaan-3 Mission)
  2. CazéTV: 6.1 million (World Cup 2022 QF livestream)
  3. CazéTV: 5.2 million (World Cup 2022 RO16 livestream)
  4. CazéTV: 4.7 million (Vasco vs Flamengo)
  5. SpaceX: 4 million (Crew Demo 2)
  6. Apple: 3.6 million
  7. CazéTV: 3.6 million (Corinthians vs Sao Paulo)
  8. Law & Crime Network: 3.5 million (Depp vs Heard trial)
  9. Fluminese Football Club: 3.5 million
  10. Fluminese Football Club: 3.2 million
  11. Apple: 2.7 million (Apple Event – October 2020)
  12. NEXT Sports: 2.7 million
  13. BTS: 2.6 million
  14. Sidemen: 2.5 million
  15. VTV Thể Thao: 2.5 million
  16. Dynamo Gaming: 2.4 million
  17. Deddy Corbuzier: 2.4 million
  18. NEXT Sports – 2.3 million
  19. Bein Sports: 2.3 million
  20. Sandy & Junior: 2.3 million

Note: Deleted livestreams and video previews are not counted in this list.

SpaceX previously held the record for the most viewed livestream on either YouTube or Twitch, with a launch of a test flight into space, showing the view inside the cockpit, on May 27, 2020.

But, this record was beaten not once, but twice, during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Brazilian streamer and journalist Casimiro did watch alongs of matches, and broke the record during the Brazil vs Croatia match, with 6.1 million live viewers.

The overall record for a YouTube livestream though is now over 8 million concurrent viewers, by the Indian Space Research Organisation, for their Chandrayaan-3 mission landing stream.

The Sidemen Charity Match in both 2022 and 2023 reached a peak viewership of 2.5 million.

When Ninja set the Twitch record by playing Fortnite with Drake and Travis Scott, it immediately elevated the streaming space more widely, paving the way for more records to be set.

We’ll keep you updated when new records are set and these rankings change, but Ibai has secured his spot at number one on Twitch for a long time to come.

About The Author

Calum is Dexerto's Managing Editor, based in Scotland. Joining Dexerto in 2017, Calum has years of experience covering esports, gaming and online entertainment, and now leads the team to deliver the best coverage in these areas. An expert on all things Twitch and gaming influencers, he's also an expert in popular shooters like Apex Legends, CS2 and Call of Duty. You can contact Calum at calum.patterson@dexerto.com.