Top earner on Youtube ? Once YouTube’s top-earning star, the gamer, who was born Felix Kjellberg, has managed to shrug off a number of controversies—including racist and anti-Semitic videos. He announced this month, though, that he’s taking a break from YouTube. One of two newcomers on this year’s list, Preston Arsement got his start playing Call of Duty and quickly became so popular that he started posting friendly pranks in addition to his gaming content. Outside of YouTube, his biggest moneymakers are the Minecraft servers he runs for seven figures annually.
Zachary Levi does a fantastic job of stepping into the spandex suit of Shazam, the superhero persona of Billy Baston. Telling the story of a teenage boy who can turn into a superhero when he calls out the magic word (one chance to guess what it is…), Shamaz! was a surprisingly sincere take on the DC Comics character. Detective Pikachu is its own beast. The buddy action movie brings the pocket monsters alive in a way unlike any other time before, but the key to the movie’s success is Ryan Reynolds’ hilarious portrayal of Pikachu—the only pokemon in the movie with the capability to speak to humans. If you’re not an OG fan of the animé, fear not: Pokémon Detective Pikachu is funny enough to be enjoyed by all.
The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger: This ordinary nature video got a fantastic voice-over narration by a guy named Randall, and the internet could not get enough of it. The “Honey Badger Don’t Care” meme was everywhere in 2011, inspiring parodies, t-shirts, and other products based on the hilariously bad-tempered creature. Before there was ?Grumpy Cat, Honey Badger ruled the web. Find extra funny videos on YT.
Best clip for a song in 2019 ? One of the year’s warmest success stories: when Georgia released Started Out, the first single from her second album for indie Domino, at the end of 2018, it became a surprise Radio 1 hit. So did its follow-up, About Work the Dancefloor, prompting the label to push her album to 2020 to give the singles time to breathe. AWtD is a fine teaser for a record that is worth the wait, showing off Georgia’s newfound focus on songcraft and the depth of her references as a producer (the satisfyingly meaningless title is her tribute to the robotic proclamations of Detroit techno forefathers Cybotron). Lacing the juddering pulse of adrenaline with her vulnerable vocal delivery, AWtD puts Georgia in the big, Robyn-shaped pop leagues.
