Every Chanukah, Kikar Hashabat music critic Nesanel Leifer takes a close look at YouTube to compile a lift of the most successful frum singers in the world. A high number of views on YouTube translates into success in general since YouTube not only provides excellent exposure for singers but is a source of income in itself through advertising revenue.

Israeli singer Ishay Ribo won first place by a high margin for the second year in a row, with a much higher number of views than those immediately after him on the list. This past year, Ribo broke every possible record, in the amount and size of his performances, the amount of YouTube views on his songs and his loyal fan base. He also released his fourth album “אלול תשע”ט” with his hit song: “Halev Sheli.”

Ribo’s official YouTube channel has 190 million views and 180,000 subscribers. This is the second year in the row that Ribo doubled the number of views on his channel within a year. Furthermore, almost all of Ribo’s videos simply display the words of his songs but that doesn’t stop his fans from replaying them again and again at a rate far higher than any other frum singer.

In second place this year is the singer and composer Chanan Ben Ari, who jumped up from the fourth place where he was last year. Ben Ari had much success this past year with his song “Aluf Ha’Olam” and sang at many well-attended performances. His YouTube channel has 89 million views (versus only 50 million last year) and 117,000 subscribers.

Gad Elbaz maintained the third place he was in last year, although he was number one on the list two years ago. Elbaz has 61 million views on his YouTube channel and 79,000 subscribers, an increase of 10 million views in the past year.

The Maccabeats are in fourth place, after slipping from the second place they were in last year. Their YouTube channels (they have a new one and an older one) have 54.8 views and 77.7 thousand subscribers, a slight increase from last year.

In fifth place is Yaakov Shwekey, the same place he was in last year, with 48 million views on his YouTube channel and 70.6 thousand subscribers, an increase of 16 million from last year. Shwekey also has many unofficial videos on YouTube, some of them with millions of views, from before he established his official YouTube channel.

The last on the list is Yeshiva Boys Choir with 39 million views on their YouTube channel and 48.9 thousand subscribers. Although they only released one clip this past year, which only has 160,000 views, their past clips continue to generate many views with an increase of 7 million views in the past year.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)