This 7-year-old YouTube toy reviewer earned $22 million in 1 year

Ryan of Ryan ToysReview opens a Lego box.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Ryan ToysReview)

This year's highest-paid YouTube star is just 7 years old, making millions off of videos showing him opening boxes and playing with toys.

Ryan of the Ryan ToysReview channel stopped year's Forbes list, released Monday. After looking at data and talking with industry experts, Forbes estimates that from June 1, 2017, to June 1, 2018, Ryan earned $22 million. His parents launched Ryan ToysReview in March 2015, and he now has 17.3 million subscriber and nearly 26 billion views. He told NBC News he credits his success with being "entertaining" and "funny."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.