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 has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.