The secret influencers hierarchy: Our snitch leaks the real A to Z list of the social media elite, from the top entry who’s the talk of Hollywood to the freshly demoted B-lister It Girl who’ll be FURIOUS when she reads this. And look away Zoe Rae!

With their dewy skin, gleaming smiles and millions of followers, social media influencers seem to lead picture-perfect lives.

Their fame is very much a modern phenomenon: they don’t walk on catwalks, make a living from film or TV, or – in many cases – appear to do very much at all.

And yet, being an influencer in today’s smartphone-addicted world is akin to being a member of the Hollywood elite.

Though they may not be household names – to anyone over the age of 25, at least – they command vast numbers of followers who hang on their every word, and help them rake in millions of pounds a year from photos, videos and online posts.

But making it as an influencer is a cut-throat business, with those at the top constantly battling for followers, content that’ll get them noticed, and bigger and better brand deals than their competitors.

So who’s winning the influencer popularity contest? Whose follower numbers are soaring – and whose have slumped?

From the stars who’ve become real-life A-listers to the feuds, affairs and sordid scandals that have banished others to the Z-list, DOLLY BUSBY and SARAH RAINEY have the inside scoop.

THE A-LIST

Topping the charts as the influencer of the moment is AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG, the 31-year-old Londoner with 2.85million subscribers on YouTube and 2.3million Instagram followers.

She shot to fame in 2014 with her YouTube series Chicken Shop Dates, in which she interviewed British rappers in fast-food takeaways.

Dimoldenberg, an art graduate, has since gone on to interview major A-listers including Cher, Ryan Reynolds and Jennifer Lawrence on the series.

She now hosts red carpet slots at the Oscars and was recently described by Vogue as ‘Hollywood’s newest infatuation’. She has an estimated fortune of £1.5million.

Snapping at her heels is GK BARRY (real name Grace Keeling), a 25-year-old born in Cambridge who started on TikTok making frank, funny videos about her life during the Covid-19 pandemic and now has four million followers, as well as 80million views on her podcast, Saving Grace, on YouTube.

Insiders say she makes vast amounts of money from the podcast; her latest business accounts show assets of £1.2million.

Last year, Keeling broke out of the social media sphere – an essential step for any influencer trying to future-proof their fame – and became the youngest panellist on ITV’s Loose Women, as well as starring on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.

Less well known is SOPHIE HINCHLIFFE, the blonde beauty behind Mrs Hinch Home, who owes her social media fame to cleaning (and is best pals with TV star Stacey Solomon).

Essex-born Hinchliffe, 34, set up her Instagram account in 2018 – giving her bragging rights as the original ‘clean-fluencer’ – and has 4.8million followers, as well as seven bestselling books.

Though she hasn’t yet made the jump to TV, she remains in the A-list because of the influence she wields online: her simply mentioning a household product usually leads to it selling out. 

And her earnings are huge: last year alone she made £4.4million thanks to deals with washing brands Lenor and Bold.

Also raking it in is MOLLY-MAE HAGUE, who went from making £25 per post on YouTube when she was 16 to overseeing an eye-popping £6.5million empire today, aged 25.

The fashion and beauty blogger boasts 8.3million followers on Instagram and two million YouTube subscribers, has founded her own clothing line, Maebe, and recently launched a ‘raw and intimate’ documentary about her life on Amazon Prime.

You’d have to be living under a rock not to have followed the saga of her relationship with boxer TOMMY FURY (with 5.2million followers of his own), whom she met on reality show Love Island in 2019. They split last year, amid rumours of his infidelity.

Fury admitted his alcohol issues caused their break-up – and fans now suspect they’re back together, with many questioning whether the whole thing was a publicity stunt. Will it see them heading for relegation from the top tier soon?

Men don’t fare well in the influencer A-list, with the notable exception of KSI, the 31-year-old Londoner (real name Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji) who’s been a YouTube star since he was 15 and now commands 45million subscribers.

KSI – which stands for Knowledge, Strength and Integrity – is a rapper, boxer and multimedia mogul, who founded the YouTube group the Sidemen, in which influencers (who have a combined fortune of £50million) collaborate to produce sketches and video game commentaries.

Olatunji became an icon to teenagers after co-founding the viral energy drink PRIME in 2022, and has been announced as a guest judge on the new series of Britain’s Got Talent.

He’s not immune from controversy, however, with campaigners calling him out for allegedly sexist comments in some of his older videos.

Also flying the flag for male influencers and a new entrant to the A-list is DYLAN PAGE, 26, known as the ‘News Daddy’, a TikTok sensation with 14.6million followers who teaches Gen Z about current affairs. 

Insiders suspect he’s being lined up for an anchor role on one of the main news channels, and he’s recently been spotted at film premieres, hobnobbing with the real A-list of stage and screen.

THE B-LIST

Once revered in this fickle world was MADELINE ARGY, 24, a former internet ‘It’ girl from West Sussex, who started her TikTok account in 2021 and has racked up 9.5million followers for her candid personal anecdotes.

But she’s slipped into the B-list, having alienated some fans due to her on-off relationship with British rapper Central Cee (real name Oakley Neil Caesar-Su). They began dating in 2022 but split very publicly in 2023, with Argy condemning the rapper online for cheating on her with an American starlet.

Argy’s star power has since dwindled, with rumours about her difficult behaviour. At a Prada fashion show in 2023, insiders say she threw a ‘hissy fit’ over an outfit, and PR firms are said to have distanced themselves from her.

Also damaged by a relationship breakdown are OLIVIA NEILL and FLOSSIE CLEGG, ex-best friends once hailed as ‘Gen Z’s answer to Monica and Rachel from Friends’, who became the centre of a TikTok storm when they fell out in 2022. 

Friends have told the Mail they clashed over a boy and now ‘can’t bear to be in the same room’.

Neill, 23, has moved away from TikTok (where she boasts 1.4million followers) to become a model for Chanel and H&M, and made celebrity pals with Iris Law, Lila Moss and the Beckhams. 

Clegg, 24, meanwhile, continues to post videos on YouTube but has, like Neill, been slammed by followers for appearing ‘unrelatable’. Sources in the PR world say she rarely gets invited to events.

SAFFRON BARKER, 24, is another influencer who’s failed to live up to glittering expectations. Born in Brighton, she started her YouTube account (2.4million subscribers) in 2015 and two years later was chosen to represent the UK at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in LA.

She went on to appear on Strictly Come Dancing in 2019 and Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel in 2022. Barker, who has 2 million Instagram followers, hasn’t been on our screens (bar a cameo on this week’s Love Island) since. Could she be heading to the C-list?

An influencer on the up is LUKE HAMNETT, an insurance salesman turned TikTok comedy star, who has 2.6million social media followers – and an A-list fan in singer Adele, who invited him to her recent show in Las Vegas.

Hamnett, 31, from Stoke-on-Trent, has been growing his fanbase since lockdown but hasn’t quite yet hit the big time; much like VIKKSTAR, 29, real name Vikram Singh Barn, who’s a gaming star, DJ and record producer on YouTube (7.6million subscribers). Still, they are poised to make the A-list soon.

Gaming is also behind the success of YouTuber THOMAS SIMONS, better known as ‘TommyInnit’, who has 15million subscribers on the video platform, and 2.8million Instagram followers, for his Minecraft-related content.

Simons, 20, from Nottingham, is now trying to make it as a comedian, with an ambitious tour lined up for the UK, USA and Australia. But ticket sales are slow: to date, just four of 27 dates are sold out. Might he be heading for relegation?

THE C-LIST

Relegated to the C-list but trying to claw his way up is MIZZY, a former TikTok prankster, who fell from grace in 2022 after stealing a woman’s iPhone.

Real name Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, Londoner Mizzy, 20, deleted his accounts and is now trying to ‘turn his life around’, having been handed a community service order.

He recently posted on Twitter appealing to ‘future employers’ to send him work, and a fan page sharing his old content has 2.3million TikTok likes.

Also vying for attention on the platform are JOE and GEORGE BAGGS, who rose to fame when their family featured on Channel 4’s Gogglebox from 2020 to 2022.

Since then, the brothers have reinvented themselves as ‘digital creators’ on TikTok, where they boast two million followers each and post joint comedy sketches. Pals with influencer queen GK Barry, insiders say they are desperately clinging to her rising star.

C-listers only because they’re industry newcomers are KYRA-MAE TURNER, a make-up artist and travel blogger who won TikTok’s Creator of the Year 2024, and AMI CHARLIZE, who, at just 17, has her own podcast and a book deal with Penguin.

Insiders say they are genuine and hard-working, unlike many others.

The same could be said for KATIE KENNEDY, an up-and-coming influencer and 25-year-old Oxford student whose history vlogs have seen her dubbed TikTok’s ‘One to Watch’ for 2025.

Less green but almost unique in the youthful world of TikTok is ANN RUSSELL, a 60-year-old cleaner from Hampshire, who has become an agony aunt to her 2.7million followers.

A mother-of-four, Russell says her children are ‘baffled’ by her success – but she’s making the most of it, releasing two how-to books which have sold moderately well.

And then there’s LIANA JADE BROOKER, 26, a once stand-out YouTuber who, together with her less-famous other half CONNOR DARLINGTON, 30 (he has 316,000 Instagram followers; she boasts 1.6million), make videos with their toddler, Koazy.

Connor – who considers himself such a big deal he goes by his first name only – and Liana have seen their popularity nosedive since they switched from lifestyle to parenting content, with fans criticising just how much their son appears on camera.

THE D-LIST

First up in the dreaded D-list is ZOE RAE. Not only does her name rhyme with Molly Mae’s, but she happens to be her older sister.

The Manchester-based 27-year-old became a fitness influencer in 2023, after a career in the Army Medical Corps, and now has almost 600,000 Instagram followers.

But it seems the attention is getting to her: she recently had a breakdown on camera in response to comments from trolls and critics say her videos are only watched so fans can get a glimpse of Molly.

Once tipped for the top were ELOISE FOULADGAR, 27, KATE ELIZABETH, 25 and CARMIE SELLITTO, 26, the first UK members of ‘The Wave House’, a venture in which a group of influencers moved into a £5million mansion outside London to make social media content together.

But the whole thing was a flop, lasting less than a year, and the Gen Z stars found themselves cast into oblivion.

After appearing on I’m A Celebrity in 2023, London-based influencer NELLA ROSE (1.3million Instagram followers) was slated for mainstream stardom, but it wasn’t to be. Insiders say she now struggles to find work beyond YouTube.

Another fallen star is ZOE SUGG, formerly Zoella, who’s been on the scene since 2009. Once the influencer queen, she has a combined social media following of more than 20million.

Officially, she pulled back from the public eye due to anxiety, but insiders say she alienated younger fans with her parenting content (she has two daughters with fellow YouTuber ALFIE DEYES) and was the subject of controversy over her £50 advent calendar and using a ghostwriter to pen her 2014 book.

Last but not least is SIMON HOOPER, 42, or ‘Father of Daughters’, who found himself at the centre of a social media scandal in 2019 when his wife, CLEMMIE HOOPER, was found to be behind an anonymous troll account criticising other influencers.

Clemmie, a midwife, was sanctioned for her actions and came off social media but Simon’s still online, though his profile (a mere 870,000 followers) was tainted thereafter.

THE Z-LIST

Languishing at the bottom of the pile is BONNIE BLUE, 25 (and her copycat OnlyFans rival LILY PHILLIPS, 23), who sparked international outrage last month by sleeping with more than 1,000 men.

Though the Brit (real name Tia Billinger), who has 350,000 Instagram followers, has achieved worldwide renown for her stunt, experts say she will struggle to be known for anything else – ever.

Relegated to the Z-list by association is BRANDON BEAVIS, said to command £1,000 per post for his content in which he gorges on junk food. He’s recently started an OnlyFans and makes joint videos with Blue – a guaranteed turn-off. 

Then there’s YUNG FILLY: the 29-year-old former social media sensation, real name Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, and former pal of Maya Jama. He has recently pleaded guilty to reckless driving in Australia – where he’s on bail for raping and choking a woman in a hotel room, charges which it is assumed he denies.