If you are aged 25 or older you have probably never heard of Musical.ly. Yet it a major social media platform of choice for tweens and teens. It can claim than 200 million registered users. Its popularity is growing rapidly and there is a core of influencers developing on the platform. Musical.ly’s fans upload more than 13 million videos every day.
If your market is tweens or young teenagers, then you should contemplate working with influencers on Musical.ly to expand your brand awareness.
Musical.ly allows young performers to share short performance videos. The most popular of these are lip-sync videos, although members are now uploading more short videos of original content.
Musical.ly’s young fans are known as “musers”. If people like a muser’s performance they can pay them virtual tips with real money. 75% of the musers are female; 54% are aged between 13 and 24.
Musical.ly provides live-streaming capability in the form of Live.ly.
It has arrangements with all the major studios allowing performers to use their songs on the app. Musical.ly also has an arrangement with Apple Music. This allows their subscribers to play full songs from Apple's catalog on the platform.
Many of these Musical.ly influencers have also earned fame on other social media channels, such as Facebook, SnapChat, and Instagram.
The influencers near the top of this list can command fees of up to $300,000 per sponsored post.
Summary: Quick Jump Menu
- 1. Ariel Martin - @babyariel
- 2. Lisa and Lena - @lisaandlena
- 3. Loren Gray - @lorengray
- 4. Jacob Sartorius - @jacobsartorius
- 5. Cameron Dallas - @camerondallas
- 6. Kristen Hancher - @kristenhancher
- 7. Savannah Soutas - @savvsoutas
- 8. Annie LeBlanc - @annieleblanc
- 9. Jojo Siwa - @itsjojosiwa
- 10. Liza Koshy - @lizzza
- 11. Ariana Renee - @arii
- 12. Mackenzie Ziegler - @mackenzieziegler
- 13. Kira Koasarin - @kirakosarin
- 14. Johnny Orlando - @johnnyorlando
- 15. Mark Thomas - @markthomas
- 16. Tyler Brown - @tylerbrown
- 17. Mackenzie Davis - @mackxdavis
- 18. Casey Simpson - @caseysimpson
- 19. Bart Baker - @bartbaker
- 20. Paul Zimmer - @paulzimmer
1. Ariel Martin - @babyariel
Source: tiktok.com
South Florida based Ariel Martin, aka Baby Ariel, has built up over 22 million Musical.ly followers. The 16-year-old has also created a sizeable following on both YouTube and Instagram (7.5 million). She won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Muser in 2016. She has taken a stand on bullying, creating the #Arielmovement to curb bullying.
Ariel works with digital talent network and entertainment studio, Collab, to create her videos. These involve extensive choreography. She considers her musical collaborations so important that she left school to study online, giving her more time to devote to Musical.ly.
Ariel has stated that the secret to making a good Musical.ly video is making sure that you have good lighting.
Big brands have discovered Baby Ariel’s allure on Musical.ly, and she has been a feature of CocaCola’s #ShareACoke campaign.
Disney recently cast Ariel to join their show Bizaardvark.
2. Lisa and Lena - @lisaandlena
Source: tiktok.com
Lisa and Lena are German-born identical twins, who at 14 are already fashion influencers with their own clothing line. They have almost 20 million influencers on Musical.ly now, and their influence is growing rapidly. They spend twenty minutes a day making their videos where they lip-sync to pop songs. These include choreographed moves and the girls wear matching outfits.
Like most fashion influencers they have built up a huge Instagram following, with 11.9 million followers, currently. They even run their own clothing line and have been cutting and designing clothes since they were 11.
3. Loren Gray - @lorengray
Source: tiktok.com
15-year-old Loren Gray aka Loren Gray Beech is popular on various youth-focused social media channels, including Musical.ly. She enjoys more than 19 million Musical.ly followers as well as 6.8 million on Instagram. She has featured in Teen Vogue and Seventeen magazines.
She wears dramatic makeup to highlight her blonde hair and perfect skin. She is known for her lip-syncing videos combining “genuine facial expressions with knowing winks”. She is an actress, model, dancer, and musician.
4. Jacob Sartorius - @jacobsartorius
Source: tiktok.com
Jacob Sartorius has just turned 15. He enjoys more than 16 million followers on Musical.ly, along with 8.3 million on Instagram and 2.7 million on YouTube. An article in Business Insider predicted he may follow Justin Bieber to become the next youth singing sensation.
He made his online debut on Vine in 2014 at age 11, with an anti-bullying video that went viral. Like many young musers, he gained further attention by posting lip-synching videos on Musical.ly. He has since graduated to releasing original music.
Jacob released his debut EP, The Last Text in January 2017, which entered a number of music charts worldwide, peaking at Number 4 in New Zealand’s Heatseekers Albums chart. A single from it, Sweatshirt, entered the iTunes Top 10, and the official music video has received 46 million views on YouTube.
He released a follow-up EP in October - Left Me Hangin'. He has an official music video on YouTube for the first single from the EP – “Chapstick”.
5. Cameron Dallas - @camerondallas
Source: tiktok.com
Cameron Dallas is an internet sensation with Generation Z. We have already included him as one of our Top 25 Influencers Crushing it on Instagram. He covers his bases with the social networks that the Millenials most love.
Yet at age 23 Cameron is positively an old man in Musical.ly terms. He is better known for his comedy than his musical skills. He was awarded the Teen Choice Award for Vine’s Most Popular User in 2014.
6. Kristen Hancher - @kristenhancher
Source: tiktok.com
Kristen Hancher is a Canadian singer, dancer, soccer player, and actress who knows success on both Instagram and Musical.ly. She has nearly 15 million followers on Musical.ly and 3.9 million on Instagram. At 18 she is older than the bulk of the Musical.ly influencers. She enjoys teaming up with other Musical.ly stars and creating videos about topics she feels passionate about.
7. Savannah Soutas - @savvsoutas
Source: tiktok.com
Fashion blogger, photographer, and dancer, Savannah Soutas, has made a strong impression on Musical.ly. At 24, she is older than the bulk of the Musical.ly stars here, but with over 10 million followers she is clearly popular. Indeed in May 2016, she was the top muser on Musical.ly.
She operates more of a family-oriented page where she also features her partner, Cole LaBrant, and daughter, Everleigh. To a large extent, her immense popularity is due to her including Everleigh in her short Musical.ly videos.
Savannah endorses several brands, including Taudrey. She particularly loves their “Mommy and Me” jewelry sets.
8. Annie LeBlanc - @annieleblanc
Source: tiktok.com
As her Musical.ly handle @presshandstands7 suggests, Annie LeBlanc (aka Annie Grace) is a talented young gymnast. Annie is only 12 years-old, but can already claim 8.5 million followers on Musical.ly to go with her 4.1 million Instagram followers. She is part of a popular YouTube family – the Bratayleys. The family’s YouTube channel is followed by 5 million, and Annie has clearly grown up in the social media spotlight.
9. Jojo Siwa - @itsjojosiwa
Source: tiktok.com
14-year-old JoJo Siwa is a young model, singer, dancer, and actress who is popular on Musical.ly, YouTube, and Instagram. JoJo appeared for two seasons in Dance Moms. She has also made appearances, as herself, on several television shows, including the View, Good Day L.A. and New York, and a few Nickelodeon programs.
She has released three singles to date: “Boomerang” in 2016, which won a Platinum certification, and “Kid in a Candy Store” and “Hold the Drama” in 2017.
Jojo won a Kid’s Choice Award in 2017 for Favorite Viral Music Artist.
10. Liza Koshy - @lizzza
Source: tiktok.com
American actress Liza Koshy is an American actress with a large following on Musical.ly, Instagram, and YouTube. She began her social media postings with comedy videos on Vine in 2013 and built her following there to 5 million before Vine closed.
Her largest support comes on Instagram with 13 million followers, and YouTube, where her main channel has over 11 million subscribers. A second channel adds an extra 5 million subscribers.
She often makes short videos for Musical.ly which she then promotes on her YouTube channels, often in compilations.
Liza can claim 45 million followers across her entire array of social network accounts.
11. Ariana Renee - @arii
Source: tiktok.com
Florida-based, Ariana Renee, whose father hails from Nicaragua, has embraced the internet. She has a solid following on Instagram as well as Musical.ly, where she now has over 6 million followers. Despite her youth, she already has her own record label, as well as clothing and nail polish lines. She is a close friend of Baby Ariel.
12. Mackenzie Ziegler - @mackenzieziegler
Source: tiktok.com
13-year-old Mackenzie Ziegler found fame as one of Abby Lee Miller’s proteges on Dance Moms. Her older sister, Maddie Ziegler, is an even better known dancer.
Mackenzie is no stranger to making influencers deals and is already worth an estimated $2 million. She released her first album in 2014, and since then has continued to grow her fanbase.
She has also worked with her sister to release a fashion line – the Maddie & Mackenzie Collection.
13. Kira Koasarin - @kirakosarin
Source: tiktok.com
American actress and singer, Kira Kosarin, has built up a solid Musical.ly fanbase. She is probably best known for her role as Phoebe Thunderman in the Nickelodeon show, The Thundermans. She was nominated for a Kid’s Choice Award (for her acting) in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She regularly makes short videos for Musical.ly and then posts compilations of them to YouTube.
14. Johnny Orlando - @johnnyorlando
Source: tiktok.com
Canadian singer Johnny Orlando is only 14 but he has built a following across the full range of social media, with more than a million followers on each of Musical.ly ( 5 million plus), Instagram (4.3 million), YouTube, and Facebook. His initial videos were cover songs, but he has since branched out to performing original songs. He has begun touring now, having the opportunity to perform live in front of his adoring fans.
15. Mark Thomas - @markthomas
Source: tiktok.com
16-year-old Mark Thomas has gained fame as a social media personality across Musical.ly, Instagram and YouNow. He is best friends with fellow muser, Loren Gray. He currently has about 4.6 million fans on Musical.ly.
Mark recently released his first EP – Down for a While. He has also released two original singles, “Selfie” and “Mistletoe”.
16. Tyler Brown - @tylerbrown
Source: tiktok.com
15-year-old Tyler Brown is a teen SnapChat, Instagram and Musical.ly personality. With over 4.5 million Musical.ly fans, he has built up a fanbase who love his style. His fans refer to themselves as Tyler’s Brownies.
He is probably more academic than most of Musical.ly’s young stars, being a straight-A student, averaging a 3.9 GPA in high school.
17. Mackenzie Davis - @mackxdavis
Source: tiktok.com
ire is a young dancer who is building a following on Musical.ly (4.3 million followers to date), Instagram, YouNow, and YouTube. The 16-year-old American enjoys sharing her dance choreography tutorials.
She rose to fame on YouTube and YouNow with her channel, dancingwithmackenzie. She creates lip sync and dance videos for Musical.ly as RaddestRedHead. She even performed a duet with Andrew Hale. She makes a point of improving each new video she uploads across her social platforms.
18. Casey Simpson - @caseysimpson
Source: tiktok.com
Young actor, Casey Simpson, is a Kids Choice Award winner. He has a following of more than 3.5 million fans on Musical.ly. He also posts compilations of his Musical.ly clips on YouTube.
13-year-old Casey is better known to many kids, however, as Ricky Harper from the Nickelodeon series, Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn. He has been acting since 2011 and provided voices for Despicable Me 2.
19. Bart Baker - @bartbaker
Source: tiktok.com
Bart Baker has built a huge following on YouTube thanks to his music video parodies. This has helped gather him a large following of more than 3 million on Musical.ly as well. At 31, he must be one of the oldest musers on the platform. He recently released his first album, Celebritease, along with two singles, “Drake” and “Kimye”.
In an unusual move, Bart put up a huge billboard in Times Square, New York, in 2016 announcing that he was running for the presidential election – wearing only American flag boxer-briefs.
20. Paul Zimmer - @paulzimmer
Source: tiktok.com
22-year-old Paul Zimmer initially made a name for himself as part of the musical duo, Exclamation Point. He and musical partner, Danny Edge, also gained fame on YouTube. Paul then created his own channels and is now building up healthy followings on Musical.ly and Instagram in his own name.
He lives by the motto of “If you never give up, you can never fail” and tries to inspire other youngsters to live their dreams.
