Who is Khaby Lame? TikTok’s biggest star's net worth, full name and why his videos are popular

• Khaby Lame is the most followed account on TikTok.
• He has surpased the likes of Will Smith and MrBeast.
• Star could earn over £500,000 with a single post on social media, according to estimates.

You may not recognise the name Khaby Lame, but there is a high chance that your kids will. He is currently the most followed account on TikTok and is a big, big deal with younger audiences. 

He has surpassed names like Will Smith, MrBeast, Charli D’Amelio on the social media platform. Lame has over 160 million followers on the platform and over 2.5 billion likes - not bad. 

But what kind of content does he make and what do you need to know? Here’s all you need to know: 

Who is Khaby Lame? 

Khaby - whose full name is Khabane Lame - is a Senegalese-Italian social media star. Born in the African country, he moved with his family to Italy when he was one year old and they lived in a public housing complex in Chivasso, which is a suburb of the city of Turin. 

After he was laid off from his factory job in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, he began posting on TikTok. In the four years since, he has rocketed to super star status on the app and been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30. 

Born in 2000, the 24-year-old has turned his success on TikTok into a wider career as a celebrity. He has featured as a character skin in Fortnite, been used by Juventus to help announce a transfer and been a judge on Italy’s version of Britain’s Got Talent (Italia’s Got Talent). 

What is his net worth - and how much do TikTokers earn? 

It is impossible to truly know exactly how much Khaby Lame - and other social media stars - are truly worthy, unless you are their business managers at least. But he is estimated to have earned a fortune in the millions since taking to TikTok four years ago. 

Forbes have estimated that he earned $16.5 million (£12.5m) between June 2022 and September 2023, a little over a year. But it is the eye-watering figure he’s estimated to earn for each post on TikTok and Instagram that gives a glimpse of what social media influencers can make - Forbes reports that as of last September he was being paid $750,000 (approx £570,000) to highlight a product in a post on his profiles. 

Obviously these are figures from the highest end of popularity on TikTok or Instagram, but it just goes to show how much money you can make if you have a lot of followers. 

What kinds of videos does Khaby Lame make? 

If you are not at all familiar with TikTok, the one thing you probably do know about it is that it often involves a lot of dances. Your kids may have even tried to teach you a routine or two in the past. 

But Khaby Lame’s videos are not in the same vein, instead he’s known for his deadpan reaction clips. Usually in his TikToks he silently reacts to “life hack” videos and they are pretty hilarious. 

It is the sort of short videos that will usually invoke at least a chuckle, if not a full blown chortle, when you watch them and it makes his account very moreish. Once you start watching a clip, you are likely to fall down a rabbit hole and then an hour or more have passed in the blink of an eye. 

Khaby Lame’s videos are harmless and there are plenty of worse things your kids could be watching out there. But if you want to check them out yourself, here’s a link to his TikTok account. 

Who is the favourite TikTok star in your household, is it Khaby Lame or another big name from the app? Share your thoughts with our tech writer by emailing: [email protected].