Vinyl music: My Analog Journal

Zag Erlat started My Analog Journal in 2017 to showcase his Turkish vinyl collection with soothing music videos. After finding an audience, he began spinning records from other parts of the world, including Soviet-era jazz and Japanese funk. Now in each 40+ minute video, a DJ showcases rare record collections from around the world. If the words “Polish Psychedelia” or “Caribbean Disco” pique your interest, you should subscribe to My Analog Journal immediately. Some of the records only exist on vinyl, making it otherwise impossible to find online. The simple overhead shots of turntables are hypnotic, making it the perfect channel to work or relax to, or just discover rare music.

Morbid curiosity: Ask a Mortician

YouTube has always been an incredible place for people to share their passion for extremely niche topics. Caitlins Doughty’s “Ask a Mortician” is no different, and her YouTube videos on the funeral industry and all-things macabre have amassed over 250 million views. Creator Patrick Kelly recommended the channel as one of his favorites.

In “Watch Me Get Embalmed (Weirdly not clickbait),” Caitlin simulates the embalming process step-by-step to demonstrate how morticians preserve and even restore the human body (think plastic surgery for the dead). Caitlin is also an activist for funeral industry reform and the death positivity movement. Her broad library covers everything from funeral home mega-empires to environmentally-friendly cremations.

Tech breakdowns: Marques Brownlee

Marques Brownlee of MKBHD is something like YouTube royalty. The tech reviewer started his YouTube channel in 2008 and has become a beloved fixture in the YouTube ecosystem. The Shorty Awards crowned him “Creator of the Decade” for his easy-to-understand tech breakdowns — things like, is a $3,000 drone really much better than a $300 one? MKBHD’s honest reviews help his viewers look past the hype of product releases. Whether you’re hoping to navigate the timeless Android or iPhone debate, learn about the latest Tesla, or just hear about incredibly bizarre gadgets, MKBHD is a must-watch for any tech enthusiast.

Cultural commentary: Gabi Belle

YouTuber (and Descript Video Producer) Ramdy Marte recommended Gabi Belle, who started her channel in 2019, where it quickly found success blending cultural commentary with her signature humor and editing style. For millennial viewers like myself, Belle’s Zoomer perspective on the DVD extras of Shrek 2 or early 2000s infomercials are a slightly unsettling yet hilarious look into our childhood from an outsider's perspective. 

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Read more: How to start a video podcast in 2023

Sports made interesting: Secret Base

Secret Base is a sports channel for fans who want something more than just watching highlights. Their series DorkTown “hones in on why sports and sports figures matter in ways that go way beyond boring reasons like winning and losing,” says Michael Luxemburg of Wisecrack. It’s a channel that tries to make sports interesting for even those who don’t like sports, whether the content creators are re-examining the steroid-fueled home-run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa or unpacking the 28-year fight for equal pay in women’s soccer. 

Thoughtful challenge videos: Michelle Khare

Michelle Khare is a former professional cyclist and is best known for her “Challenge Accepted” series. Khare takes the popular YouTube challenge genre of YouTube but instead of chugging milk or eating Tide Pods, Khare throws herself into the world of professional boxing, ice skating, or garbage collection. In one video, she attends a firefighting school. That culminates in a live-fire training, where students are asked to go into a burning building.

“I think everyone should be watching Michelle,” says YouTuber Shelly Saves the Day. “Her series Challenge Accepted rivals any show on television.”

Unlike other stunt content, Khare leaves viewers with an appreciation and understanding of the fields she trains in. 

TIL: Joe Scott

Scott’s “Answers with Joe” is an exemplar of the video essay format. His YouTube videos open with surprising facts (did you know tumbleweeds didn’t really exist in the Wild West?) that Scott unpacks to give the viewer a new perspective on the world.

Reimagined pop music: Ali Spagnola

Most of Spagnola’s videos exhibit her talent as an artist or musician with a dash of humor. “She carries that OG YouTube fun like covering her car in 9,000 Pop Sockets," says YouTuber and musician Rod Kim. 

Spagnola also covers popular songs in the style of other musicians or genres. Her video covering Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” in the style of The Killers is incredible, as is her version of Jack Black’s “Peaches,” which turns it into an EDM song.

How it’s made: Siroeno Yosui

The videos on the Siroeno Yosui YouTube channel are easy to describe: they depict a single pair of shoes being made from scratch. What’s harder to describe is why they’re so incredibly mesmerizing, even if you have no interest in footwear or fashion, or even how-to videos. 

The channel is the work of Tokyo-based shoemaker Ken Kataoka, who artfully trims, cuts, and shaves his raw materials to transform them into beautiful loafers, oxfords, and slip-ons.

The channel has only released a handful of videos since its start in 2021. Nevertheless, it has racked up over 70 million views and a few viral videos.

Mysteries uncovered: Answer in Progress

Answer in Progress is the joint project of YouTubers Sabrina Cruz, Melissa Fernandes, and Taha Khan. These aren’t your average educational videos. The channel takes an adventurous approach to learning, like when Cruz sets out to determine if lo-fi music actually improved her grades. In the same video, she attempts to create lo-fi beats with artificial intelligence. The channel takes on a large swath of topics, from olive oil fraud to ice baths. Every episode infects the viewer with their passion for understanding the real-life world around them.

On-location eye candy: Rare Earth

“Rare Earth is my go-to for ‘I need some inspiration to make cool on-location stories right now,’” said James from Atomic Frontier.  “I save them up for when I'm having a writing month.”

On this channel, creator Evan Hadfield takes his viewers around the world, from a town in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that cooks in a volcano to an atoll in the Pacific Ocean threatened by oil tankers sunk during World War II. Each episode is as beautiful as it is enlightening.

The anti-trender: Danny Gonzalez

Danny Gonzalez got his start on Vine but found massive success on YouTube, where he racked up over a billion views.

Gonzalez has a knack for relentlessly mocking whatever’s trendy online. In response to the hype around generative AI, Gonzalez made his own DIY competitor to ChatGPT. Gonzalez’s innovation was that, instead of users interacting with a Large Language Model, they were actually talking to Gonzalez himself posing as a machine. In another, Gonzalez takes on the popular video game speed-running genre by faking his own.

Honorable mentions

There are a few names missing from this list, but we didn’t want to make an article of the “most famous YouTubers you’ve already heard of.” Still, some names came in that are worth mentioning.

The platform wouldn’t be what it is today without Casey Neistat’s daily vlogs, usually featuring the creator skating or biking around New York City. Neistat has been on YouTube for over a decade and still posts new videos on a monthly basis. 

Also in the league of old-school YouTubers, no list would be complete without iJustine, one of the original tech reviewers on the platform. And of course, there’s the most subscribed YouTube channel of all, MrBeast, and a close runner up, PewDiePie. Several creators also suggested Philip DeFranco, who found huge success with his made-for-YouTube news coverage. For the music geeks, we were recommended Adam Neely’s channel of video essays on music and music theory.