Charli D'Amelio recently surpassed 100 million followers on TikTok. Photo / Instagram
Charli D'Amelio recently surpassed 100 million followers on TikTok. Photo / Instagram
The past few years have been momentous for TikTok, the short-form video-sharing app on which people post videos about almost any topic under the sun to an audience of millions.
And it has been perhaps most momentous of all for 16-year-old Charli D'Amelio, who last weekend reached the 100 million followers mark – the first TikTok star to do so.
The teenager from Connecticut is a powerhouse on the app, which as of this summer counted a userbase of 690 million. In March 2020, TikTok-watchers spent as much time scrolling through one-minute videos as there has been between the Stone Age and today.
D'Amelio only created her account in June 2019, yet she's TikTok's biggest name globally.
The app's own explanation of who she is gives an insight into why she's popular: the three tags – broad genres that are used to define what a TikTok content creator does – against her name are "dance", "make-up" and "hair" (Gordon Ramsay's TikTok account is tagged as "celebrity account", "recipes" and "pop culture", by way of comparison).
D'Amelio came to fame almost overnight, her ability to dance to the latest songs in the pop charts enchanting teenagers who wanted to be like her – and, because it's the internet, likely a decent number of young men who wanted to ogle her.
Charli D'Amelio, Dixie D'Amelio, Heidi D'Amelio, and Marc D'Amelio. Photo / Getty Images
Now she is worth an estimated $4 million and her entire family – sister Dixie, 18, and parents Marc and Heidi – are getting in on the act.
"The origin of Charli's popularity is tough to pinpoint, but one thing is clear, she's developed a flywheel that is helping her and her family grow exponentially," explains Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism, a New York creative agency.
Dancing is what D'Amelio – who prior to her unexpected fame was just like any other teenager, reportedly bingeing on episodes of Judge Judy between being carted to and from dance competitions in Connecticut by her mother – is famous for.
She has the ability to launch a pop song into superstardom by dancing to it, her choreographed performances being mimicked by others until they become a meme, replicated across the app.
But "now, increasingly, she has become famous for being famous. She's become the symbol for what TikTok is," says Timothy Armoo, chief executive of Fanbytes, a company that helps brands advertise through social video.
In late September, back when she had a mere 89.4 million fans, D'Amelio's average video was viewed 27.3 million times – more than the entire population of Australia.
And she is the 25th most popular celebrity with British girls aged 6 to 12, according to survey firm The Insights People – above Ed Sheeran and Miley Cyrus.
As her popularity has grown, she's begun diversifying her content both on and off TikTok to become more of a traditional celebrity; think the Gen Z Kardashians.
Burgeoning singer Dixie's TikTok channel has 44.6 million fans; meanwhile Marc (8.5 million followers), a former Senatorial candidate for the Republican party and Heidi (7 million), a former model, have a reality TV show broadcast on YouTube detailing their lives in the Hollywood Hills, where they moved in May.
Like Kris Kardashian before him, Marc semi-jokingly refers to himself as "CEO of the D'Amelio Family", but there's business acumen behind the brand: they have managed to poach Greg Goodfried, the joint head of the UTA talent agency that first signed them, to run D'Amelio Family Enterprises.
"The family's recent goal has been to form a D'Amelio media company," the "dad-ager" told The Los Angeles Times. And they're doing just that – and more: there's a podcast starring the sisters called 2 Chix, where they talk about the way their lives have changed, an autobiography published next week (Essentially Charli: The Ultimate Guide to Keeping It Real) and clothing lines with Hollister.
The sisters are also the face of Morphe 2, a make-up line that has also seen commensurate sales increases.
Meanwhile, superstar singer Jennifer Lopez asked Charli, who is still in education, to be in her most recent music video.
The D'Amelios are snapped by paparazzi at BOA Steakhouse, the main social spot for LA's digital influencers, while Charli's TikToks from Dunkin' Donuts led to them naming her favourite drink (Dunkin' Cold Brew with whole milk and three pumps of caramel swirl) "the Charli". The day it launched, cold brew coffee sales rose 20 per cent.
It's through brand deals like these that the D'Amelio family make money from TikTok – fame that has been, "life-changing".
Marc told Grazia: "It has opened many doors for us and the girls."
And it's all thanks to Charli's fan base, who like her, decided to join TikTok on a whim because their friends had. Her followers are hyper-committed to the family's success: they champion Charli and her sister because in their rise, they see one is possible for themselves. The slightly shy, awkward 16-year-old represents so many of TikTok's users.
Hers is indicative of the wider movement towards the "authenticity" of influencers and away from mansions in Beverly Hills – even if some of those "relatable" stars end up eclipsing traditional icons' popularity.
We are obsessed with unassuming types and rags to riches stories; to getting to peek behind the curtain of the lifestyles of ordinary people who have made it.
Just like YouTube juggernaut Zoella (whose brother and boyfriend also became influencers too), the D'Amelios have mastered keeping fame in the family.
Their new YouTube channel includes a series called Dinner With the D'Amelios. It's the latest brand expansion, and on to another platform, too: "She's been able to take the audience she has away from TikTok and put it onto other places where she can build intellectual property," says Armoo.
Which she'll surely continue to do, in the same vein as her TikTok fame: meteoric, and fast.
