T-Series was the first YouTube channel to reach 100 million subscribers. The Indian music and film channel crossed that milestone on May 29, 2019.
T-Series was founded in 1983 by Gulshan Kumar and became one of India's major music labels and film studios. Its YouTube channel joined the platform in 2006, although regular video uploads began later. The channel built its audience through Hindi film songs, music videos, trailers, and other entertainment content, benefiting from India's enormous online audience and viewers in the global South Asian diaspora.
The milestone came during a highly publicized subscriber race with PewDiePie. T-Series repeatedly approached and briefly overtook PewDiePie in early 2019 before establishing a lasting lead. That rivalry drew exceptional attention to both channels and helped make the 100-million milestone a major internet event rather than an ordinary statistics update.
T-Series was also the first channel to receive YouTube's Red Diamond Creator Award, which recognizes channels reaching 100 million subscribers. PewDiePie became the second channel to pass the threshold later in 2019. The wording matters: T-Series was first overall, while PewDiePie was the first individual creator to reach 100 million.