Friday, June 24, 2022 – Senegalese comedian, Khabane Lame, has officially become the most followed TikTok star in the world.
22-year-old Khabane Lame, who posts under the name @khaby.lame, surpassed American Charli D’Amelio who held the top spot until on Thursday, June 23.
The 18-year-old dancer has 142.2 million followers, while Khaby, who lives in Italy, jumped to 142.5 million overnight after months of enduring a tight follower battle.
Khaby joined the platform in March 2020 during the pandemic and his followers quickly grew thanks to his hilarious videos.
After joining the platform in 2019, Charli had become the most followed account with her viral dance routines and by 2020 she had over 100 million fans.
At the time she took to the platform to say that the achievement was ‘like a dream’.
In a video, she added: ‘I can’t believe there’s 100 million supporters following me right now. That is insane, oh my goodness.
‘Y’all can’t grasp that this is real, I still feel like it’s a dream, kind of waiting to wake up. Very insane. Oh my goodness, thank you!’
The social media platform congratulated her on the news and said it was ‘so proud’ of her achievements.
In a statement, TikTok said: ‘In less than 18 months, Charli has grown into one of the most recognized and beloved TikTok creators in the world.
‘While we’re extremely proud of Charli and all that she has accomplished since she shared her first TikTok video in May 2019.’
TikTok also announced it would be donating $100,000 in Charli’s name to American Dance Movement, an organisation aimed at increasing access to dance education in the US.
In March 2020, during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Khabane lost his job and moved back in with his parents. He capitalized on the lockdown and set up a TikTok account and quickly climbed his way to the top of the platform.
Speaking to Forbes the star said: ‘The pandemic had just started, and I was bored with a lot of time on my hands so I started making videos on TikTok.’
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