6 Celebrities You Forgot Started on YouTube—From Justin Bieber to Dua Lipa

Achieving a career in entertainment takes hard work, dedication and… YouTube? The streaming platform, which was formed in 2005, became the breeding ground for some of the world’s most famous artists, including Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran. These artists, along with many others, were discovered through simply posting videos to YouTube, finding followings and becoming major stars as a result. Check out which celebrities you’ve forgotten were discovered through the platform!

1. Justin Bieber

If you grew up watching YouTube clips of aspiring artists singing videos, there is a 99.9% chance that you are familiar with the beginnings of Justin Bieber. The music superstar began his singing career by posting YouTube videos at age 12 in 2007. His first video, posted by his mom, Pattie Mallette, was of Bieber singing “So Sick” by Ne-Yo in a local singing competition. That video has since gotten over 10 million views, but that was just the beginning.

Talent manager Scooter Braun happened to stumble across Bieber’s singing videos and immediately recognized the potential in his talent. By October 2008, Bieber was signed by Raymond Braun Media Group, a joint venture between Braun and Usher.

2. Tate McRae

You might recognize Tate McRae from her hit songs “Greedy” and “You Broke Me First,” but McRae first gained popularity through her stream of original YouTube singing videos. At age 7, McRae began posting singing and dancing videos to the platform. At age 13, she was on the competition series So You Think You Can Dance, reaching third place.

In 2017, McRae posted what became her most viral singing video of all, original song “One Day,” which received 40 million views. Her songs, both originals and covers, went on to draw more attention and she was signed by RCA Records in 2019.

“It’s interesting because I think I have a really bad case of imposter syndrome where I feel like… ‘I don’t even know what that was. Maybe that was just a lucky accident’… It was just a fun thing that I had a passion for and wasn’t really meant to be shared with the world,” she says. “Then, when it did end up getting bigger, it was like a shock to all of us. We were like, ‘This is the wildest thing ever.’”

3. Dua Lipa

The “Levitating” singer made a splash in the industry with her dance/pop hits, one of which was even featured in 2023’s Barbie movie. But before she was a Grammy award-winning singer, Lipa was posting covers on YouTube, starting at age 14.

“I always wanted to make music. I started making YouTube covers… and then I used them as a form of portfolio to work with different producers and get in the studio.”

4. Dylan O’Brien

Before he was the hilarious Stiles on Teen Wolf or Dan Aykroyd in the film Saturday Night, O’Brien was just a kid posting funny videos with friends on YouTube under the name @moviekidd826. His most viral video was of the actor lip syncing to Spice Girl’s “Wannabe,” only to be walked in on by his friend. During his senior year of high school, O’Brien was approached by a producer to be a part of the web series Sweety High, marking his acting debut. The actor was on Teen Wolf only a year later.

5. 5 Seconds of Summer

The Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer, or 5SOS, originally began by posting cover videos on YouTube. The first video with the foursome was a cover of “Teenage Dirtbag” in 2011, which gained the attention of the biggest band at the time, One Direction. The group even invited 5SOS to open for two of their tours in 2013 and 2014.

“We discovered 5SOS on YouTube last year and we all knew straight away they were very special,” Niall Horan of One Direction said at the time. “We’re so excited to have them on the road with us and we know our fans are going to LOVE what these lads do.”

Guitarist Michael Clifford shared, “When we started that tour in 2013, no one knew who we were. We kind of had to build that by getting better and better and better live.”

6. Ed Sheeran

The “Shape of You” singer wasn’t always a Grammy-winning artist. Sheeran began using YouTube to market his music in 2010 after already releasing songs for about five years. But it wasn’t until he posted a video through the channel SB.TV, owned by entrepreneur Jamal Edwards, that he truly rose to stardom after being asked to tour with the rapper, Example.

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