MENA's Top 20 TikTokers
Forbes Middle East - English|Jan 2024
Here are MENA's top TikTokers, according to TikTok Middle East, based on their impact and trends over the last year, including video creations, views, account growth, likes, and interactions. Numbers are as of December 13, 2023.
SARA JUNAID
MENA's Top 20 TikTokers

Khaby Lame 

Residence: U.A.E. & Italy

Followers: 161.8 million

Senegalese-Italian Khabane "Khaby" Lame is the most-followed TikTok influencer in the world, accumulating 161.8 million followers and 2.4 billion likes since he started out in 2020. Before becoming a full-time influencer, he worked as a CNC machine operator in a factory near Turin. Today, he is a resident of the U.A.E. and spends considerable time there, according to TikTok. While he danced and watched video games in his early content, he rose to fame by posting silent reactions while simplifying complicated "life hacks." In January 2022, Lame published a comic titled "Super Easy." In June 2022, Hugo Boss announced a collaboration with him, featuring all-black styles. Lame was added to Fortnite's Chapter 4 Season 4 in August 2023.

Abir El Saghir

Residence: Lebanon

Followers: 24.4 million

Lebanese self-taught celebrity chef and lifestyle blogger El Saghir has garnered 24.4 million followers and 352.7 million likes since 2021, teaching Middle Eastern cuisine recipes. She won TikTok's Creator of the Year and Food Creator of the Year awards in 2022 and hosted her own cooking show, "Abir's Kitchen," during Ramadan 2023. The program ran for 10 episodes on stc tv and Jawwy TV. El Saghir also has a YouTube channel with over 3.76 million subscribers.

Mohammed Shamsi

Residence: Saudi Arabia

Followers: 17.5 million

This story is from the Jan 2024 edition of Forbes Middle East - English.

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