Kai Cenat Becomes First Twitch Streamer to Hit 20 Million Followers
- Sagar Mankar
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
Kai Cenat has officially become the first streamer in Twitch history to reach 20 million followers on the platform.
The achievement, reached on November 14, 2025, is even more impressive considering Cenat hadn’t gone live in over a month. His follower count kept climbing anyway, powered by viral clips and nonstop buzz across TikTok and Instagram.
If you’ve followed Cenat’s journey, you know this moment didn’t come out of nowhere. Born in 2001 and raised in the Bronx, Kai started streaming casually in 2018 with NBA 2K. Things really took off during the pandemic, when his mix of gaming, comedy, and celebrity-packed “Just Chatting” sessions turned him into Twitch’s most-subscribed creator by 2022. That year, he pulled in over 300,000 concurrent viewers during the subthon featuring Nicki Minaj and Offset.
But Cenat’s rise hasn’t been without controversy. In August 2023, a giveaway event in Union Square spiraled into chaos, leading to 65 arrests. He faced felony charges but avoided prosecution in 2024 after paying $55,000 in restitution.
Despite poaching attempts from rival platforms, Cenat doubled down on Twitch. He turned down a $60 million exclusive deal from Kick and instead signed a multi-year non-exclusive agreement with Twitch, reinforcing his loyalty to the platform. That decision paid off big time with Mafiathon 3, a 30-day subathon in September that broke records: 82.5 million hours watched, 1 million concurrent viewers, and a historic 1 million active subscribers.
He recently got his own skin in Fortnite and also ranked at the top of the first-ever TIME100 Creators list.