For decades, fame followed a familiar script: Hollywood stars, top of the chart musicians and pro athletes setting the cultural agenda. These celebrities won awards, were on glossy magazine covers and sold everything from perfume to Pepsi. In 2025, the script is being reinvented, and the new lead actors are influencers.
Take Charli D’Amelio, the highest-paid TikToker in the world for two years, for example. She is not headlining blockbuster films or performing at the Grammys. She became famous for doing TikTok dances in her bedroom. Yet today, she is rivaling celebrity fragrance lines and has a consumer pull that makes traditional marketing professionals jealous.
Regarding her 2020 Dunkin’ Donuts collab, “The Charli” beverage saw a 57% increase in app downloads on the day the campaign launched compared to its previous 90-day average, causing the app to crash. This is the kind of impact Hollywood stars dream of, yet D’Amelio got here because of TikTok.
She is not the only one rewriting the fame playbook. Emma Chamberlain went from vlogging in hoodies to sipping espresso with Anna Wintour at Paris Fashion Week and owning a thriving coffee company, adding entrepreneur to her resume. MrBeast turned YouTube challenges into a global fast food and candy empire at 26 years old. Addison Rae danced her way into Netflix deals and music videos. These people didn’t just “go viral on the internet.” They turned views into a serious, lasting influence.
So why are influencers winning? The foundation for Economic Education said, “Nearly half of Millennials and Gen Z trust influencers more than celebrities, journalists or public officials when it comes to opinions and advice.” This makes sense because influencers are not some distant red carpet figure. They are in your feed and sometimes in your comments. They show you their messy bedrooms and morning routines. Watching their videos feels personal, even if it is highly curated. That kind of intimacy is priceless; more importantly, it sells.
Meanwhile, Hollywood feels washed up. Red carpets used to dominate cultural conversation, and now they barely make it past an X trending topic. Movie stars are still glamorous, sure, but influencers are relevant. In the age of endless scrolling, relevance is the currency that really matters.
The critics love to say influencer fame is fleeting. Compared to a rom-com career that fizzles after two movies or a pop star whose one hit is still stuck in 2015, if anything, Hollywood should take notes on the way influencers can reinvent themselves on the fly.
The truth is, your favorite actor may have an Oscar, but influencers have something far more valuable in 2025: the loyalty of millions of teens across the globe. That loyalty isn’t just about admiration, it is about influence over what gets bought, streamed, shared and believed.
While Hollywood was busy polishing trophies and clinging to red carpets, the fame hierarchy quietly flipped. Algorithms and audiences have the power to crown new stars overnight and influencers have Hollywood wondering how they lost the spotlight on their own turf.
Heidi Bartolone is a sophomore studying communications at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Heidi about her column? Email her at [email protected].
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