I noted that my YouTube channel had achieved 250,000 followers yesterday.

In response, someone who was undoubtedly a troll posted:

Any thoughts why individual videos are lucky to get 15k views (unless they are about Trump)?

In response, I suggested that:

We get around 50,000 views a day this month – but it is August.

And, based on evidence we can find this number puts us in the top 3% or so of YouTube channels.

What is it that you think we should be worried about?

I then thought it might be worth checking this, and so asked ChatGPT for an overview. The response was:

Current Stats for Richard J Murphy

According to Social Blade (as of August 8, 2025), Richard J Murphy's channel has:

• 249 K subscribers

• ~29.3 million total views

• Ranks:

  • 335,533rd overall among YouTube channels (SB Rank)

  • 2,065th by subscriber count in the UK.

  • 629,810th in the world by views

  • 1,431st in the Education category 

How That Translates to a Percentile

To understand the percentile ranking:

• Social Blade tracks millions of active YouTube channels.

• If Richard J Murphy is ranked 335,533rd, this means he's ahead of the majority of channels.

Let's estimate:

• Suppose there are around 10 million active channels (a conservative estimate).

• Being 335,533rd means the channel is in the top 3.36% of all YouTube channels by rank.

• If the estimate is 5 million active channels, that pushes the percentile to the top ~6.7%.

• Even under more conservative assumptions, the channel falls comfortably within at least the top 10% to top 5% of all channels.

So, you can confidently say Richard J Murphy's channel is within the top ~3–7 percentile, based on his Social Blade rank.

[I should add that I checked: an active channel according to Social Blade appears to mean getting 5,000 regular views on a video, so vast numbers of channels do not count as most never get anywhere near this total. ChatGPT also noted:

• As of September 2024, approximately 520,478 YouTube channels have reached the 100K subscriber mark and received a Silver Play Button.

• Considering an estimated 113 million active YouTube channels (2024 data), that translates to less than 0.4% of all active channels earning the Silver Award.

We not only have that award: we have 250,000 subscribers, which puts us in a much smaller category of channels, and maybe in the top 0.2% or less of YouTube channels in all, although I prefer the Social Blade ranking.]

Summary

• Subscribers: ~249 K

• Views: ~29.3M

• Overall rank: 335,533rd

• Estimated percentile:

  • Top 3–5% (likely), or

  • Top ~7% at most — solidly among the higher-performing channels on YouTube.

I am happy with that. The ideas I want to promote are being noticed.