Quenlin Blackwell, who also made Time’s list, came in at No. 5 for Rolling Stone. Blackwell, who was born in Dallas, has built a multi-platform presence with almost 20 million followers with a mix of comedy, lifestyle and fashion content. Last year, she was a torch carrier for the omnipresent "Brat Summer," after she made an appearance in Charli XCX's music video for "360."
She notably came in two spots ahead of Mr. Beast, a largely insescapable internet deity and agent of chaos who has amassed more than 800 million total followers across all platforms. His main schtick these days seems to be making people fight each other for money, both on his channel and on his Amazon Prime series, Beast Games. For some reason, he's also hocking Beast-branded burgers and chocolate bars. His whole deal is a bit too much to get into here, but you can ask the iPad kid in your life about him if you want to know more.
Needless to say, it’s a relief to see Blackwell pull ahead of him on Rolling Stone’s ranking, especially knowing that this list already bruised his ego. In a now-deleted post on X, he criticized the list for placing someone with fewer followers than him higher on the list, asking, "What did I do to piss off the Rolling Stones?" To which we ask, who's going to tell him that's a band, not a magazine? Regardless, good taste prevails for once.
Another Dallas creator, Kay Poyer, rounds out the list at No. 25. The 25-year-old has made a name for herself with hot and humorous takes on pressing issues ranging from the war in Gaza to trans rights. Sometimes, she'll even get hyperlocal and mention area haunts like The Round Up in Oak Lawn to color her biting takes. We’d call her an activist, but she’s made it clear that she rejects the label outright.
“I often use my platform to draw attention to important issues that I think need to be addressed, but I am very cautious about using the word activist because the internet has flattened what that means," Poyer told the Observer last year. "Just because you speak about issues doesn’t mean you are an activist. There is a lot more that goes into it than that.”
Last year’s edition of this list included Nara Smith, a model and influencer known for elaborate cooking videos, wild baby names and being an unwitting face of the “trad-wife” movement. She finished strong at No. 4 at the time, but has now dropped off entirely. We can’t say for certain why she didn’t make the cut this year. Maybe it’s because Rolling Stone was trying to limit repeat entries. Maybe the mountain of discourse she sparked is just old news.
In our opinion, the most likely explanation is that she's since moved from Dallas to Connecticut, and the scenery change has cramped her style significantly. If so, it serves her right.
