Russell Brand Suspended From Monetizing His YouTube Channels

Sexual assault allegations made against comedian-turned-conspiracy-theorist Russell Brand resulted in YouTube suspending his ability to monetize his YouTube channels. Recently, four women filed sexual assault allegations against the Get Him To The Greek star that allegedly took place between 2006 and 2013. Per ET, one of the accusers claimed she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with Brand when she was just 16, while another woman claims Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012. In response to these allegations, the London Metropolitan Police confirmed they have a report of a separate sexual assault dating back to 2003.

Though 48-year-old Brand took to his other social media channels (Instagram and X) to "absolutely refute" the allegations, which he called "extremely egregious and aggressive attacks." He added in the video, "As I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual... I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny." He also says that there are "witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct apparently, in what seems to me to be, a coordinated attack."

Receiving support from Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Andrew Tate, and Alex Jones wasn't enough to stop Brand’s management agency, Tavistock Wood Management, from severing ties with him soon after the report came to light, writing that it had been “horribly misled by him.” Additionally, his UK comedy tour has been postponed. YouTube suspended Brand's ability to monetize his content. He has 6.6 million subscribers on the platform. The actor has other channels, like "Awakening With Russell" with 426,000 subscribers, "Football Is Nice" with 20,000 subscribers, and "Stay Free With Russell Brand" with 22,200 subscribers; they are all affected by his suspension.

Music artists are constantly vying for the top of the charts. But an artist's relevance is about more than just the hit singles and albums these days. It's even about more than concert ticket an merch sales. Wettfreunde analyzed Google search results over the last year to find out what music artists have been the most searched in different countries around the world.

With K-pop being on the rise in popularity worldwide, it is no surprise that the biggest boy bands and girl bands from that genre made the list. BTS and Blackpink are the most famous, and more K-pop bands are gaining popularity in the US as well. The K-pop genre is popular for its catchy rhythms and choruses, as all mainstream pop music  has. The groups consist of young, attractive, and stylish members, just like the teen idols of decades past. Meanwhile, U.S. based pop stars have extended their reach globally to their fans via social media and touring, propelling the interest in searches on Google.

For the music artists who haven't gone on tour or released new music in the last year, their influence on their fans across the world has kept them relevant enough to keep them on people's minds. For example, Rihanna has not released an album since 2016's Anti. She offered her voice for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack with "Lift Me Up" in 2022 and performed at the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show. Despite not having new music for her fans, RiRi gave birth to two children with her partner, A$AP Rocky, and runs multiple successful businesses, which seem to keep her busy enough.

The search results of the 1000 most-streamed artists across 189 countries were compared. Keep scrolling to see the results of which music artists are the most searched of the year.