The 10 Best Livestreams Of 2024

10.

The 10-Year Game Awards Livestream

Maybe this is unfair; The Game Awards always livestreams at the end of the year, with 2024's taking place on December 12. Still, you can't deny that The Game Awards 2024 was a solid livestream for myriad reasons.

Snoop Dogg and Twenty One Pilots showed up to perform some bangers (separately, of course, though I wouldn't be opposed to a collab at some point), Harrison Ford made a rare appearance, and an assortment of games won awards, from Astro Bot taking home the GOTY trophy to Black Myth: Wukong winning Best Action Game to Tekken 8 snatching the Best Fighting Game trophy. (All three games made Complex's Best Games list).

But what made this year's Game Awards broadcast so cool, so deserving of its spot on our list wasn't just the appearance and awards, it was the game announcements. FPS looter-shooter Borderland 4 got a reveal trailer, The Witcher IV will let us play as Geralt's daughter Ciri, there's a Game of Thrones game where you get to fight alongside Jon Snow, and The Mafia series is making a comeback. The headliner of the night, though, was the critically acclaimed developer Naughty Dog announcing the new action-adventure IP Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet for PS5.

Yeah, video games are back, and that's evidenced by the fact that one million people tuned into The Game Awards' livestream. — Levi Winslow

9.

Emilycc Three-Year Livestream

Shout out to Kai Cenat for putting us on Emilycc.

The 20-something, Texas-based creator has been broadcasting on the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch for over 1100 days. To put that utterly ridiculous number into perspective, that's over three years.

Yes, Emilycc has been live for over three years, and weirdly, no one has discovered her. That is, until Kai Cenat pulled up her livestream during his own Mafiathon 2 broadcast in November with producer Benny Blanco.

"You motivate me," Cenat told an emotional Emily during their stream.

Since then, Emily has seen a meteoric rise in watchers, going from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand. This is the most anything she's ever experienced in her eight years on Twitch, she told Complex, and something she hopes to continue as she leverages this new popularity.

Her livestream isn't particularly unique or anything. She does what any other streamer does: sleep, play games, cry and yap and cry and yap, all while engaging with her chat and loving on her dog. But what her three-year-straight livestream is is a testament to the dedication and resilience it takes to become a creator in an oversaturated space. I mean, going from a small community of viewers to a massive following overnight, so much so that you get invited to The Streamer Awards, is a monument achievement.

That's The Kai Effect, and we can't wait to see what else she gets up to as 2025 rears its head. Keep it up, Emily, we're watching! — Levi Winslow

8.

YourRage Return Livestream

When FaZe Clan streamer YourRAGE left Twitch in August 2023, fans were shocked but not totally surprised; he had been vocal about his misgivings about the streaming platform’s censorship and suspensions.

Shortly after, he started streaming on Kick, but his audience there—299K followers—never grew quite as large as his Twitch following, which reached a whopping 1.6 million subscribers. The gaming streamer stunned fans again in August 2024, a year after his Twitch departure, when he announced that he would be taking a break from streaming and didn’t know when he’d return or where he’d be streaming when—and if—he did.

Despite his insisting that he wouldn’t be dropping a trailer to announce his return and would just “pop up” somewhere, he teased his return on December 7 with an Instagram video captioned “Homecoming,” where he flips through a green book playing clips of his streams on Kick, then closes it to open a purple book on his shelf, where clips of his Twitch streams play. The trailer ends with a slowed-down version of Coldplay’s “Homecoming” and the date of his Twitch return: December 8, one day later.

YourRAGE’s long-awaited return stream was three hours long and full of the controversial conversations his streams have been known to have, including a segment where he asked if he’s allowed to use certain words on stream and reacted to old videos of his past streams, as well as TikToks. The streamer got emotional when reading over a return-to-streaming contract proposal sent by his mods, requesting content expansion, including more gameplay of scary games and less Valorant and Pokémon Showdown, and asking for more inclusive language and refraining from referring to women as “bitches.”

The energy was high throughout the stream, with the chat never taking a break from blowing up. Since his return, he’s been more active on Twitch and keeping his fans happy while also illustrating how happy he is to be back “home.” Welcome back, Rage, glad you're here. — Kaitlin Stevens

7.

FaZe Clan Subathon

FaZe Clan is an esports brand that boasts dozens of content creators, streamers, and professional gamers. The organization pulled together all of its roster for one of the most impressive entertainment and interactive spectacles of 2024, with tons of live content and interactive challenges.

This FaZe Subathon saw their streamers go live for the full 30 days of September, streaming 24/7 with the aim of drastically increasing engagement with their community and growing subscriptions. While this event included the various games and challenges they would take part in, it also featured streams of the creators sleeping and some of the less glamorous parts of their lives.

September’s Subathon saw FaZe take over the internet with an astonishing 1.1 billion impressions over the 30 days. The videos reached over 760 million views, and there were over 2.2 billion minutes watched. The group was also the most-watched brand on Twitch during the month.

The sheer numbers alone make the FaZe Clan Subathon a worthy member of this list. — George Fallon

6.

Jasontheween NewJeans Livestream

When Jasontheween hit 100,000 subscribers on Twitch, he posted a viral video, celebrating with his group of friends by dancing to the K-pop girl group NewJeans’ song, “ETA.” The video must have somehow landed up on NewsJeans’ algorithm as the group, which is at the center of the HYBE-Ador controversy in South Korea, quickly recreated Jason’s video.

Jason allegedly “randomly” ran into the group, and while only three of the five members were present, he was able to meet his bias, Hanni. (For the uninitiated, a "bias" refers to your favorite artist in a K-pop group.) He was able to give them gifts from a vintage jewelry store, where he selected five different pearl necklaces for the members. He later revealed how his manager orchestrated their meeting. Meeting our favorite celebrities is usually what our best dreams are made of, and getting to watch Jason meet his favorites and film a TikTok with them was quite heartwarming.

“Mood shot straight through the roof, bro,” Jason shared, adding, “It’s straight out of a Disney movie.” It's a sentiment we can all resonate with and wish for ourselves! (I'm manifesting a BTS meeting!) — Debadrita Sur

5.

xQc And Drake Livestream

Canadian rapper Drake joined Quebecois streamer xQc for a more than two-hour-long livestream on Kick in late November. Drake has made headlines for his alleged beef with Kendrick Lamar and the two different legal actions against Spotify and his parent label, Universal Media Group.

While fans tuned in to see whether an unedited stream of Drake adds to his ongoing Lamar controversy, Drake mainly talked about his collaborative album with PartyNextDoor and confirmed an upcoming Australia tour. Drake, however, did not disappoint.

During the stream, he asked xQc to “switch off” fellow rapper and former friend The Weekend’s song, “Starboy,” asking him to play Blink-182 instead, which he said is “that real sh*t.” He also threw indirect shade at Lamar and called Steve Lacy a “fragile opp” on the stream that garnered over 220,000 Kick viewers, while the YouTube video has nearly 5,000 views. All the while, Drake smoked a hookah, and at one point, mentalist Kevin Hamdan read xQc’s mind. The stream ended with Drake inviting xQc to his legendary party, where they claimed to “get cooked”

What a helluva of a stream, especially for an artit embroiled in such controversy during the latter half of 2024. — Debadrita Sur

4.

Adin Ross And Donald Trump Livestream

Behind Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the 2024 Presidential election was this wave of young men, with over half under 30. Trump credited his 18-year-old son, Barron, for encouraging him to go on podcasts or YouTube shows as part of non-traditional media to tap younger voters.

Adin Ross’ livestream with Trump, which amassed over 2.7 million views, is the best example of how Trump managed to reach young voters. Streamed on Kick, a livestreaming platform where Ross is the most-followed personality, Trump answered questions about the campaign, his vision, and America’s geopolitical relationships in the living room of his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. On Kick, it had over 580,000 views while people in the YouTube comments blasted the eponymous platform for allegedly shadowbanning it. Ross also gave Trump a Rolex watch as well as a Cybertruck with a very American gift wrap around it.

While many argued over whether these gifts violated Federal Election Commission rules, Ross’ livestream seemed the most impactful as it showed the young voters a more raw, impromptu, and unfiltered version of Trump. Whereas his opponent and Democratic Presidential running mate, Kamala Harris, was pretty inaccessible to the media—with her campaign being reportedly quite unrelenting about their rules—Trump’s candid appearance on this livestream, followed by his quintessential dance with Ross, seemed to resonate with many young male voters.

All of this made the Adin Ross x Donald Trump livestream one of the most important broadcasts of the last twelve months.— Debadrita Sur

3.

Kai Cenat, Druski, And Kevin Hart Sleepover Livestream

What do you get when three of the funniest people on the internet have a sleepover? You get almost more than 700,000 viewers.

It’s hard to even pick one best moment for this; this sleepover livestream created multiple viral moments that live on to this day. Kevin Hart getting a call from LeBron James? Check. Dance parties? Check. Adults having (what looks like) pure unadulterated fun? Check. Hart making the mistake of falling asleep first and having a bucket of water dumped on his head before getting revenge and doing the same to Kai? Check.

This stream was truly hysterical and felt like a bunch of (super rich, super famous) best friends hanging out while pranking and terrorizing each other for hours straight. It’s what helped Cenat break his own personal best for streaming numbers at the time and paved the way for his iconic “Thanksgiving sleepover,” which once again featured Druski and Kevin Hart. We will watch anything this trio does and can only hope they do more together. 2025 is right around the corner, after all. — Layla Ahmad

2.

IShowSpeed’s Indonesia Livestream

IShowSpeed is one of the most popular content creators worldwide, with over 33 million subscribers on YouTube. He is known mostly for his energetic and slightly erratic nature on stream, as well as his IRL broadcasts, which take place in various locations around the world.

While on a Southeast Asian tour, a trip in which he accumulated over 100 million views, Speed’s IRL stream in Indonesia marked the first time an English-speaking streamer has ever received one million viewers during a livestream.

This stream featured Speed exploring the Old Town area of Jakarta, engaging with the local culture and residents, as well as the huge numbers of viewers. Of course, at the one-million-viewer milestone, Speed celebrated in the most traditionally IShowSpeed way possible: a backflip in the middle of a road with a huge crowd cheering him on.

The Indonesia IRL stream was also hugely influential in Speed being awarded the Streamer of the Year Award at The Streamer Awards 2024, one of three awards he would win during the night. For such extraordinary numbers and engagement with the online community, Speed’s biggest IRL stream to date is well deserving of the second spot on this list. — George Fallon

1.

Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 2 Livestream

Where to even begin?

Kai Cenat created Mafiathon, and Kai Cenat owns Mafiathon. This was his second annual month-long livestream, and it cemented him as the GOAT. Mafiathon 2 proved that no one is doing it at Cenat’s level. The number of celebrity athletes, singers, actors, and influencers who showed up on his stream throughout November 2024 could make any red carpet cry.

He had Miss Kim K herself in the trailer video for the event with him, in a role that saw her play his therapist. (She did it because Kai is North’s favorite streamer.) Kai is the number one streamer on Twitch, and Mafiathon 2 only proves why.

Look at the lineup: Snoop Dogg, Lil Uzi Vert, Chris Brown, Kyrie Irving, Kodak Black, Denzel Curry, Lizzo, SZA, Serena Williams, Lil Dicky, Lil Yachty, NLE Choppa, Sexyy Redd, Shameik Moore, Quavo, Bill Nye, and—drum roll please—iCarly’s own Miranda Cosgrove. Of course, pals Druski and Kevin Hart made cameos. Even Kai’s own mom Trisha popped up to give some heartwarming support to single moms everywhere, as she was one when raising Kai.

There was real-life Mario Kart and a massive marching band, and by the end of the month, Cenat was sitting at around 720,000 subscribers. He even bought a new $55 million mansion just for the event so he could film himself living there. He’s only paving the way to get bigger, better, and more entertaining. What does next year’s Mafiathon have in store? Well, that’s for Kai to know and for us to find out. — Layla Ahmad