style exclusive: Dan Rhodes

Talented Rochdale magician, Dan Rhodes, recently became the UK's fastest growing YouTuber.

The 18-year-old, self taught magician has over 5 million subscribers and a mindblowing 4.5 billion views on YouTube, plus another 7 million fans on TikTok.

Readers may also recognise Dan from his appearance on Britain's Got Talent in 2019.

Style caught up with with Dan to chat about his incredible online success, his exciting future plans and why his feet remain firmly on the ground...

Style: When did you begin to learn magic?

Dan: When I was seven years old, my uncle taught me a new trick every single week - he’d teach me the trick and I’d show him the trick I’d learnt the previous week. I loved magic anyway as Dynamo was on television a lot at the time. I’d also been on a cruise and there was a magician there who inspired me quite a bit. Then, I learnt the rest online from tutorial videos on YouTube. I just kept going from there really and never stopped! I’ve been doing magic in some form or another, TV shows and gigs, since I was a kid and obviously videos for about three years now. I’ve kind of been working at it for about ten years.

What’s the best thing about being a magician?

I think it’s the reactions. I love when you can show someone a really cool trick and they just go crazy! Anyone I meet I can just whip out a pack of cards, show them a trick and instantly they’re blown away.

What's the most difficult trick you've had to learn?

I had to remember the order of a full deck of cards for this one trick… I can’t remember how to do it now but I had to remember the order of 52 cards and it took three weeks to learn!

How many decks of cards do you own?

Only about 500! A lot of them I have opened but I’ve got a lot of sealed ones as well as I used to collect them - I’ve just got a house full of cards!

We presume they aren’t the same as the playing cards we all have in a drawer?!

Some are. I could still do tricks with those but it helps when they’re better quality. I’ve got one that’s worth 500 quid now but I I bought it for 10 or 20 quid!

How does it feel to be the UK’s top YouTuber?

There’s YouTubers bigger than me, like KSI, but in terms of growth, at the moment, it’s me so it’s pretty mad! I’m third in the world at the minute too for fastest growing YouTuber so it’s pretty crazy.

Do you think you’ll reach the top spot worldwide?

Probably not because there’s a guy [in second place] called MrBeast who is on 60 million subscribers and he just grows like crazy. Number one is this company called T-Series which is a company where it’s got 200 millions subscribers. Then there’s people like PewDiePie who are just individuals who make videos, like me.

Have you always been ambitious?

Yeah, I’d say I’ve always wanted to do well in magic and grow bigger - so I’ve just stuck at it and it’s paying off now.

When did you start to gain millions of followers?

At the start of lockdown I had about 200K on TikTok, 50K on Instagram and then TikTok kind of blew up. After about six months or so, I hit a million on TikTok and it just kept growing from there. And then when YouTube released Shorts I started posting all my TikToks on there so that kind of blew up as well.

Do you think lockdown helped?

Yeah - I think because everyone was sort of sat down on their phones and no one was going out, it really blew up on the apps. Everyone knew about Instagram, Facebook [etc] but it was the perfect time for everyone to explore TikTok, because it wasn’t the biggest app in the world but it was something new.

What do you think makes your videos so popular?

I think it’s the clarity and that anyone can understand them in any language. They’re so simple yet effective. If I was doing a magic trick it’s very straightforward; it’s watch this -‘BOOM’ - and the trick’s done. So, it’s very fast and visual and that’s what has caught on, as it’s very easy to watch without getting bored.

Do you have followers all over the world?

Yeah, I’ve got them in Australia, India, Indonesia, America. It’s quite diverse.

So you could visit anywhere in the world and people would recognise you…

Yeah, it’s really weird to think that! I think if I went to India I’d get mobbed. They love magic in India - I think I’ve actually got 2 million subscribers just in India.

How many views is classed as viral?

I’d probably say a million, maybe.

Do most of your videos get that many views?

Some only get a few hundred thousand but yeah, most of them go viral. I had one two weeks ago that had 50 million views.

Can you always tell which videos will go viral?

Sometimes… I normally have a feel for it and I’m right 7 out of 10 times but sometimes the ones you put hours into don’t do as well but then it’s the ones you think of last minute that’ll do really well. So yeah, sometimes it’s the ones you least expect.

How many do you post a day?

Probably five a day at the minute. It’s good to be consistent because with social media - anything can go viral at any time but it’s good when you’re growing a lot to ride the wave of it.

Wow, that must keep you busy…

Yeah! I’ve always got five videos ready for the next day. Then at night time I’ll edit them and I’ll spend an hour and a half coming up with ideas for the day after… Then the next day I’ll post the vids I’ve made yesterday as I’m busy making the vids for the day after that!

You’re very down-to-earth - how do you keep your feet on the ground when you’re enjoying such phenomenal success?

When people recognise me I just think, it doesn’t really mean I’m famous - it just means people are seeing the content I’m doing. I’m grateful that it’s going so well for me at the minute as you never really know what’s around the corner. You could be known one minute, then gone another, so it’s just keeping the ball rolling.

What advice would you give to people who are hoping to grow their social media following?

Find what they like doing, whether it’s a singer, a chef or a magician and just be consistent at it. At first your vids won’t do really well but keep at it and eventually it’ll start to pay off.

What’s next in store for you?

I want to hit 10 million on YouTube and get a Diamond Play Button which is an award you get for 10 million. I want to do my own tour and my own TV show. I’ve got some really exciting stuff coming up.

Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?

That’s a hard one as I don’t know where I’ll be next month! But I hope I’ll still be growing and still enjoying where I’m at and what I’m doing.

You’ve just had your first tattoo – what does it say?

It says 'dream bigger'. I quite like it.

Follow Dan Rhodes on YouTube or @danrhodesmagic on TikTok and Instagram.

Interview: Ruth Parkinson

Images: Jackie Meredith (Location: Rochdale Town Centre)