With 20.6 million followers on TikTok, Taylor Holder, 24, is the 159th most-followed user on the app.
Holder, who was born in Alvarado, Texas, has had a fairly mainstream career. He rose to TikTok fame with short lip-syncing videos, collaborating with other big-name influencers, and recently pivoted to music.
Holder has recently been the subject of controversy and speculation after a number of high-profile influencers mass-unfollowed him in February 2022.
Here's what you need to know about the most-talked-about TikToker of the moment.
Holder began gaining traction in 2019, making mostly lip-sync TikToks and goofing around in Los Angeles with friends, often shirtless.
"Some people just follow me because I'm, quote-unquote, the hot guy. That's what they follow me for," he told Forbes' Frederick Daso in an interview in January.
"Taylor is not a 'typical' influencer — I don't think there is such a thing," Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism, a New York creative advertising agency, told Insider, adding that people often perceive Holder as a "one-dimensional, wannabe celebrity."
His popularity led him to become part of the TikTok content collective Hype House in May 2020. He announced his departure just five months later, saying in a video that there was no ill will, but he had "outgrown" the collective.
He then moved into the Triller Compound, another content collective owned by a TikTok competitor, the video-sharing app Triller. Holder moved out in late 2021. In a video made at the time, Holder cited restrictive rules as a reason for the departure.
In addition to his success on TikTok, Holder began posting longer-form videos on YouTube, where he has 1.9 million subscribers. He also has 6.4 million Instagram followers, where he mostly posts selfies.
On December 17, 2021, Holder posted a teaser video on his TikTok profile promoting his new career, moving away from lip-syncing and towards writing and performing his own music.
"They don't follow me for music," he told Forbes. "You're almost starting at ground zero again whenever you're starting a music career because you have to build up a good music following."
In January, he launched a series of songs, including his biggest hit "Never Was You," which has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube.
"Music was always the goal for me," Holder told Forbes. "It was always what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I just ended up blowing up as an influencer first."
In March 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Insider reported that Holder was criticized by fellow creators for selling non-medical grade face masks for $25.
Daniel "Keemstar" Keem, an internet news commentator, tweeted, "Bro you scumbag for that and you know it!!!!!!!" after Holder announced he was selling "a small selection" of his masks.
Holder subsequently stopped selling the masks and, in a statement to Insider at the time, said his intention was to "raise awareness for my generation about the seriousness of COVID-19 through fashion." He added that any proceeds from the sales would be donated to charity.
On May 19, 2021, rapper DDG uploaded a YouTube video titled "Tayler Holder is Cancelled... (He called me a *****)" in which he claimed that during an altercation with Holder he called him a "Black-ass motherfucker," which he says he interpreted as a racial slur.
In a response video uploaded two days later, Holder said his comments had been misheard, and he used the word "whack," not "Black." He also apologized for any potential offense caused.
In late January, Internet commentator DefNoodles reported that more than 40 high profile TikTokers unfollowed Holder, including his ex-girlfriend Charly Jordan, and TikTok stars Loren Grey and Bryce Hall.
Hall also posted a cryptic image to his Instagram story saying "things about to get crazy," which many believed was a reference to Holder.
