Revealed: The most popular student TikTokers studying at your uni right now

What did you do during lockdown? Unlike the rest of us, students up and down the country weren’t crying in bed wearing stained trackies, but were busy making TikToks, racking up hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of likes. Now, every UK uni is filled with students trying to go viral on TikTok, but who are the best UK uni student TikTokers? You need to know, so you can try and find them on nights out when clubs finally reopen and then eventually become their best mate.

My Student Halls have done some highly important scientific research and found the UK’s most popular university TikTokers, or Top of the Toks, as they called it. They ranked users using uni hashtags on TikTok, based on engagement rates, followers and likes, to once and for all find the best TikTokkers UK universities.

Here are all the best uni student TikTokers, ranked:

1. Yelena Zylko, Sussex

Sussex student Yelena Zylko (@yelenazylko) quite literally created the “things in our uni house that just make sense” trend, where students show their weirdly-designed houses and landlords’ substandard choices of furniture, so she’s rightfully crowned queen of the best UK uni student TikTokers. Yelena’s original video has over 3m likes, and overall she has 56k followers.

Speaking to The Sussex Tab on her win, Yelena said: “I was really shocked to see our TikTok had won the award! I really didn’t expect it to receive so much traction!”, saying “this will definitely be going on the top of my CV.”

2. Nathan Tozer, Bristol

Coming in at second place is Nathan Tozer, the Bristol student behind @puzzlesbynathan. He posts time-lapse videos of him doing puzzles. It sounds strange but is actually quite soothing to watch, and his 246k followers agree.

3. Layla Allsop, Hull

Hull student Layla Allsop (@laylagraceallsop) posted an emosh video of her moving to uni, complete with saying bye to the dog (I’m already sobbing), doing her big shop in Asda, and unpacking her halls bedroom. The video now has 6.3m views, and Layla has 45k followers.

4. Max Balegde, Newcastle

Fourth place goes to Newcastle student Max Balegde, aka @max_balegde, aka the funniest man to ever grace your FYP. He has a few series on his TikTok, such as “things celebrities have done that are questionable”, “obscure pop culture history moments”, and documenting a saga of “psychological warfare” with his landlord over a stained mattress. Max has 490k followers, and also now has a podcast.

After the mumps outbreak at several UK unis last year, Max photoshopped himself with a swollen neck because he says was trying to win a competition for the best mumps “before and after” photo. He didn’t have mumps, but the fake photos ended up getting shown on BBC News.

5. Ellie Blythe, Nottingham

Notts student Ellie Blythe (@ellieblythe_) mainly posts videos with her younger sister, and the two now have a YouTube channel. She also has a TikTok video rating the best places she’s “done it” on uni campus. Ellie has 268k followers right now.

6. Josh Landi, Lincoln

Josh Landi is a Lincoln student and behind the @mrlandi TikTok. His “things in our uni accommodation that just make sense” video has 4.8m views, and features a leaky roof, iced-up fridge and questionably-patterned curtains. Josh has 19k followers.

7. Taylor Castro, UCL

UCL student Taylor Castro (@taylor.castroo) has 45k followers and many of her followers say she looks like Kiera Knightly. On her TikTok she speaks about uni life, private schools and job interviews.

8. Callum Deberex, Leeds

Callum Deberex (@cxllum19) goes to Leeds and is in eighth place. Callum has 72k followers and posts videos with his flatmates, on nights out and general uni life.

9. Mack Isaac, Nottingham Trent

Trent student Mack Isaac (@mackisaac) posted a TikTok of moving into uni, and since has posted videos talking about life in lockdown in uni halls, including showing he and his flatmates making a slip-and-slide in their corridor. The video has 10.6k views, and he has 211k followers.

10. Nicholas Alexander, Wolverhampton

Last but not least is Wolverhampton student Nicholas Alexander, aka @mr.miami_uk. From Miami but at uni in the UK, he mainly posts TikTok videos trying British food, including Greggs, Nandos and Terry’s Chocolate Orange. He has 109k followers.

Featured image via Instagram @yelena_zylko @max_balegde @taylorcastroo

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