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How Many People Play League of Legends & Average LoL Player Stats (2024)

Peter Susic Peter Susic
Last updated: 1 year ago
7 min read

League of Legends is still growing in popularity, having over 151 million players worldwide as we speak.

Find out:

  • How many people play League of Legends
  • What is their average age
  • How much professional players earn from tournaments

Did you know that the most successful esports League of Legends player earned $1.5 million from prizes alone? Learn the player’s name below.

How many people play League of Legends

League of Legends monthly players

How popular is League of Legends

League of Legends demographics

League of Legends viewership statistics

League of Legends Player Base Statistics

  • The number of League of Legends monthly players is increasing, reaching 151 million in 2023, which is one million less than in 2022.
  • League of Legends is the fifth most-played game in the world, based on monthly numbers provided by ActivePlayer, beaten by Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, and PUBG.
  • 87% of males, 12% of females, and 1% of non-binaries is the gender distribution of League of Legends players, with most between 21 and 24 years old.
  • While the 2021 championship holds the average views record, the 2022 championship broke the peak concurrent views record, beating the previous 4 million with 5.1 million viewers.
  • League of Legends is the most popular game on Twitch, but only 7th on YouTube and 12th on Facebook Gaming.

How Many People Play League of Legends?

  • Global League of Legends player count is roughly 151 million per month, according to ActivePlayer.
Number of monthly LoL players per years

In 2012, the game already had 70 million registered users, although “only” 32 million monthly players.

YearNumber of average
monthly LoL players
from 2011 to 2022
2023151 million
2022152 million
2021149 million
2020137 million
2019117 million
201875 million
2017100 million
201465 million
201232 million
201111.5 million
(ActivePlayer, RiftFeed)

League of Legends monthly players

  • On average, almost 151 million people play League of Legends up until September 2023.

The numbers in the table represent the average monthly players throughout the entire year:

YearAverage monthly
LoL players
2023150,787,956
2022151,609,154
2021149,312,721
2020136,744,216
2019116,655,965
(ActivePlayer)

Average League of Legends daily players

  • Around 5 million people is playing League of Legends daily in 2022.
YearAverage daily
LoL players
20225,069,411
20214,977,091
20204,558,140
20193,888,532
(ActivePlayer)

Average number of LoL concurrent players?

  • In 2023, the average concurrent (peak) League of Legends player count was 10,052,530.
YearAverage number of
concurrent LoL players
202310,052,530 million
202213,687,409 million
202113,370,644 million
20207,268,869 million
20194,083,635 million
(ActivePlayer)

What’s the highest number of concurrent LOL players?

  • Roughly 14 million concurrent players in February 2022 mark the highest peak number of players in one day.

(ActivePlayer)

However, according to Riot Games, the official record still stands at 8 million.

(Eurogamer)

More player numbers data on:

  • League of Legends is the fifth most-played game in the world.
Most popular games by monthly active players

Based on the average monthly player count.

PUBG, or Player Unknown Battlegrounds, holds first place as the most popular game in the world.

The data is based on the League of Legends player count provided by ActivePlayer.

GameLeague of Legends
monthly active players
PUBG285 million
Fortnite240 million
Roblox210 million
Minecraft180 million
League of
Legends		151 million
Apex
Legends		114 million
Genshin
Impact		65 million
Call of Duty:
Warzone		52 million
Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive		35 million
Valorant22 million
(TWINFINITE, ActivePlayer)

Here’s more info on Valorant player numbers.

How many League of Legends accounts are there?

  • League of Legends has over 150 million registered players in 2022.

As seen in the table above, the video game currently has around 152 monthly players.

There are no official data or estimated numbers available for the period between 2021-2013.

YearRegistered
LoL players
2022150 million
201270 million
201132.5 million
(Riot Games, Riot Games 2)

League of Legends Demographics

  • At 87%, most League of Legends fans are males.

Females represent 12%, with non-binary gamers at 1%.

Percentages are based on an unofficial survey from a Reddit user in 2020, with 3,784 respondents.

GenderPercent of
LoL players
Male87%
Female12%
Non-binary1%
(Reddit)
  • More than 10% of male League of Legends players have been playing for more than 10 years.

Only 4% of women played the game for the same period.

(Reddit)

  • Almost all female League of Legends players choose to play with a female champion.

More accurately, 97% of them decide to pick a female champion.

(INVEN Global)

  • Most League of Legends players are between 21 and 24 years old.
League of Legends players by age

Only 1% of League of Legends players are older than 35.

Age groupPercentage of
LoL players
Under 1810%
18-2027%
21-2437%
25-3022%
31-353%
36 and over1%
(Reddit)
  • 59% of League of Legends players were students in 2020.
  • Around 51% had a job.

Interestingly, players without a job or getting an education were most likely to play League of Legends daily.

LoL player’s
employment
status		Playing
every
day		Several
times
a week		Few
times
a week		Few
times
a month		Even
less
often
Students
(without job)		33%42%16%5%5%
Students
(with job)		26%49%14%7%4%
Full-time
employee		22%48%20%7%4%
Part-time
employee		34%41%19%4%2%
Self-
employment		25%41%23%6%6%
Internship
(paid or
unpaid)		24%55%9%9%4%
Unemployed,
and not in
education		39%39%12%6%5%
(Reddit)
  • At 31%, single League of Legends players were likelier to play every day than those in a relationship (25%).

(Reddit)

  • 26% of people that are interested in League of Legends only watch the streams or championships.

In contrast, 32% of interested people only play the game. 42% play and watch it.

How people
consume LoL		Percentage
Only watch streams26%
Watch streams & play42%
Only play32%
(Newzoo)
  • More than half of League of Legends gamers come from China.

The second largest player base comes from Western Europe.

Country
or region		Number of
LoL players
China75,000,000
West Europe34,830,785
North America27,889,684
South Korea19,822,124
Nord &
East Europe		18,428,816
Brazil11,488,731
Turkey7,727,140
South
America		12,850,533
Russia4,888,207
Oceania2,746,903
Japan1,736,489
(RiftFeed)
  • League of Legends has 9 ranks, with most players (36%) having the “Silver” one.

Only 0.011% of League of Legends players have the “Challenger” rank, the highest in the game.

RankPercentage of LoL
players having the rank
Challenger0.019%
Grandmaster0.044%
Master0.51%
Diamond3%
Platinum12%
Gold24%
Silver29%
Bronze24%
Iron5.4%
(RiftFeed)
  • According to Riot Games, 60% of in-game champions are males.

In the past few years, developers added more female champions than male ones since they want to bring the champion gender ratio to 50/50.

(INVEN Global)

  • The average round in League of Legends lasts between 15 and 40 minutes.

However, round duration can last from merely 5 minutes to 1.5 hours.

(Global Gaming)

  • On average, League of Legends gamers with the highest rank end the game the fastest.

That’s due to the skills and knowledge of the game that these players gained during gameplay.

RankAverage playtime per match
based on the player’s rank
Challenger25 minutes 25 seconds
Grandmaster26 minutes 9 seconds
Master26 minutes 5 seconds
Diamond26 minutes 34 seconds
Platinum28 minutes 5 seconds
Gold28 minutes 16 seconds
Silver29 minutes 15 seconds
Bronze29 minutes 24 seconds
Iron29 minutes 27 seconds
(Global Gaming)

Here’s more data on video games playtime and addiction.

  • Kai’Sa is the most popular League of Legends champion, while Singed is considered the best.

Most people pick Kai’Sa as their champion, having 25.5% popularity. It also has a 50.3%-win rate.

However, champion Singed has the highest win rate at 53.6%, yet only 2.4% of popularity.

(League of Graphs)

Who’s the #1 League of Legends Player?

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is considered the best League of Legends player in the world.

However, the best League of Legends gamers are placed in different gaming roles. Much like in other sports, players often shine in a specific position.

Here’s the table of the best League of Legends players that played at the 2022 World Championship:

In-game
player position		Best
player		SecondThird
Top laneBai “369”
Jia-Hao		Choi “Zeus”
Woo-je		Huang “Wayward”
Ren-Xin
JunglerGao “Tian”
Tian-Liang		Seo “Kanavi”
Jin-hyeok		Han “Peanut”
Wang-ho
Mid laneJeong “Chovy”
Ji-hoon		Li “Xiaohu”
Yuan-Hao		Zhuo “knight”
Ding
AD carryPark “Viper”
Do-hyeon		Yu “JackeyLove”
Wen-Bo		Park “Ruler”
Jae-hyuk
SupportRyu “Keria”
Min-seok		Shi “Ming”
Sen-Ming		Tian “Meiko” Ye
(Nerd Street)

Breadwhatwhat is the highest-ranking League of Legends player.

In-game
nickname		In-game
rank &
points		In-game
wins
Δ DesperateChallenger 2085 LP161 wins
(63.9%)
BreadwhatwhatChallenger 2048 LP130 wins
(67.4%)
overtiredChallenger 2008 LP285 wins
(55.7%)
Deadly MarkChallenger 2004 LP170 wins
(59.6%)
UstanakChallenger 1948 LP171 wins
(61.3%)
STEPZChallenger 1924 LP175 wins
(59.5%)
I cant leashChallenger 1920 LP124 wins
(66.7%)
Doss not worldsChallenger 1915 LP230 wins
(60.2%)
SamkzChallenger 1913 LP135 wins
(64.6%)
Unlimited SwordsChallenger 1886 LP252 wins
(56.8%)
(League of Graphs: September 27th, 2023.
  • Player Oner (real name Hyeon Joon Moon) was the top League of Legends earner in 2022, earning $128,778.

Here’s the total earnings so until September 2023, before the Championship:

In-game nicknamesTotal earnings until
September 2023
Ruler, 369, Knight,
Kanavi, Missing		$114,583
Peyz$68,923
Chovy$68,866
Peanut, Doran,
Delight		$65,136
YaGao, bin,
ON, Elk, XUN		$50,523
Lzq$46,343
Caps, Mikyx,
Hans same,
BrokenBlade,
Yike		$36,482
(Esports Earnings)

The best player in 2022 earned around 18.2% less than the best players in 2021:

In-game nicknamesTotal earnings in 2022
Oner$128,778
Faker, Keria,
Gumayusi, Zeus		$124,664
YaGao$117,416
wei$107,018
369, Kanavi,
Missing, hope		$103,083
Xiaohu,
Ming, Gala		$101,285
(Esports Earnings)

As you can see, the top earners of 2021 were teams that together won a tournament:

In-game nicknamesTotal earnings in 2021
Meiko, Scout, Viper,
Flandre, JieJie		$157,475
BeryL, Khan, ShowMaker,
Canyon, Ghost		$148,051
xiaohu, Ming, Gala,
wei, Cryin		$99,026
Humanoid, Carzzy,
Kaiser, Armut, Elyoya		$62,886
(Esports Earnings)
  • T1 is the most successful League of Legends team, winning 61 tournaments and collecting a total of $8,103,278 in prize money.

These are only the prizes from League of Legends tournaments. A team can have players that play video games other than LoL, winning awards there as well.

Read more on how much esports gamers earn.

Here are the most successful team in League of Legends based on prize pool money collected:

Esports
team		Total prize
earnings
from LoL
tournaments		Number of
tournaments
won		Team’s
origin
country
T1$8,103,27861 tournamentsKorean
Samsung$4,252,04819 tournamentsKorean
Invictus
Gaming		$4,189,14566 tournamentsChina
Royal Never
Give Up		$4,159,58135 tournamentsChina
EDward
Gaming		$3,846,86649 tournamentsChina
Fnatic$3,184,56484 tournamentsUK
G2 Esports$2,712,57362 tournamentsEU
Cloud9$2,351,15485 tournamentsUSA
(Esports Earnings 3)
  • League of Legends 2018 World Championship had the biggest prize pool out of all League of Legends esports championship finals, awarding almost $6.5 million.

Interestingly, the 2022nd World Championship holds 6th place for the prize pool size.

Here’s a list of LoL tournaments with the largest prize pools:

TournamentPrize poolNumber
of teams		Number
of players
2018 World
Championship		$6,450,00024 teams131 players
2016 World
Championship		$5,070,00016 teams86 players
2017 World
Championship		$4,946,96924 teams128 players
2020 World
Championship		$2,340,00025 teams113 players
2019 World
Championship		$2,225,00024 teams127 players
2022 World
Championship		$2,225,00024 teams124 players
2021 World
Championship		$2,180,50022 teams113 players
2014 World
Championship		$2,130,00016 teams82 players
2015 World
Championship		$2,130,00016 teams85 players
Season 3 World
Championship		$2,050,00014 teams70 players
(Esports Earnings 2)

The average salary of a pro League of Legends player

  • The average professional League of Legends player earns $105,000 a year.

(Novint)

  • In LCS (North American League), the average professional League of Legends gamer earns up to $300,000.

The starting salary is $75,000.

(LeagueFeed)

  • The “Faker” is a League of Legends esports player with the highest earnings who earned almost $1.5 million solely from prizes.
South Koreans are the top earners in League of Legends

The table shows esports players’ earnings that are derived only from prizes (no sponsorships or other earnings included).

In-game
nickname		NationalityEarnings
FakerSouth Korea$1,498,711
DukeSouth Korea$1,151,427
BangSouth Korea$1,057,318
WolfSouth Korea$1,053,271
BengiSouth Korea$926,920
JackeyLoveChina$841,011
RookieSouth Korea$735,323
CoreJJSouth Korea$716,738
NingChina$696,766
BaolanChina$684,271
TheShySouth Korea$682,222
XiaohuChina$680,083
RulerSouth Korea$664,007
BlankSouth Korea$655,613
KarsaTaiwan$624,814
AmbitionSouth Korea$596,773
UziChina$595,528
MataSouth Korea$585,456
PerkzCroatia$583,204
CapsDenmark$562,862
(Dexerto)

Who are the oldest League of Legends pro players?

  • The 30-year-old Japanese gamer “Hachamecha” is the oldest professional League of Legends player.

His real name is Zaqueri Black, and he is already playing LoL for the 11th year.

The table also contains players who aren’t currently playing, but they also aren’t officially retired as players.

In-game
nickname		AgeStatus
Xmithie32Coach
Hai31Owner
Hachamecha30Player
Solo30Player
Dimonko30Manager
Ceros29Coach
PromisQ29Support
Vander29Coach
CoreJJ29Support
Darshan28Player
(Leaguepedia)

League of Legends Viewership Statistics

  • League of Legends 2022’s World Championship set the record in peak viewership, breaking the 5 million mark.
2022 League of Legends Championship broke the record with 5+ million peak views

The 2022’s event had 5,147,699 concurrent viewers, which is more than 1 million more than the year before.

League of Legends World Championship views got bigger each year, reaching 73.86 million views in 2021. But 2022 have lower average views as shown in the table below:

YearPeak viewsAverage viewsHours watched
20225,147,699987,437141,943,946
20214,018,7281,298,219174,826,794
20203,882,2521,113,702139,862,354
20193,985,7871,042,341136,980,921
20182,050,475651,17882,428,260
20172,102,206572,94473,623,300
(Escharts)
  • League of Legends is the most-watched game on Twitch, surpassing 8.72 billion hours of watch time.

A distant second is Fortnite, with 5.05 billion hours.

On the other hand, League of Legends is 7th most-watched game on YouTube and only 12th on Facebook Gaming.

Streaming
platform		Popularity of LoL
based on number
of views
Twitch1st place
YouTube7th place
Facebook
Gaming		12th place
(Dotesports, iSkysoft, Streams Charts)
  • The highest average monthly viewership for League of Legends on Twitch was in October 2021, with an average of 280,058 views.

The number of average viewership has been steadily declining after that, with “only” 213,909 views in October 2022.

Here’s the table of Twitch’s average monthly views per year:

YearAverage views
on Twitch
January-
September 2023		149,597
2022177,624
2021198,066
2020177,032
2019127,800
2018112,689
(TwitchTracker)

Conclusion

These were the most interesting League of Legends statistics we could find. As you can see, League of Legends is still one of the most-played multiplayer games, despite being more than a decade old. That’s thanks to promotion, lavish tournaments, and the successful Netflix series Arcane.

Are you a League of Legends player, and how long have you been playing it? Have you ever wanted to play the game professionally? Please let us know in the comments.

Sources: RiftFeed, ActivePlayer, ActivePlayer 2, ActivePlayer 3, ActivePlayer 4, Eurogamer, TWINFINITE, Riot Games, Riot Games 2, Reddit, INVEN Global, Newzoo, Nerd Street, League of Graphs, League of Graphs 2, Novint, LeagueFeed, Dexerto, Escharts, Dotsports, iSkysoft, Streams Charts, TwitchTracker, Leaguepedia, Esports Earnings, Esports Earnings 2, Esports Earnings 3, Global Gaming

4 Comments

  1. 150 000 000 * 0.011 = 1 650 000

    so you want to say that there are 1 650 000 challengers in the game?
    what?

    Reply

    1. Your math is incorrect. You have to divide % by 100. 0.011% is 150 000 000 * 0.00011 = 16500

      Reply

      1. Well , you are right, my bad
        But there another question:
        Per region there are only 300 places in the challenger rank , we have 16 regions , so 16*300 = 4800 (!=16500)
        where is my mistake?

        Reply

        1. That’s a fair point. But it’s not correct. 🙂
          The mistake is assuming all regions have 300 spots. The bigger ones do, but smaller regions also have smaller spot allocations.
          But the biggest miscalculation is using the whole player base (including unranked) to calculate the number of Challenger players. Not all players are ranked. Many play the game unranked.
          So to calculate the actual number of Challenger players, we’d have to know the exact number of Ranked players. But that number changes all the time because new players get Ranked daily.
          Also, we don’t know the time frame when rankings were tracked. If we assume a 1 month time period, one player can gain another lose the Challenger spot in that time. But in that 1 month, both would be Challenger at some point, so that would be shown in the data.

          Reply

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