Justin Bieber hits 16 million Twitter followers on New Year's Day

Singer Justin Bieber is ringing in the new year with a massive social media following; he now has more than 16 million followers on Twitter. Bieber is grateful to his fans for getting him to where he is today.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2012, Bieber became the second human on earth to amass that figure. Lady Gaga was the first. At time of writing, Bieber is now approaching 16,010,000 followers. Not bad for a kid who three years ago was a 14-year-old busker on the streets of Stratford, Ontario. Bieber hit 12 million followers in late August and has been gaining more at an increasingly rapid pace since. On New Year's Day he tweeted about reaching 16 million followers, replying to fans saying, "2012 is going to be so good. #16millionbeliebers, and I can already tell this year will be as good if not better than 2011." Famecount Tracks Twitter, Facebook and Youtube The stats come from Famecount.com, a site that "generates statistics across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to help you track the trends and rank the stars." Bieber is in the lead when it comes to being viewed on Youtube, with more than 2.2 billion Youtube views. The top 10 Twitter users by follower count are: Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears, Shakira, U.S. President Barack Obama, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. Justin Bieber behind Lady Gaga It may only be a matter of time until Bieber catches Lady Gaga in Twitter followers, although she has lead for more than a year and is currently 1.5 million followers ahead. That said, Bieber is gaining more daily followers than Gaga right now though, a stat that tends to fluctuate depending on how much media attention the artist is generating. With the recent release of 'Under the Mistletoe' Bieber got lots of press and lots of new followers. Bieber will soon be back working on another new album, 'Believe', and if he hasn't got her by the time the record comes out he might do so then. Given his flair for finding dramatic days to hit milestones perhaps he'll pass her on March 1, his 18th birthday.