There are a million and one correct reasons why "corporate sponsored tumblr influencer making money" would never work. But one reason which I rarely see mentioned is that, for every Popular Post By Popular Tumblr User, only a small percentage of its notes came directly from source. The rest came from spread.
Like I genuinely think there is no singular Tumblr user with enough active followers to produce a Popular Post without reblogs that breach well outside their circle. There's a few who could probably get a ~1,000 note likes-only post on a post with reblogs disabled. Which is really not doing numbers compared to some standard-fare tumblr post like "enjoying my penits and crackerjacks" with 10,000 notes from some OP with 300 followers.
Posts cannot do numbers without the broader tumblr community's say-so. And the vast majority of those people do not give a shit about any single OP. And a single OP, even with top-tier follower count, could never generate post escape-velocity by shilling bullshit no one wants to people who are actively hostile to advertising.
Tumblr is the world's only true democracy
