A lot of the 2016'ers have large numbers of followers. That's because they also have large amounts of Steem Power. People gravitate to their blogs in hopes of upvotes. Then there is a small number of superior content producers who may have started much later. Others may have been very popular on other social media before starting on Steem.

Otherwise, organic growth is the faster the better your content, the more powerful your supporters and the better you market it and the more money you spend on purchasing Steem Power.