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Netflix reveals top 10 rankings of most popular shows and movies

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Netflix has revealed rankings of its most popular original TV shows and movies, measured by hours-watched during the first month of release.

The streaming platform, who have been hesitant about releasing worthwhile viewing statistics in the past, have published the “most comprehensive look so far” at the service’s most popular shows and movies.

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Speaking at Vox Media’s Code Conference (via Variety), Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos said: “We’re trying to be more transparent with talent, with the market.”

Two different rankings were shown during the conference. The first highlighted the most popular Netflix shows, based on the number of accounts that selected a given title in the first 28 days of release and streamed for at least two minutes. As this doesn’t account for people who dropped off from a series following the opening minutes, it’s far from a reliable metric of the platform’s most popular shows.

Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown
Millie Bobby Brown in ‘Stranger Things’ CREDIT: Netflix

In a first for Netflix, however, a second list showed the total time spent viewing by hours within the initial 28-day window. Bridgerton topped the rankings with 625 million hours watched, followed by Spanish crime drama series Money Heist (part four) at 619 million and Stranger Things season three at 582 million.

Bird Box starring Sandra Bullock topped the original films list at 282 million hours, followed by Extraction (231 million) and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (215 million).

You can check out Netflix’s full rankings by hours-watched within the first 28 days below.

Netflix’s most popular TV shows

  1. Bridgerton, season one – 625 million hours
  2. Money Heist, part four – 619 million hours
  3. Stranger Things, season three – 582 million hours
  4. The Witcher, season one – 541 million hours
  5. 13 Reasons Why, season two – 496 million hours
  6. 13 Reasons Why, season one – 476 million hours
  7. You, season two – 457 million hours
  8. Stranger Things, season two – 427 million hours
  9. Money Heist, part three – 426 million hours
  10. Ginny & Georgia, season one – 381 million hours

Netflix’s most popular original films

  1. Bird Box – 282 million hours
  2. Extraction – 231 million hours
  3. The Irishman – 215 million hours
  4. The Kissing Booth 2 – 209 million hours
  5. 6 Underground – 205 million hours
  6. Spenser Confidential – 197 million hours
  7. Enola Holmes – 190 million hours
  8. Army of the Dead – 187 million hours
  9. The Old Guard – 186 million hours
  10. Murder Mystery – 170 million hours

While it’s a better metric than Netflix’s past data releases, the hours-watched measurement still has some flaws – notably that it favours films and TV seasons which have longer runtimes.

Over the past few years Netflix has started to open up about the popularity of its releases, as shown by the addition of a top 10 trending ranking of the most popular shows and movies within the service.







The above list, however, doesn’t factor in the recent popularity of Korean series Squid Game which, according to Sarandos, has a “very good chance” of being Netflix’s most popular show.

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