Welcome to the big post we’ve ever put together here at What’s on Netflix that looks back at the old metrics Netflix used to give us on viewership. Over the years, Netflix has released selective snapshots into its viewership.
Please note: This list is no longer being maintained, given Netflix swapped its viewing metrics. The new list of the all-time top 10 can be found here.
With the new age of streaming, viewership metrics have gone by the wayside. Instead, we get selective “datecdotes” (a phrase coined by the Entertainment Strategy Guy) that gives us a glimpse into viewing figures of certain titles. Netflix is by far the best when it comes to releasing metrics when it comes to streamers but even then, it’s often criticized.
With thanks to the “data squad” on Twitter who helps us find all the new data released by Netflix including The Entertainment Strategy Guy, The Netflix Film Project, Films De Lovers, Brandon Katz from Observer, and Julia Alexander from IGN.
Top 10 Most Watched Netflix Originals (according to Netflix released figures)
In terms of the top 10 most-watched titles in Netflix history (using first month metrics, not lifetime), here they are:
English Language Netflix Original Movie Top 10
- Extraction – 99 million views
- Bird Box – 89 million views
- Spenser Confidential – 85 million views
- 6 Underground – 83 million views
- Murder Mystery – 83 million views
- The Old Guard – 78 million views
- Enola Holmes – 76 million views
- Project Power – 75 million views
- Army of the Dead – 75 million views
- Fatherhood – 74 million views
English Language Netflix Original TV Shows Top 10
- Bridgerton S1 – 82 million views
- The Witcher S1 – 76 million views
- Maid – 67 million views
- Sex/Life S1 – 67 million views
- Stranger Things S3 – 64 million views
- Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness – 64 million views
- The Queen’s Gambit – 62 million views
- Sweet Tooth – 60 million views
- Emily in Paris – 58 million views
- Fate: The Winx Saga – 57 million views
Non-English Language Netflix Originals
Note: we’ve excluded Money Heist S3 and Airplane Mode which would’ve ranked in this list but the stats provided are 70%, not 2-minutes.
- Squid Game (Season 1) – 142 million views
- Lupin S1 & S2 (French) – 70 million views & 54 million views respectively
- Money Heist S5 & S4 (Spanish) – 69 million & 65 million views respectively
- The Platform (Portuguese) – 56 million views
- Who Killed Sara? (Spanish – Mexico) – 55 & 34 million views respectively
- Blood Red Sky (German) – 53 million views
- Below Zero (Spanish) – 47 million views
- Barbarians (German) – 37 million views
- Lost Bullet (French) – 37 million views
- Elite S4 (Spanish) – 37 million views
Without further ado, here’s a list of every metric Netflix has announced so far which we’ll keep updated over time.
How does Netflix measure viewership? Up until 2020, Netflix’s viewership figures in the past counted where a user watched 70% of the movie/series. Now, viewership counts if someone watches two minutes of a title. It did offer up a comparison between the new and old metric which allows us to do an adjusted viewership rate although there are major caveats to that.
This list will once again change in late 2021. Netflix is moving to an “hours watched” way of viewership metric akin to the likes of Nielsen. They’ve already released various viewing hours for shows and movies which we’ve included below where available.
Full List of Viewership Totals for Netflix Series & Movies
2-Minutes Viewed Within 28 Days Stats
Note: all of the below are 2-minute stats.
Maid
Type: Limited Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 1st, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 19th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 67,000,000 (estimated)
The Guilty
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 1st, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 69,000,000 (estimated)
Squid Game
Type: Series
Language: Korean
Released on Netflix: September 17th, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of viewers: 142,000,000 actual – 111 million as of October 12th
Sex Education (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 17th, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of viewers: 55,000,000
La Casa de Papel / Money Heist (Season 5)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: September 3rd, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of viewers: 69,000,000
Sweet Girl
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 20th, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 68,000,000
He’s All That
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 27th, 2021
Statistic Announced: September 8th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 55 million (estimated)
Alongside the announcement of TikTok star Addison Rae signing a new film deal with Netflix they also dropped an estimation for the new rom-com that did horribly in reviews but apparently well in viewership.
The Kissing Booth 3
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 11th, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 59,000,000
Vivo
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 6th, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 46,000,000
Blood Red Sky
Type: Movie
Language: German
Released on Netflix: July 23rd, 2021
Statistic Announced: October 18th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 53,000,000
Sex/Life
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 25th, 2021
Statistic Announced: September 27th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 67,000,000
Manifest
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 10th, 2021
Statistic Announced: September 15th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 25,000,000
Only available in Netflix in the US & Canada.
Sweet Tooth
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 4th, 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 65,000,000
The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 5th, 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 19,000,000
The Circle (Seasons 1 & 2)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: January 1st, 2020 & April 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 29,000,000 & 14,000,000 respectively
Fatherhood
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 18th, 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 74,000,000 actual – 61,000,000 estimated
The Mitchells Vs. The Machines
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 30th, 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 53,000,000
Scored the accolade at the time of being the biggest animation feature film release for Netflix.
Thunder Force
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 9th, 2021
Statistic Announced: April 23rd, 2021
Number of Viewers: 52,000,000 estimated
Elite (Season 4)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: June 18th, 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of viewers: 37,000,000
Notably up over previous seasons.
Who Killed Sara? (Season 2)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: May 19th, 2021
Statistic Announced: July 20th, 2021
Number of viewers: 34,000,000
Down from 55M for season 1.
Shadow and Bone
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 23rd, 2021
Statistic Announced: June 7th, 2021
Number of Viewers: 55,000,000
Army of the Dead
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 21st, 2021
Statistic Announced: May 28th, 2021 (predicted stat) – July 20th, 2021 (actual)
Number of Viewers: 75,000,000 actual – 72,000,000 estimated
Hours Viewed: 187 million
Emily in Paris
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 2nd, 2020
Statistic announced: May 3rd, 2021
Number of viewers: 58,000,000
Cited as the “most popular comedy in 2020”, this statistic came alongside the announcement that filming had begun on season 2.
The Duchess
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 11th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 2021
Number of viewers: 10,000,000
This is the lowest figure released to the public thus far albeit with the caveat that it was said by the creator and lead actress of the show, not Netflix.
Firefly Lane
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: February 3rd, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 49,000,000
Fate: The Winx Saga
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: January 22nd, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 57,000,000
Ginny & Georgia
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: February 24th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 52,000,000
Hours Viewed: 381 million
Outside the Wire
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: January 15th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 66,000,000
I Care A Lot
Type: Movie
Language: Movie
Released on Netflix: February 19th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 56,000,000
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 3
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: February 12th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 51,000,000
Spacer Sweepers
Type: Movie
Language: Korean
Released on Netflix: February 5th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 26,000,000
Squared Love
Type: Movie
Language: Polish
Released on Netflix: February 11th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 31,000,000
Who Killed Sara?
Type: Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: March 20th, 2021
Statistic announced: April 20th, 2021 (Q1 2021 investor letter)
Number of viewers: 55,000,000 (estimated)
This title was also mentioned to be “our most popular non-English title ever in the US in its first 28 days” at the time.
Yes Day
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: March 12th, 2021
Statistic announced: March 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 53,000,000 (later revised up to 62,000,000 in the Q1 2021 investor letter)
Below Zero
Type: Movie
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: January 29th, 2021
Statistic announced: March 5th, 2021
Number of viewers: 46,000,000 (revised up to 47,000,000 in the Q1 investor letter)
Daughter from Another Mother
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: January 20th, 2021
Statistic announced: February 22nd, 2021
Number of viewers: 23,000,000
Netflix’s expansion into Mexican productions was seen to be paying dividends with this comedy sitcom series reportedly reaching 23 million households. In addition, the series “was in the Top 10 in 32 countries – including Brazil, Spain and Argentina – and spent 17 days as #1 in Mexico’s Top 10.”
The White Tiger
Type: Movie
Language: English/Hindi
Released on Netflix: January 22nd, 2021
Statistic announced: February 5th, 2021
Number of viewers: 27,000,000
The White Tiger is now the biggest title to come out of India so far with 27 million households estimated to have checked out the movie worldwide with it trending in the top 10 lists in 64 countries.
Alice in Borderland
Type: TV Series
Language: Japanese
Released on Netflix: December 10th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 18,000,000
The Japanese sci-fi drama was almost instantaneously renewed for a second season.
Sweet Home
Type: TV Series
Language: Korean
Released on Netflix: December 18th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 22,000,000
Netflix has said that watching of Korean shows on Netflix went up by 100% in 2020 largely thanks to its output deals with distributors from the country. Sweet Home is one of its big series for the year which scored 22M views.
The Christmas Chronicles Part 2
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: November 25th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 61,000,000
Kurt Russell’s return as Saint Nick appeared to be a big hit for Netflix again for Christmas 2020.
It’s hard to compare this movie to the first week given we only ever got the first week’s worth of viewership (which was 20 million and apparently the “equivalent of a $200 million opening week”).
Just Another Christmas
Type: Movie
Language: Portuguese
Released on Netflix: December 3rd, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 26,000,000
Brazillian Christmas-themed movie that apparently broke out of its home country to become a hit.
Holidate
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 28th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 68,000,000
The first major Christmas movie of 2020 saw 68 million people check it out demonstrating once again that holiday-themed titles and rom-coms have a huge platform on Netflix.
We Can Be Heroes
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 25th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 53,000,000
The Robert Rodriguez kids movie that is a sequel to The Adventures of Lava Girl and Sharkboy surpassed many people’s expectations and scored over 50M views. What’s interesting about this one is that Netflix decided to move the movie up to Christmas day from New Years Day. Did that help propel this movie?
The stat was announced in the Q4 2020 investor results.
Over the Moon
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 23rd, 2020
Statistic announced: January 19th, 2021
Number of viewers: 43,000,000
Netflix’s flagship animated feature of 2020 directed by Glen Keane scored 43M viewers which is up from The Willoughby’s 38M.
The stat was announced in the Q4 2020 investor results.
Lupin (Season 1 & 2)
Type: TV Series
Language: French
Released on Netflix: January 8th, 2021 & June 11th, 2021
Statistic announced: January 18th, 2021 & July 20th, 2021
Number of viewers: 70,000,000 & 54,000,000
The French series Lupin scored a fantastic opening on Netflix with it becoming the most-watched French series and even beat out Money Heist part 4.
Selena: The Series
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 4th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 15th, 2021
Number of viewers: 25,000,000
The series that looks back on the life of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez scored 25 million views with 50% of those views originating out of the United States.
Cobra Kai (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: January 1st, 2021
Statistic announced: January 12th, 2021
Number of viewers: 41,000,000 (later revised up to 45,000,000 in the Q1 investor release)
Season three of Cobra Kai was the first full Netflix Original season of the show Netflix picked up from YouTube Premium and looks like it hit the mark despite being retaken on the top 10s by Bridgerton.
In addition to the headline stat, Netflix also revealed that 73 million have checked out the show on Netflix in total.
Kevin Hart: Zero F*cks Given
Type: Comedy Special
Language: English
Released on Netflix: November 17th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 11th, 2021
Number of viewers: 21,000,000
Alongside the announcement that Netflix is entering into an output deal with Kevin Hart’s production company, Netflix also revealed “More than 21 million accounts chose to watch in the first four weeks”. In addition, the special was also the number 1 special for the entirety of 2020.
The Midnight Sky
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 23rd, 2020
Statistic announced: December 31st, 2020
Number of viewers: 72,000,000
The new George Clooney movie is predicted to have 72 million viewers in its first month making it one of the most-watched Netflix Original movies to date.
Bridgerton
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 25th, 2020
Statistic announced: January 4th, 2021
Number of viewers: 82,000,00 actual – 63,000,000 estimated
Hours Viewed: 625 million
The debut show from Shonda Rhime’s production company and her output deal hit the mark and was estimated to hit 63 million households and holds the accolade of being the fifth biggest Original series of all time.
The Crown (Season 4)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: November 15th, 2020
Statistic announced: November 25th, 2021
Number of viewers: 29,000,000
This stat was never confirmed by Netflix themselves rather published by The Sun so isn’t verified.
Assuming this stat is correct, Netflix managed to improve the viewership by 8 million from season three. In the Q4 2020 investor release, Netflix said:
“Season four of the critically acclaimed The Crown was the biggest season so far and drove new watchers of prior seasons. In its first 28 days, more member households chose to watch season four of The Crown than each of the prior seasons, helping to grow the number of member households that have chosen to watch this series to over 100m since its initial launch.”
The Queen’s Gambit
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 23rd, 2020
Statistic announced: November 23rd, 2020
Number of viewers: 62,000,000
The Queen’s Gambit was one of the biggest surprises of 2020 for Netflix and now carries the award at being the biggest scripted series on Netflix to date.
Netflix also gave out some additional stats:
- The series made the Top 10 in 92 countries & ranked #1 in 63 countries
- The novel has entered The New York Times bestseller list, 37 years after its release
- Google searches for “How To Play Chess” have hit a nine-year peak
The Social Dilemma
Type: Documentary
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 9th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 27th, 2020
Number of viewers: 38,000,000
Announced via Instagram, the documentary is the second biggest Netflix has ever released with the team saying:
“Since our September 9th launch, 38 million households have watched ‘The Social Dilemma’ to make it the #2 most-watched documentary film on Netflix! We are overwhelmed with gratitude. THANK YOU to all who have watched and invited others into a conversation about our social dilemma. Imagine if all 38 million+ voices joined together to help change how tech is designed, regulated, and used. “
Barbarians
Type: TV Series
Language: German
Released on Netflix: October 23rd, 2020
Statistic announced: November 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 37,000,000
This German limited series featured a big budget and some excellent writing and clearly made
Some estimates put the German Netflix subscriber count at around 8 million meaning this is one of the shows that has managed to travel well outside of the origin country.
Cobra Kai (Season 1)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 28th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 50,000,000
Cobra Kai is an interesting case study given that it’s the first statistic announced for an acquired show which originally aired on YouTube Premium.
Netflix added both seasons one and two over the summer and season three came in January 2021.
Although it’s by no means in the first month, the first episode on YouTube Premium accrued close to 100,000,000 as of January 2021.
Feel the Beat
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 19th, 2020
Statistic Announced: –
Number of Viewers: 38,000,000
The Half Of It
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 1st, 2020
Statistic Announced: –
Number of Viewers: 30,000,000
American Murder: The Family Next Door
Type: Documentary
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 30th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 52,000,000
We’ve always heard how murder documentaries do well on Netflix but no actual data to back that up. That’s until American Murder hit Netflix and seems to be the most-watched documentary so far.
Enola Holmes
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 23rd, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 76,000,000
Hours Viewed: 190 million
Millie Bobby Brown is a rating juggernaut for Netflix given her involvement with Stranger Things. The Netflix acquired Netflix Original movie continued to show her draw with 76 million choosing to watch.
Lucifer (Season 5 – Part 1)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 21st, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 38,000,000
What was supposed to be the first half of the final season demonstrated why Netflix ended up giving Lucifer a sixth season. Thirty-eight million according to the Q3 2020 earnings report tuned into to watch the first half of season five.
The Kissing Booth 2
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: July 24th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 66,000,000
Hours Watched: 209 million
Rom-coms are another genre of movie that Netflix keeps investing in and that’s backed up by the big views the sequel to The Kissing Booth raked in.
The Umbrella Academy (Season 2)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: July 31st, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 43,000,000
The Umbrella Academy we dare say is perhaps the biggest superhero series on Netflix as of 2020.
Statistics weren’t available for the first season so unfortunately, we can’t say whether this is dramatically more people than watched the first.
Project Power
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: August 14th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 75,000,000
Action movies dominated the Netflix Original movie lineup over the summer and the viewership shows why Netflix is putting such emphasis on the genre.
Ratched
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 18th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 48,000,000
Dubbed as the first hit from Ryan Murphy’s huge output for the service but isn’t technically a full Netflix Original. Either way, Ratched lit up the stats throughout most of September 2020.
Dark Desire (Season 1)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: July 15th, 2020
Statistic Announced: August 19th, 2020
Number of viewers: 35,000,000
Breaking another record at the time was the release of the steam Mexican series Dark Desire which got a second season announcement alongside a viewing stat.
The Old Guard
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: July 10th, 2020
Statistic Announced: July 18th, 2020
Number of Viewers: 72,000,000 in July – revised up to 78 million in October 2020
Hours Viewed: 186 million
The Charlize Theron action movie was reportedly on track at the time to hit 72M views but was later revised to 78M.
Lost Bullet
Type: Movie
Language: French
Released on Netflix: June 19th, 2020
Statistic Announced: July 22nd, 2020
Number of Viewers: 37,000,000
The Platform
Type: Movie
Language: Spanish / Italian
Released on Netflix: March 20th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 15th, 2020
Number of viewers: 56,000,000
The Platform viewing stats slipped into a Bloomberg article which, at the time, covered the 10 most-watched titles.
Da 5 Bloods
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 12th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 27,000,000
Spike Lee’s first feature film for Netflix.
The Wrong Missy
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 13th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 59,000,000
Never Have I Ever
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 27th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Space Force
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 29th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Too Hot to Handle
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 17th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 51,000,000
Floor is Lava
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: June 19th, 2020
Statistic Announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 37,000,000
Raising Dion
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 4th, 2019
Statistic announced: June 8th, 2020
Number of viewers: 32,000,000
60% of the views for Raising Dion came from outside of the United States.
American Son
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: November 1st, 2019
Statistic Announced: June 8th, 2020
Number of viewers: 17,000,000
American Son reportedly performed well in France, Africa, Mexico, and Latin America. Non-U.S. subscribers made up 46% of the total viewing.
The Willoughbys
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 22nd, 2020
Statistic Announced: May 22nd, 2020
Number of viewers: 37,600,000 – first month – later quoted as 38,000,000
The Willoughbys was one of the animated movies released during the COVID-19 outbreak and as a result, saw impressive viewing stats.
Based on released figures, it’s the most-watched Netflix Original animated feature thus far with 7.6 million more views than the Christmas hit, Klaus.
Just a day before the announcement, Ricky Gervais on a live-stream was blown away with the statistics.
The Last Dance
Type: Limited Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 22nd, 2020
Statistic Announced: May 22nd, 2020
Number of viewers: 37,600,000 – first month
Important note: at the time, this number only applies to Netflix outside the US (US received The Last Dance at a later date)
This was a strange flex for Netflix and one of the first times Netflix has released viewing figures for a co-production or a title with exclusive international distribution rights.
Perhaps the key thing here is that more people watched The Last Dance (or at least sampled) abroad where basketball often isn’t a mainstream sport, than ESPN in America where it is.
The Decline
Type: Movie
Language: French
Released on Netflix: March 27th, 2020
Statistic Announced: May 15th, 2020
Number of viewers: 21,000,000
It’s rare for us to get a scoop on how well a title is doing that’s not English (besides Money Heist, of course) so it was a rare insight when La Presse revealed that 21 million had watched The Decline.
What’s most interesting is that 95% of the views came outside of the country the movie was produced for. The Spanish version was the most-watched according to this report.
Extraction
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 24th, 2020
Statistic announced: May 2nd, 2020
Number of viewers: 90,000,000 original projection / 99,000,000 actual later confirmed
Hours Viewed: 231 million
The Chris Hemsworth movie topped all charts when it was revealed in early May that the action-packed thrill ride scored the biggest film premiere for Netflix thus far.
The projected 90 million views are for the first four weeks of release.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: March 6th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: 64,000,000
The year is 2020 and there are two things you can’t stop hearing about in the early parts of the year. The coronavirus and the Tiger King.
This documentary took the world by storm but that’s not necessarily reflected in the viewing figures. That’s not giving Tiger King its dues though, as it’s still the most-watched docu-series on Netflix.
Money Heist (Part 4)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: April 3rd, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: 65,000,000 (projected & actual)
Hours Viewed: 619 million
The Spanish series continues to be Netflix’s darling series as it racks up an impressive 65M projected views around the globe.
Adjusted to the pre-2 minute metric, it has pulled in about as much the same as Money Heist part three, but that’s likely not a fair comparison.
Love Is Blind
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: February 13th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: 30,000,000
Love is Blind sets a new benchmark for reality TV series on Netflix as it’s the first metric we’ve had from the genre.
Spenser Confidential
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: March 6th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: 85,000,000
Hours Viewed: 197 million
Ozark (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: March 27th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21th, 2020
Number of viewers: 29,000,000
This is the first time we’ve been given a glimpse into the streaming numbers for Ozark.
The excellent drama is often compared to Breaking Bad and is easily one of the shining jewels in the Netflix Original drama crown.
This number translates into one of the biggest shows for Netflix given it can command such a strong number in its third season. It beats Stranger Things S3 (although that’s based on the old metric) although it’s five million shy of Money Heist’s third season.
Airplane Mode
Type: Movie
Language: Portuguese
Released on Netflix: January 23rd, 2020
Statistic Announced: February 28th, 2020
Number of viewers: 28,000,000
In February 2020, Netflix announced that the Portuguese movie, Airplane Mode is the most popular non-English movie the streamer has produced thus far.
In a Tweet on February 27th, 2020 Netflix said the following:
AIRPLANE MODE is the most popular non-English film on Netflix so far! Nearly 28 million households watched the film since it premiered four weeks ago — two thirds of them in countries including the US, Mexico, France and Germany.
A Fall From Grace
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: January 17th, 2020
Statistic Announced: February 3rd, 2020
Number of viewers: 26,000,000
Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace was a thriller movie that quietly dropped on Netflix in the first month of the year.
Promotion for this title was nowhere near the level of some of the other titles on this list so it demonstrates how a title can do well purely based on word of mouth and the famous algorithm.
It got massive views despite having some awful reviews particularly from critics where it sits at 34/100.
The Witcher (Season 1)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 20th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 76,000,000
Hours Viewed: 541 million
Percentage of Subscribers: 43.09%
Based on the novel series and video game of the same name, we knew The Witcher was going to be big from the early days. Each of the trailers consistently was the highest viewed on Netflix’s YouTube channel and people were looking for their next Game of Thrones fix.
When Netflix released this stat (which saw the series added to the top five most-watched titles in Netflix history) it also noted how the book series also was struggling to keep up with the new demand.
6 Underground
Type: Movies
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 20th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of Viewers: ~83,000,000
Hours Watched: 205 milli0n
Percentage of Subscribers: 49.67%
Despite relatively mediocre reviews, the movie was sure to be a big hit given the fact it combines Ryan Reynolds with explosions, all wrapped up in an easy to digest format.
This metric covers the first four weeks of viewing.
You (Season 2)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 26th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: 54,000,000
Hours Viewed: 457 million
Percentage of Subscribers: 32.32%
Twelve million more people watched season two of You than season one in its first four weeks, which shows the series has the legs to keep audiences interested and has attracted more viewers long after the initial release of You.
It’s worth noting that only several weeks of data were available to Netflix and this number is based on their estimates.
The Crown (Season 3)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: November 17th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 202 0
Number of viewers: ~21,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 12.57%
Netflix’s golden series The Crown which covers the life of Queen Elizabeth finally got some stats revealed in early 2020. The show’s statistics had previously not been known.
Additional viewership insights were also provided. This includes the fact 73 million people in total have chosen to watch at least one episode of The Crown. It also revealed that the viewership of season three was 40% up over season two.
70% of title watched statistics
All the titles listed below are on Netflix’s old metric which is measured based on 70% of the show/movie being watched.
Klaus
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: November 11th, 2019
Metric announced: December 19th, 2019
Number of viewers: ~30,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: ~18.95%
It’s a personal pleasure to see Klaus doing well. The animated holiday movie is spectacularly animated and we’ve heard was passed on by multiple studios. At least for us, it’s going to be a yearly tradition diving into the movie. It’s worth noting the 30 million number is technically at the top end and the stat covers the first month, not the first seven days.
Beyond a Nielson number for The Christmas Chronicles (which appears to have had more viewers than Klaus), this is the first metric Netflix has released for a Christmas title.
The Irishman
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: November 27th, 2019
Metric announced: December 10th, 2019
Number of viewers: 26,404,081 (70% – first week) – 64,000,000 (2 minutes – first month)
Hours Viewed: 215 million
Percentage of Subscribers: 16.68%
Netflix spent hundreds of millions on The Irishman which looks to be its best chance yet at getting its first movie Oscar.
Speculation as to whether The Irishman would have its stats revealed have been ongoing for weeks given the size of the project.
Given the length, that’s an extraordinary number given that you have to watch 70% of the movie to be considered within that number.
The House of Flowers (Season 2)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: October 18th, 2019
Metric announced: November 1st, 2019
Number of viewers: 6,219,547 – first-week metric
Street Flow
Type: Movie
Language: French
Released on Netflix: October 11th, 2019
Metric announced: October 23rd, 2019
Number of viewers: 2,600,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 1.64%
This French movie released in October 2019 proves that Netflix is making a dent in individual countries. The movie may seem like it had a low viewership but when you consider Netflix France has six million subs total, that’s nearly half of subscribers in the region.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: October 11th, 2019
Metric announced: October 23rd, 2019
Number of viewers: 25,734,392
Percentage of Subscribers: 16.25%
The movie follow-up to the end of the Breaking Bad series scored big with Netflix. The number reflects the first week of viewing and worldwide.
Tall Girl
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 13th, 2019
Metric announced: September 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 41,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 25.9%
Tall Girl is a romantic comedy (one of the many you’ll notice on this list) that scored well with the younger generation. It had a huge social media presence particularly on the likes of Snapchat and TikTok. The figure reflects the first 28 days of viewing worldwide.
Unbelievable (Limited Series)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 13th, 2019
Metric announced: September 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 32,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 20.21%
The incredibly produced limited series caught a lot of attention particularly thanks to its first episode. The number reflects its first 28 days (first month) on Netflix worldwide.
Money Heist (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: July 17th, 2019
Metric announced: August 2nd, 2019
Number of viewers: ~44,000,000 (34,355,956 first week)
Percentage of Subscribers: 21.7%
Kidnapping Stella
Type: Movie
Language: German
Released on Netflix: July 12th, 2019
Metric announced: August 20th, 2019
Number of viewers: 18,895,873
Percentage of Subscribers: 11.93%
German thriller movie which to our knowledge is the first metric released for a non-English movie on Netflix.
Stranger Things (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: July 4th, 2019
Metric announced: July 11th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,700,000 (later revised up to 64,000,000 and revised again for Q3 2021 to 67,000,000)
Hours Viewed: 582 million
Percentage of Subscribers: 16.67%
Murder Mystery
Type: TV Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: July 4th, 2019
Metric announced: July 11th, 2019
Number of viewers: 73,000,000 (70% metric) – 83,000,000 (2 minute metric)
Percentage of Subscribers: 48.17%
Hours Viewed: 170 million
Murder Mystery – Adam Sandler’s biggest Netflix movie to date
Best-performing Adam Sandler movie on Netflix to date. In the first three days, 13.4 million views came from accounts in the US and Canada and 17.5 million worldwide.
Always Be My Maybe
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 31st, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 32,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 20.21%
When They See Us (Limited Series)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 31st, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 25,000,000 on old metric – 31,000,000 on new metric
Percentage of Subscribers: 15.79%
Ava Duvernay’s groundbreaking limited series about the Central Park Five scored big with audiences when it released in May 2019. The number above represents the first month of figures. We should also note Netflix said “most-watched series in the U.S. every day since through at least June 12”.
In a later report, we learned that some of the regions that particularly enjoyed When They See Us including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Benelux countries, and Africa.
Dead To Me (Season 1)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: May 3rd, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 30,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 18.95%
The Perfect Date
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 12th, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 48,000,000 (70% metric) – 55,000,000 (2 minute metric)
Percentage of Subscribers: 30.32%
Our Planet (Limited Series)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: April 5th, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 33,000,000 (100,000,000 lifetime)
Percentage of Subscribers: 20.84%
In an update in March 2021, Netflix gave an update on the viewing figures saying it had reached 100,000,000 people over the lifetime so far of the series. That represents just shy of half of every Netflix subscriber.
The Highwaymen
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: March 29th, 2019
Metric announced: April 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 26.39%
Triple Frontier
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: March 13th, 2019
Metric announced: April 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 52,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 34.31%
Umbrella Academy (Season 1)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: February 15th, 2019
Metric announced: April 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 45,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 29.69%
Sex Education (Season 1)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: January 11th, 2019
Metric announced: January 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 28.72%
You (Season 1)
Type: Series
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 26th, 2019
Metric announced: January 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 28.72%
Bird Box
Type: Movie
Language: English
Released on Netflix: December 21st, 2018
Metric announced: December 30th, 2018
Number of viewers: 45,000,000 first 7 days (70%), 80 million projected (70%), 89,000,000 confirmed (2 minutes)
Hours Viewed: 282 million
Percentage of Subscribers: 57.45%
Elite (Season 1)
Type: TV Series
Language: Spanish
Released on Netflix: October 5th, 2018
Metric announced: January 17th, 2018
Number of viewers: 20,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 14.36%
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Type: Documentary
Language: English
Released on Netflix: September 18th, 2018
Metric announced: January 17th, 2018
Number of viewers: 20,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 14.36%
If you’d like to see our full spreadsheet of figures, please refer to our Google Docs here.
The only title we haven’t included above is the fact that Orange is the New Black was announced to have been started by 105 million accounts. That roughly represents every 2 in 3 people with a Netflix account.
In July 2021 Netflix announced Stranger Things in total had been sampled by 196 million households.
Some of the earliest anecdotal data evidence came in April 2013 when Reed Hastings noted that Hemlock Grove’s viewership was higher than House of Cards.
If you’re looking for some more analysis on some of the more recent viewing stats and how to read into them, the Entertainment Strategy Guy has you covered.
Netflix Synopsis: "Eight thieves take hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his plan."
