Four 2022 shows among Netflix’s most-watched of all time

Omoleye Omoruyi
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On November 16, 2021, Netflix launched the “Top10 on Netflix” – a website with weekly global and country lists of the most popular titles (films or TV). 

“Top 10 on Netflix” publishes new lists every Tuesday based on hours viewed from Monday to Sunday the previous week for both originals and licensed titles. The lists are broken down into Global Top 10 lists for Films (English), TV (English), Films (Non-English) and TV (Non-English), as well as TV and Film rankings for over 90 countries. 

The charts represent an unprecedented treasure of data about what’s popular on the streaming platform. And it’s meant to help subscribers better understand the biggest hits on the streaming service, hoping you’ll discover something new to watch.

A ranking of all-time most watched titles also lives on the site, detailing shows with the most viewing hours in their first 28 days of release. Netflix also has these split into films in English, TV in English, films in non-English, and TV in non-English.

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Netflix’s most-watched movies

Find Netflix’s most-watched movies as of December 20 in the table below, based on the platform’s reporting of total hours viewed in the first 28 days of each title’s release. 

Netflix's most-watched movies, ranked - Red Notice
Red Notice (PHOTO: Netflix)
TitleRelease date/countryHours watched
Red Notice November 5, 2021 (Nigeria)364 million hours
Don’t Look UpDecember 10, 2021 (Nigeria)359.8 million hours
Bird BoxDecember 14, 2018 (USA)282 million hours
The Gray ManJuly 15, 2022 (Nigeria)253.9 million hours
The Adam ProjectInitial: February 28, 2022233.2 million hours
ExtractionInitial: April 24, 2020231.3 million hours
Purple HeartsInitial: July 29, 2022228.7 million hours
The UnforgivableNovember 25, 2021 (Germany)214.7 million hours
The IrishmanNovember 1, 2019 (USA)214.6 million hours
The Kissing Booth 2Initial: July 24, 2020209.3 million hours
Netflix’s most-watched movies ranked
Netflix's most-watched movies, ranked
Extraction (PHOTO: British GQ)

Netflix’s most-watched TV series

The following are Netflix’s most-watched series as of December 20, based on the streaming platform’s reporting of total hours viewed in the first 28 days of each title’s release. If a new season releases its episodes in two volumes on different dates, Netflix counts the watch time of the first volume’s episodes for their first 28 days, and then it counts the watch time of the second volume’s episodes for their first 28 days. 

Netflix's most-watched TV series, ranked
Squid Game
TitleRelease dateHours watched
Squid Game (season 1)Sep 17, 20211.65 billion hours
Stranger Things (season 4)May 27, 20221.35 billion hours
WednesdayNov 23, 20221.2 billion hours
DahmerSep 16, 2022856.2 million hours
Money Heist (part 5)Sep 3, 2021792.2 million hours
Bridgerton (season 2)Mar 25, 2022656.3 million hours
Bridgerton (season 1)Dec 25, 2020625.5 million hours
Money Heist (part 4)Apr 3, 2020619 million hours
Stranger Things (season 3)Jul 4, 2019582.1 million hours
Lucifer (season 5)May 28, 2021569.5 million hours
Netflix’s most-watched TV series, ranked

The 4th season of Stranger Things and the second season of Bridgerton rank highly on the most-watched list on Netflix. However, more impressive is Dahmer, which chronicles the tale of serial killer Jeffery Dahmer, and Wednesday, released towards the end of 2022.

Netflix's most-watched TV series, ranked
Money Heist

Widely watched non-English language movies as of December 20 include:

Widely watched non-English language movies on Netflix
Troll
TitleRelease date/countryHours watched
TrollDec 1, 2022, Norway144.4 million hours
Blood Red SkyJul 23, 2021, Germany110.5 million hours
The PlatformNov 8, 2019, Spain108.1 million hours
All Quiet on the Western FrontSep 29, 2022, Germany101.4 million hours
Black CrabMar 18, 2022, Sweden94.1 million hours
Through My WindowFeb 4, 2022, Spain92.4 million hours
The TakedownMay 6, 2022, France78.6 million hours
Below ZeroJan 29, 2021, Spain78.3 million hours
Loving AdultsAug 26, 2022, Denmark67.3 million
Rogue CityOct 30, 2020, France66.6 million hours
Widely watched non-English language movies on Netflix
The Takedown (PHOTO: Decider)

There are buts to Netflix’s reporting, though: 

  • The published hours are rounded to the nearest 10,000 to account for any fluctuations in internet connectivity worldwide.
  • The hours published are based on the viewership information before publication on Tuesday. Any late-arriving viewership information (e.g., from offline viewing of downloaded episodes or films) after the publication on Tuesday is therefore excluded from the weekly lists. This late-arriving viewership information is included in the Most Popular list once the title reaches 28 days. 
  • Netflix publishes new weekly lists each Tuesday, but delays in viewership information collection and processing (e.g., from an infrastructure outage) could delay the publication timing.

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