For a company that holds its cards close to the chest, it was an unusual move for Netflix to reveal its top-10 rankings of its most popular original shows and movies based on the number of accounts that watched at least two minutes of the title during the first 28 days it was on streaming platform. Also revealed, top-10 films and shows based on their total viewed hours during their first 28 days on the service.
The revelation by Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos at this year’s Code conference in Los Angeles is a rare move. For years, the company had been so close about viewership that Beau Willimon, the creator of House of Cards, which put the service’s original content efforts on the map, once said the company wouldn’t even share viewership metrics with him. “We’re trying to be more transparent with the market, with the talent, with everybody,” Sarandos said at the conference.
So, what does the chart look like? Netflix top-10 series by total view hours in the first 28 days are Bridgerton (season 1; 625 million hours), Money Heist (part 4; 619 million hours), Stranger Things 3 (582 million hours), The Witcher (season 1; 541 million hours), 13 Reasons Why (season 2; 496 million hours), 13 Reasons Why (season 1; 476 million hours), You (season 2; 457 million hours), Stranger Things 2 (427 million hours), Money Heist (part 3; 426 million hours) and Ginny & Georgia (season 1; 381 million hours).
Top-10 shows by number of accounts that have watched at least two minutes in its first 28 days of release are Bridgerton (season 1; 82 million); Lupin (part 1; 76 million), The Witcher (season 1; 67 million), Sex/Life (season 1; 67 million), Stranger Things 3 (67 million), Money Heist (part 4; 65 million), Tiger King (season 1; 64 million), The Queen’s Gambit (62 million), Sweet Tooth (season 1; 60 million) and Emily in Paris (season 1; 58 million).
For movies, the top 10 by total view hours in the first 28 days are Bird Box (282 million hours), Extraction (231 million hours), The Irishman (215 million hours), The Kissing Booth 2 (209 million hours), 6 Underground (205 million hours), Spenser Confidential (197 million hours), Enola Holmes (190 million hours), Army of the Dead (187 million hours), The Old Guard (186 million hours) and Murder Mystery (170 million hours).
