Netflix reveals top 10 most watched original TV and movies in its history

After almost nine years in the originals game, Netflix has released a lot of TV shows and movies. These are the most watched ever.

Wenlei Ma

@wenleima

3 min read

September 28, 2021 - 4:16PM

Netflix has been making original TV and movies going on nine years now, since House of Cards first premiered in early 2013.

And in that time, it’s had some veritable hits – TV and movie titles that have dominated social media and even physical buzz, for better or worse.

Notoriously secretive with the reams of data it has, Netflix has previously only sporadically lifted the veil on what its 200 million subscribers are watching, and even then, the unverified data is based on how many account holders started watching something, not whether they finished it.

When it first released any stats, it was based on how many viewers made it to the 70 per cent mark of a movie or the first episode of a series, and then that was changed to how many households watched two minutes or more.

The two-minutes mark is also used to calculate the top 10 by country rankings which is refreshed every 24 hours.

For the first time today, at the Vox Media’s Code Conference, Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos revealed the top 10 most watched original TV shows and movies in the history of the streaming service, by both the number of households who started and by the amount of hours spent watching in the first four weeks after its release.

Bridgerton was the most watched Netflix original series. Picture: Liam Daniel/Netflix

It’s an illuminating list – albeit it is completely weighted towards more recent releases given how Netflix has grown its subscriber base since it moved into original programming.

That could be partly why you won’t see its much-touted early originals such as Orange is the New Black, House of Cards or Bloodline on these lists given they were released at a time when Netflix had a third of the number of subscribers it does now.

The oldest title on all four TV or movie lists is 13 Reasons Why season one, which premiered in 2017.

Bridgerton is the most watched TV series by both number of accounts and hours spent, which is good news for the Shonda Rhimes-produced series ahead of its season two debut earlier next year.

And there are also two non-English language titles – Lupin and Money Heist – on the list while Sarandos flagged that Korean drama Squid Game is the biggest series on Netflix in the nine days since its release, suggesting that there’s “a very good chance it’s going to be our biggest show ever”.

Top 10 Netflix TV series – based on the number of households who have watched at least two minutes

1. Bridgerton S1 – 82 million

2. Lupin Pt1 – 76 million

3. The Witcher S1 – 76 million

4. Sex/Life S1 – 67 million

5. Stranger Things S3 – 67 million

6. Money Heist Pt4 – 65 million

7. Tiger King S1 – 64 million

8. The Queen’s Gambit – 62 million

9. Sweet Tooth S1 – 60 million

10. Emily in Paris S1 – 58 million

Top 10 Netflix TV shows – based on number of hours watched

1. Bridgerton S1 – 625 million hours

2. Money Heist Pt4 – 619 million hours

3. Stranger Things S3 – 582 million hours

4. The Witcher S1 – 541 million hours

5.13 Reasons Why S2 – 496 million hours

6.13 Reasons Why S1 – 476 million hours

7. You S2 – 457 million hours

8. Stranger Things S2 – 427 million hours

9. Money Heist Pt3 – 426 million hours

10. Ginny & Georgia S1 – 381 million hours

On the movie front, Chris Hemsworth action flick Extraction, currently in production on a sequel, tops the list in number of households and is second on the list of hours watched.

Unlike on the TV series side, the top film lists are almost entirely made up of original movies fronted by A-list box office stars, including Ryan Reynolds, Charlize Theron, Kevin Hart, Mark Wahlberg, Robert DeNiro, Sandra Bullock, Jamie Foxx, Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.

Chris Hemsworth and Rudhraksh Jaiswal in the movie Extraction, which is in production for a sequel.

The only exceptions are Enola Holmes, which is fronted by Stranger Things breakout Millie Bobby Brown, and the execrable teen movie The Kissing Booth 2, which certain audiences like for some baffling reason.

Top 10 Netflix movies – based on the number of households who have watched at least two minutes

1. Extraction – 99 million

2. Bird Box – 89 million

3. Spenser Confidential – 85 million

4.6 Underground – 83 million

5. Murder Mystery – 83 million

6. The Old Guard – 78 million

7. Enola Holmes – 77 million

8. Project Power – 75 million

9. Army of the Dead – 74 million

10. Fatherhood - 74 million

Top 10 Netflix movies – based on the number of hours watched