Image via Netflix
Published Jun 22, 2026, 8:11 AM EDT
Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV.
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Unlike traditional linear TV, Netflix doesn't typically reveal viewership figures for its shows. We know which shows are most popular based on opening weekend numbers and sometimes, cumulative data over time. But Netflix usually keeps the nitty-gritty information close to its chest. However, sources like WhatsOnNetflix.com and Netflix Tudum, Netflix's own fan and editorial site, reveal data that helps form a picture.
Netflix notes global all-time views for its original shows, based on the first 91 days of their release. WhatsOnNetflix, meanwhile, uses the streamer's latest measurement process, taking hours watched of a show and total viewing time divided by the number of hours watched (called completed viewing equivalents) to determine top shows. Since many shows have multiple seasons, many of which top the charts, this can complicate things. What's more, the numbers may not account for a potential influx of views beyond the first 90 days after release. Nonetheless, based on aggregate data from these two sources, the most-watched English-language shows on Netflix include some obvious ones and a few surprises.
10 'Baby Reindeer' (2024)
335.2M Hours, 84.5M Views
Image via NetflixBaby Reindeer shocked fans when the seven-episode limited series arrived in mid-2024. A black comedy drama and thriller mixed into one, the story is based on real-life experiences of comedian Richard Gadd, who plays a fictional character based on himself. Donny Dunn (Gadd) is a struggling stand-up comedian who tends bar to make ends meet.
One day, he strikes up a conversation with a random patron, but Martha (Jessica Gunning) takes his casual flirting a little too seriously and begins relentlessly stalking and tormenting him. The story in the near-perfect miniseries presents powerful messaging about sexual assault against men, including a side story about Donny being groomed and assaulted by a TV writer. It's a complicated tale that draws you in, unlike anything else on television.
9 'His & Hers' (2026)
428.9M Hours, 98.2M Views
Image via NetflixThe twisty mystery thriller His & Hers quickly rose up the ranks to become one of Netflix's most watched English language shows. The limited series takes you down a rabbit hole during an investigation into a murder in a small town. Anna (Tessa Thompson), a former news anchor, returns to her hometown to look into this case where she butts heads with her estranged husband Detective Jack Harper (Jon Bernthal).
The six-episode perfect miniseries, which also stars Pablo Schreiber, Marin Ireland, and Sunita Mani, received lukewarm reviews. But it's one of those pulpy thrillers to put on at night when you want to sink into an exciting plot and binge for hours. Collider reviewer Emily Bernard notes that while the show doesn't reinvent the wheel for the genre, it keeps you invested through a "twisty narrative that surprisingly tugs at your heartstrings."
8 'Fool Me Once' (2024)
629.8M Hours, 98.2M Views
Image via NetflixThis British thriller is one of many within Harlen Coben's long string of shows on Netflix. Fool Me Once is based on the author's 2016 novel of the same name. Maya (Michelle Keegan) is a former military pilot grieving the murder of her husband Joe (Richard Armitage) but is completely taken aback when a nanny cam she installs to watch her young daughter picks up footage of what appears to be Joe. As she investigates, Maya uncovers secrets, lies, and dark conspiracies.
The thrilling series has brought in 629.8 million hours of viewing time, yet remains one of Netflix's most underrated hits. The eight-episode run received decent reviews, with Keegan and Joanna Lumley earning high praise for their roles. It's one of those shows with a shocking ending that will throw you for a loop, and is one of Coben's most successful TV show interpretations.
7 'Adolescence' (2025)
546.5M Hours, 142.6M Views
Image via NetflixThe psychological crime drama Adolescence is not for the faint of heart, and a tough watch for anyone who has teenagers, especially teenage boys. The four-episode series is raw and real, each episode shot in a single take without any dramatic music or fancy camera angles. It begins when police burst into the Miller home and arrest Jamie (Owen Cooper), the 13-year-old son, for the alleged murder of a schoolmate. His parents are in disbelief, and the series continues as they grapple with what is happening, what they might have done wrong, and the possible signs they missed.
Adolescence took home plenty of awards, praised for offering powerful commentary on the damaging influence on the manosphere among young men, the impact of bullying, and the concept of incel culture. With 546.5 million hours viewed and 142.6 million views, Adolescence is one of those shows that parents had to brace themselves to watch and that drove them to have important conversations with their kids after. It far transcends entertainment, serving as a cautionary tale about social media and the potentially devastating impact of the internet.
6 'The Night Agent' (2023–Present)
803.2M Hours, 98.2M Views
Image via NetflixThough The Night Agent has seen a drop-off in viewership through its three seasons to date, the first season was a massive surprise hit for the streamer. Based on figures following the release of the most recent third season, The Night Agent may have dropped out of the top-10 when you consider foreign-language shows as well, like Squid Game and Money Heist, but it's still holding strong.
The action thriller is pure popcorn fun, the story of Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), a low-level FBI agent who is thrust into a dangerous political conspiracy. He eventually starts to work as a secret Night Action agent, taking down all sorts of nefarious characters. The show is one of the rare ones that gets better with every season, with a planned fourth season that will conclude its run. The Night Agent is a perfectly bingeable show.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5 'The Queen's Gambit' (2020)
746.4M Hours, 112.8M Views
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Image via NetflixAs the oldest show on the Netflix top-watched list, The Queen's Gambit manages to hold its position even today, six years later. The massive viewer numbers may be at least in part because the miniseries was released during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, when staying home and binging TV shows was pretty much all people could do. That isn't to detract from the brilliance of the multi-Emmy-winning series, however.
In the coming-of-age period drama, Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, a troubled young woman who discovers she's a chess prodigy. As she leans into these skills while battling personal demons, she begins to infiltrate the male-dominated world of professional chess, rising up the ranks against all odds. Many people credit the show with reigniting an interest in the game, the story praised by real-life chess players for its authenticity.
4 'Bridgerton' (2020–Present)
929.3M Hours, 113.3M Views (Season 1)
Image via NetflixHailing from Shonda Rhimes, Bridgerton is one of the most perfect romance shows, a delightfully seductive look into an alternate history of the London Regency era. Noble young women prepare for the event to meet handsome, eligible suitors, and things get, well, pretty steamy. What's wonderful about the show is its depiction of racial equality, Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) being of African heritage and thus people of color being granted aristocratic titles.
Season 1 brought in 929.3 million hours and 113.3 million views and Season 3 achieved 846.5 million hours and 106 million views, making them the show's two strongest of four seasons to date, with a fifth still on the way. Netflix Tudumranks Bridgerton Season 1 as its seventh most popular show and Season 3 as its ninth.
3 'Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' (2022)
1.031B Hours, 115.6M Views
Image via NetflixThe most controversial entry on the list, many viewers watched Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story out of sheer curiosity, to see what all the fuss was about. The biographical crime drama, one season in the Ryan Murphyanthology series, looks at the life and crimes of notorious serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. Evan Peters takes on the complex role, Niecy Nash a stand-out as his suspicious neighbor Glenda.
The series dives into Dahmer's childhood, his isolation, and humanizes him in a way that didn't sit well with some. With the focus more on him and less on the stories of his victims, along with the depiction of the many times Dahmer was almost caught yet slipped through the cracks, sparked serious conversations about race and society's treatment of victims of color. Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is by far the most viewed entry in this long-running anthology series, and Netflix's most-viewed show based on a real person.
2 'Stranger Things' (2016–2025)
1.838B Hours, 140.7M Views (Season 4)
Image via NetflixStranger Things concluded its run in 2025 after five seasons that took close to 10 years to release. But it's a mystery show you know will be a masterpiece after the first 10 minutes. The show is a love letter to '80s horror and coming-of-age movies. It is centered in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in that decade when a young boy goes missing and a strange young girl with special powers shows up. What this group of kids uncovers is a creepy Upside Down world with monsters, and a sinister lab running experiments on children right in their very town. Dramatic, tense, horrifying, and comedic all in one, Stranger Things is a delightful show that takes you back to the days of The Goonies.
Going back to Season 3, that season earned 716.1 million hours viewed over 94.8 million views while Season 5 had 1.391 billion hours and 133.8 million views. Topping the charts, however, is Season 4 with a whopping 1.838 billion hours and 140.7 million views. With three slots in the current and past top 10, Seasons 1 and 2 likely performing strongly as well (those figures are hard to find nowadays), Stranger Things could technically be at the top of the list when aggregating figures across all five seasons.
1 'Wednesday' (2022–Present)
1.718B Hours, 252.1M Views (Season 1)
Image via NetflixYou might be surprised to know that Wednesday, the supernatural mystery comedy centred around the Addams family daughter Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega), is Netflix's most-watched English-language show ever. The series follows Wednesday as she acclimates to her new life at Nevermore Academy, a private school for outcasts. As she tries her best to stomach the annoying other students there, as well as the hovering involvement of her parents, Wednesday also keeps seeing visions, the product of her psychic abilities. These point to dangerous monsters that are lurking, and who Wednesday sets out to stop in their tracks.
Wednesday is one of the best fantasy series to binge on Netflix. It's also a lovely atypical coming-of-age story that follows Wednesday's journey through teenage life, making new friends, even softening a bit at times from her usual morbid, monotone personality. She's delightfully entertaining to watch, the rest of the main cast just as engaging. There was a drop for Season 2 at 928.5 million hours and 119.3 million views. So, while Season 1 technically holds the top spot, Season 2 still makes it on the list as the fifth entry. Combined, the show is the clear winner.
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