When it comes to viewing figures for its original content, Netflix still plays its cards pretty close to its chest.
Though the streaming giant has introduced a “top ten” feature in the UK and many other territories, it only releases ratings for individual shows on a sporadic basis.
As you’d expect, this tends to be when a particular original series has proven especially popular. Still, using these figures, it’s possible to piece together a list of the year’s most watched Netflix shows which at least feels reasonably accurate.
They might not necessarily be the most watched Netflix shows of the year, but they’re probably 10 of the most watched Netflix shows of the year.
It’s worth noting that these figures only take into account the first 28 days after a show premieres on Netflix.
It’s also worth noting that Netflix counts a household as having “watched” a show just two minutes into the first episode. The streaming giant says this is “long enough to indicate the choice was intentional”.
Using figures released throughout the year by Netflix, Spanish crime drama Money Heist is its most-watched show, followed by zeitgeist-grabbing documentary series Tiger King, and classy chess drama The Queen’s Gambit.
Netflix’s Love Island-style reality series Too Hot to Handle and Mindy Kaling’s coming-of-age drama Never Have I Ever also make the top ten.
Among the shows conspicuous by their absence are the latest season of The Crown and this year’s ultimate guilty pleasure, Emily in Paris. Netflix hasn’t released viewing figures for these shows, so we have no way of knowing how popular they were.
Check out the top 10 below.
1. Money Heist season 4 (65m)
2. Tiger King (64m)
3. The Queen’s Gambit (62m)
4. Too Hot to Handle (51m)
5. Ratched (48m)
6. The Umbrella Academy season 2 (43m)
7. Never Have I Ever (40m)
8. Space Force (40m)
9. Lucifer season 5, part 1 (38m)
10. Floor is Lava (37m)
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