Stranger Things 4 Becomes Netflix's #1 English TV Series Ever

As we predicted last week, Netflix has confirmed that Stranger Things season four has officially become their most watched English-language TV series of all-time. In the first sixteen days of its release, Stranger Things has been streamed over 781 million hours around the world, picking up another 159 million hours streamed in the week of June 6 to June 12. Twelve days remain on the show's "First 28 Days" viewing metric, at least until Volume 2 of the season is released, giving the show a chance to pull ahead of the competition and inch ever closer to the real #1 Netflix series.

By becoming the #1 English TV series on Netflix, Stranger Things season four leapfrogged both season of Bridgerton to claim the title. Bridgerton season 1 is now the #3 most popular English series on Netflix with 625.49 million hours streamed while Bridgerton season 2 is now the #2 most watched English series with 656.26 million hours streamed in the same time frame. Stranger Things being able to eclipse that with over 10 days left on its official tally means the number will be much higher by the end of its run, plus there's also the matter of the final two episodes being released in July, meaning "Stranger Things Season 4" will almost certainly break the 1 billion hours streamed marker, which Netflix will no doubt use to lure back investors.

Though the #1 English series from Netflix, Stranger Things season four is only the #3 TV series overall at the streamer, the two ahead of it being Non-English TV shows. The #2 most watched TV series on Netflix is Money Heist: Part 5, which was streamed 792 million hours in its first month window, while the big kahuna, Squid Game, remains the biggest TV series ever on Netflix. Within its first month of release Squid Game was watched over 1.65 billion hours on the service. Stranger Things will no doubt beat Money Heist 5 this time next week, and in fact probably already has, but can it catch Squid Game?

After every episode of Stranger Things season four is released (the final two will be released in July, each boasting super-sized run times) the series very well could take on Squid Game for the title of #1 Netflix series of all time, but if it does, it still won't be as impressive. The entire marketing arm of Netflix was pushing Stranger Things season four ahead of its premiere, while Squid Game was built exclusively around word of mouth praise from audiences. Even if Stranger Things 4 beats the series, Squid Game will still be a considerably bigger success. Check back here next week as the story continues to develop.