As Stranger Things comes to an end, with the final episode of Netflix’s hit series set to be released on New Year’s Eve, it’s hard to ignore its impact on culture over the past nine years.
The fifth and final season set new viewership records even before the show was released, giving it the biggest opening week ever for an English-language series on Netflix. Less than a month after the first volume of Season 5, and just days before the second volume, Netflix reports that “Stranger Things” as a whole has surpassed 1.2 billion total views.
This statistic, calculated by dividing the total amount of time the series has been streamed to date by the total runtime of all available episodes, ranks Stranger Things as a whole higher than any other series in Netflix history. It’s even above “Wednesday” and “The Squid Game,” which are the only projects with individual seasons to rank higher than “Stranger Things” Season 4. Season 4, released in 2022, still remains in second place on Netflix’s list of the most popular English TV titles of all time. Season 3 has been around for over six years, but it just recently fell off the charts.
As a result, the most rewatched scenes in the show’s history were in these seasons. In first place was the scene in Season 4, Episode 7, where Nancy (Natalia Dyer) is possessed by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and goes into a trance state, followed by the scene in Season 3, Episode 8 where Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Susie (Gabriella Pizzolo) sing the theme song “The Neverending Story” together.
In just 25 days, the first volume of Season 5 reached 102.6 million views. Season 5 next month is almost certain to rank in the all-time viewership rankings. If he were eligible now, before the final episode is released, he would already be ranked 9th between Bridgerton Season 3 (2024) and Night Agent Season 1 (2023). Additionally, Netflix measures all-time charts that end 91 days after each title’s final episode is released, so Season 5 will continue to gain viewership until three months after the New Year’s Eve finale. This season has a solid chance to be No. 1 in the first quarter of 2026.
Additionally, “Stranger Things” Season 5 ranked as the most-watched title of the week in 90 of 93 countries on Netflix, drawing viewers back to previous seasons. Stranger Things became the first Netflix series to have four seasons in the top 10 at once, then the first to have five seasons on the chart, and four weeks after Season 5 debuted, all five seasons remain on the chart. Since the Netflix Top 10 debuted in 2021, the series’ five seasons have totaled 78 global Netflix Top 10 appearances. All 93 countries surveyed have made the Stranger Things top 10 list at least once.
Still, “Stranger Things'” reach extends beyond Netflix’s reach.
The show made headlines for its use of “Running Up That Hill” in season four. Thirty-eight years after the song was released, “Stranger Things” became a US Top 10 hit for Kate Bush, and also became the first British Top 10 hit since Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” (1986) was used in the season.
In Season 5, that effect was replicated multiple times. According to Spotify, streaming of some oldies songs has increased significantly since their use in Vol. Among Gen Z, streams of Diana Ross’ “Upside Down” (1980) increased by 1,250%, and Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” (1987) increased by 880%. Across all demographics, streams for The Chordets’ “Mr. Sandman” (1954) increased by 625% and ABBA’s “Fernando” (1976) by 335%, with the latter increasing by 645% among Gen Z. The music streamer also reports that users have created 205,000 Stranger Things-themed playlists since Season 1 premiered. 2016.
Eggo is a frozen waffle brand that’s been around since 1956 and came back to prominence after being prominently featured as Millie Bobby Brown’s character Eleven’s favorite snack on Stranger Things. Parent company Kellogg reported 14% growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 following the release of Season 2 and 9.4% growth in the first four months of 2018.
Netflix also boasts that interest in Dungeons & Dragons has increased 673% since the debut of Stranger Things in 2016. Although tabletop role-playing games are constantly referenced in this piece, it’s important to note that the Dungeons & Dragons universe has made many major advances of its own over the past nine years, including expansions to the game itself and a feature film in 2023. Still, its rise (including a 96% sales increase in both 2017 and 2018) is still heavily influenced by “Stranger Things,” and the show and game have released multiple official collaborations.
The show also prompted a collaboration between Netflix and Nabisco, with the snack company launching a limited-edition “Stranger Things” Chips Ahoy cookie ahead of season five. This cookie campaign reached 11 billion impressions.
Unsurprisingly, the series has been a huge boon for the content business. Since 2016, “Stranger Things” has created more than 8,000 production jobs in the United States and contributed $1.4 billion to the country’s GDP.
Its impact is strongest in Georgia, where much of the series was filmed, contributing $650 million to the state’s GDP and having more than 2,000 vendors involved in production. California was next, contributing $500 million to the state’s GDP.
Stranger Things has been creating its own world even before its on-screen spin-offs were released. In the U.S. alone, Stranger Things books, comics and other publishing projects have sold 3.1 million copies since season one. The first live event produced in 2022, “Stranger Things: The Experience,” led to sales of 850,000 tickets in cities including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, London, Paris, Brazil and Australia. Other live events around the world dedicated to Season 5 have attracted more than 300,000 fans in 23 countries and 32 cities, with highlights including the One Last Ride bike event in Los Angeles (50,000 fans) and the parade in São Paulo (13,000 fans). More events are planned for London, Bangkok, Milan, Las Vegas and Madrid towards the end of 2025.
And in an unprecedented move, especially for Netflix, the series finale on New Year’s Eve will be shown in theaters in the United States and Canada.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a play that serves as a prequel to the TV series, premiered in London’s West End in 2023 and opened its Broadway transfer earlier this year. The play won four Tony Awards in the United States and two Olivier Awards and Critics Circle Drama Awards in the United Kingdom, adding to the 70 awards and 230 nominations the television series has won to date, including 12 Emmy Awards.
And looking at the career trajectory of Stranger Things’ young cast, the series can be seen as a Disney Channel-like talent pipeline, creating celebrities from previously relatively unknown teenagers. Brown has become a royalty at Netflix, where he helmed the films “The Electric State” and “Damsel,” the latter of which became the streamer’s 10th most popular English-language film of all time, as well as the “Enola Holmes” series, with a third installment scheduled for release in 2026.
Social media is another good indicator of a cast’s popularity. Brown’s Instagram followers, which were tracked by Netflix before the first season of Stranger Things was released, but could have been after trailers and marketing were released, range from 2.1 million followers to 68 million today. Sadie Sink, who plays Max, had the next most viewers, with 26.8 million viewers, up from 1.1 million before her Season 2 debut. Other follower increases include Finn Wolfhard from 6,400 to 23 million. 10,000 to 23.4 million for Noah Schnapp. 18,000 to 13 million for Caleb McLaughlin. and 20,000 to 17 million for Matarazzo. Season 5’s new stars Jake Connelly and Nell Fisher saw viewership increase from 12,000 to 582,000 and from 30,000 to 875,000, respectively.
And on social, the pre-launch marketing campaign for “Stranger Things” Season 5 generated 5.8 billion impressions, the largest in Netflix history. The previous season’s simultaneous rewatch campaign generated 1.3 billion impressions, and “Stranger Things: The Experience” has achieved 2 billion social impressions to date. Even the show’s Easter eggs became a hot topic. Season 5’s subtle inclusion of a “missing teen” hotline for Eleven went viral online, resulting in over 1 million calls.
Variety listed Stranger Things on its list of the best TV shows of all time in 2023, writing that the series “demonstrated the streamer’s formidable power, with each season of the show outdoing the previous to reach a vast audience worldwide, more than any other series on Netflix.” Of course, that was achieved, in part, by smart casting, unique visual choices, and a story driven by a depth of both reference and originality.
At the same time, the numbers alone easily prove that “Stranger Things” is one of the biggest pop culture forces of the past decade, on screen, on page, on stage, on shelf, in headphones, and especially in your wallet.
