Netflix reports that it achieved its highest Christmas Day viewership ever this year, with “Stranger Things” Volume 2 leading the charge.
While exact viewership totals for Dec. 25 were not disclosed, and that total also includes Netflix’s two NFL games and other holiday viewing, “Stranger Things” season 5 was the most-watched title worldwide that day thanks to the release of three new episodes. Thanks to these episodes, season 5 achieved a total of 34.5 million views during the week of December 22-28. This is the season’s second highest weekly total after November’s 59.6 million views, which was the highest opening week ever for an English-language title on Netflix.
Note that when Netflix reports its top 10, it doesn’t break out the number of viewers for each volume. The post-Thanksgiving debut time of 59.6 million hours was calculated by dividing the total viewing time by the running time of the first four episodes, while this week’s 34.5 million views were calculated based on all seven available episodes. Therefore, it is impossible to know whether Volume 1 or Volume 2 had a bigger debut.
There’s still one episode left in Stranger Things season 5. In a surprising move by Netflix, the series finale will be released in theaters on New Year’s Eve and at the same time on the streamer.
Considering the strong performance of previous releases, Stranger Things season 5 is expected to soon join the list of Netflix’s most popular English-language television titles of all time. Given the impending finale, this season doesn’t qualify for that list yet, but its December 31st release will begin a 91-day period during which it will be able to earn viewers that count toward the charts.
Unsurprisingly, the most-watched title on Netflix that week was “Stranger Things,” closely followed by the Korean film “The Great Flood,” which led the non-English film chart. It’s also worth noting that “Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch” topped the English movie chart with 16.5 million views.
Returning to the English TV charts, Season 5 of Emily in Paris came in at No. 2 with 13.3 million views in its second week on the chart, followed by the Dave Chappelle special, The Unstoppable…, which also came in at No. 2 with 9.2 million views in its second week. “Man Vs. Baby” reached No. 4 with 7.8 million views in its third week. Most of the rest of the chart was taken up by the previous season of “Stranger Things.” Season 1 was in 5th place with 4.8 million views, Season 4 was in 6th place with 4.1 million views, and Seasons 3 and 2 were 8th and 9th with 3.6 million views respectively.
“Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” sandwiched between seasons of “Stranger Things,” drew 3.7 million views in its fourth week. At the bottom of the chart was “Fireplace for Your Home: Crackling Birchwood Fireplace” with 3.2 million views.
See the Netflix Top 10 from December 22nd to 28th below. First comes English TV and movies, followed by non-English TV and movies.
