Netflix’s Top 10 Best Original Shows That Have The Highest Rankings

Just like a magician that never reveals his tricks, Netflix—the undisputed king of streaming—has long been reticent to reveal its viewership statistics. At least, until now: On Monday, the platform released a list of top-10 rankings of its most popular original shows and movies, sorted by how many hours people watched them in total during the first month of their release. This is the first time Netflix has ever disclosed that type of data for its programming.

Here are the 10 best and most popular original shows.

1. Bridgerton, season 1: 625 million hours

Photo: Netflix

Based on Julia Quinn’s romance novel series, this confectionary treat of a show knows exactly what you might want from it and delivers those fantasies on a silver platter with a dashing (and even surprisingly sexy) smile.

The new Netflix drama travels to 19th century England to tell familiar enough narratives of headstrong women and the gruff men who try their damnedest not to love them. A straightforward adaptation would’ve undoubtedly worked well enough; swoony Regency era romances have been reliable crowd-pleasers dating back to…well, Regency era. But as Shonda Rhimes’ first scripted series for Netflix, “Bridgerton” instead mixes age-old tropes and distinct Shondaland sensibilities together to make, as its characters might say, a formidable love match.

The eight episodes of this addictive first season fly by in a flurry of stolen glances and whispered rumors, wounded pride and star-crossed love, lavish balls and string quartet renditions of songs that, upon closer inspection, are definitely Ariana Grande. As per the demands of its genre, “Bridgerton” is mostly concerned with the romantic entanglements of society’s upper crust. It does, however, throw in an extra mystery in the form of “Lady Whistledown,” an anonymous gossip columnist — voiced by none other than Julie Andrews — whose juicy updates keep everyone on their toes.

Making these consequences plain immediately set “Bridgerton” apart from the countless other period dramas that end with a kiss, or else fade to black the second courtship could take a turn for the sexual. Following in the footsteps of something like “Outlander,” “Bridgerton” does not share that particular coy instinct. Still, its sex scenes are rarely included just for the sake of it. When they arrive, they’re serving the story just as much as they’re serving the audience that always wondered if Mr. Darcy and Lizzie Bennet’s chemistry translated beyond polite society to behind closed doors.

Not every story needs sex in order to be romantic. But “Bridgerton” demonstrates a keen and refreshing understanding of all the ways in which sex can complicate and enrich love — even, or maybe even especially, when its characters don’t.

2. Money Heist, part 4: 619 million hours

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A master criminal called The Professor (Alvaro Morte) assembled a team of eight master criminals to take over the royal mint in Spain, dressed in red jumpsuits with Dali masks. They named themselves after international cities: there was Rio (Miguel Herran), an IT whizz; Nairobi (Alba Flores), a forger; Moscow (Paco Tous), an former miner turned criminal; etc. Once inside, they could print money for as long as they can hold out against the police, their hostages and their own internal strife.

The series was as slickly executed as the heist. It had everything a heist needs; wild ingenuity, loveable rogues and a clear sense of physical geography. Except for The Professor, the gang were inside, surrounded by the cops. It was a post-crash thriller, with a Robin Hood moral angle. Not only were we rooting for them, but they might actually be the good guys. Flashbacks gave context to the gang’s travails as they played cat and mouse with the police, led by Raquel Murillo (Itziar Ituño). Each revealed hidden depths, especially the psychopathic aesthete Berlin (Pedro Alonso). It was nonsense, but very enjoyable. I craved new episodes.

3. Stranger Things, season 3: 582 million hours

Photo: Netflix

Stranger Things is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers and streaming on Netflix. The brothers serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. The series premiered on Netflix on July 15, 2016. Set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the first season focuses on the investigation into the disappearance of a young boy (Will Byers) amid supernatural events occurring around the town, including the appearance of a girl with psychokinetic abilities (Eleven). The second season focuses on Will's side effects from being in the Upside Down with its entities crawling into the real world. The third season focuses Eleven and Mike's relationship as the kids continue their battle against the Upside Down entities. The series stars an ensemble cast including Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Cara Buono and Dacre Montgomery.

The Duffer Brothers developed the series as a mix of investigative drama alongside supernatural elements portrayed with horror, science fiction and childlike sensibilities. Setting the series in the 1980s, the Duffer Brothers infused references to the pop culture of that decade while several themes and directorial aspects were inspired primarily by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Stephen King, as well as anime and video games. They also took inspiration from strange experiments that took place during the Cold War and real world conspiracy theories involving secret government experiments.

4. The Witcher, season 1: 541 million hours

Photo: Netflix

Piecing together what’s going on at any given time in “The Witcher” is both impossible and insignificant. Netflix’s big-budget fantasy adaptation looks like “Game of Thrones” and plays like “The OA” — an extravagant budget fueling a ludicrous premise. Frankly, it should be a catastrophe, and yet the batshit energy driving a slew of increasingly odd choices makes for a pretty entertaining spectacle.

Based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s books (which have already been adapted into a popular video game series), “The Witcher” tells the wild tales of Geralt of Rivia, the eponymous witcher played by “Witcher” enthusiast Henry Cavill, who travels from town to town accepting missions in exchange for “coin.” Usually his quests are focused on killing a monster. Sometimes they involve taking baths — which are, surprisingly, an extremely important act for anyone who loves the “Witcher” video games and books.

“The Witcher” isn’t for everyone, and it’s not trying to be. The soapy scheming that drove people to choose sides in “Game of Thrones” isn’t here. Neither is the tender romance of “Outlander,” the big-minded ambition of “The OA,” or the coherence of, I don’t know, “Vikings.” But that’s OK. “The Witcher” is “The Witcher,” and nothing else matters. Just go with it.

5. 13 Reasons Why, season 2: 496 million hours

Photo: DNA India

Originally destined to become a film, Netflix got hold of it and gave it the Netflix stretch. It did attempt to explore important issues – not only suicide but rape, self-harm, bullying, high-school sexism – sensibly and seriously, even if any messages to emerge came across as simplistic and a bit preachy: be nice to people, be a real friend, otherwise bad shit goes down. It meandered, but the cassettes and the 13 reasons in 13 episodes gave it a structure of sorts. The performances, especially from Katherine Langford and Dylan Minnette as Hannah and her friend Clay, were good.

The second series continues to explore the same big issues sensitively, as well as taking on board some of the criticism and controversy the first generated (it now comes with a public service announcement, delivered by the actors, links to relevant resources, plus the parents – Clay’s especially – are more aware of what their kids are going through). And that’s about all that’s good about series two.

Some of the acting remains decent, though Langford, the stand-out in the first season, now has to do hers as a ghost. The ghost of Hannah. The ghost of a lame device past.

6. 13 Reasons Why, season 1: 476 million hours

Photo: Netflix

It’s based on a 2007 YA novel by Jay Asher, and the central premise is bleak: a 17-year-old girl, Hannah Baker, has killed herself. She leaves behind 13 sides of cassette tape, on which she has narrated the wrongdoings of those around her. Each side concerns the actions of one of her acquaintances; they are supposed to listen, then pass the tapes to the next person, in order to learn what they’ve done, and so that it never has to happen again. Hannah is a martyr of teen angst. We see her tragedy unfold over two timelines, with flashbacks of how it all came to be, and a present-day story in which Clay (supposedly the nerdy, Star Wars-loving kid, with a jaw carved out of stone) attempts to unravel and then avenge the mystery.

Rather than listen to the tapes all at once, Clay takes his time over it, confronting those whose secrets are revealed as he discovers their part in it. This works to the benefit of the 13-episode structure, but drags it out for the viewer, in part because it becomes repetitive. There is a grim concoction of misdemeanours, from bullying to voyeurism, sexual assault to a fatal car crash, all against a backdrop of sex, drugs and nostalgic mixtapes.

There is plenty to admire and its aims are undoubtedly ambitious. Dylan Minnette, who plays Clay, handles a tough role with sensitivity and resists the urge to overegg it; Clay’s struggle to cope with what has happened is one of the more complex diversions in the story. The portrait of grief that Grey’s Anatomy’s Kate Walsh conjures up as Hannah’s mother is devastating and, at times, hard to watch. While this does not necessarily make it a pleasurable viewing experience, the fact that it’s unflinchingly awful – think Lord of the Flies, The Secret History and Heathers mixed up in a Californian high school – has some power. It’s particularly brave in its depiction of the behaviour of young men, both towards girls and with each other, and if its intended audience comes away with a recognition that this is not normal, and does not have to be normal, that can only be a positive.

7. You, season 2: 457 million hours

Photo: Netflix

It is a long-touted maxim, passed down through generations, that women love bad boys. Nice guys finished last. Attraction and repulsion, desire and disgust, fear and eroticism -- the parallel pleasures of toxic romance live on both sides of a razor's edge, and few screen love stories have ever captured the can't-turn-away-from-the-wreckage thrall of seductive obsession like You.

The Lifetime series turned Netflix sensation surprised when it landed on the streaming service after meeting middling success on basic cable and absolutely blew up on streaming, proving its depraved delights were a perfect match for the compulsive catharsis of Netflix's signature binge-viewing format. Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) was obsessed with Beck (Elizabeth Lail), viewers were obsessed with Joe Goldberg, and in ten tight episodes, we collectively spiraled down a psychosexual rabbit hole. Guided by Badgley's truly excellent performance and the subversive wit of creators Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti. Working from Caroline Kepnes' novels, they crafted Beck and Joe's tragic, toxic love story by building the bones of a romantic comedy -- and strapping it to a serial killer thriller, speeding towards its inevitable doom.

Season 2 unsurprisingly (and certainly not subtly, considering the multitude of Russian literature references throughout) is about crime and punishment. No matter how far he moves, nor how fast he moves on to a new woman, Joe cannot escape the violent deeds of his past. From Beck's posthumous bestseller to a specter of her that appears in his weakest moments, from the demands of forging a new identity to the fact he's just downright terrible at cleaning up a crime scene, Joe is unable to run away from his crimes against Beck just as he was unable to escape what he did to Candace.

In its second season, You remains compulsive viewing thanks to its seductive thrills and wry dark humor, but it remains must-watch TV for its wise vivisection of the so-called "nice guy," the toxic allure of the "bad boy," and the terrifyingly-familiar meeting point between the two where the fantasies become a nightmare.

8. Stranger Things, season 2: 427 million hours

Photo: Netflix

At once better and worse than its first season, Stranger Things 2 is good enough to suggest the breakout Netflix series isn’t a one-trick pony, while still falling into many of the pitfalls that made season one diminish a bit in the memory the further one got from it. It takes a long time to get where it’s going, it makes some bafflingly strange choices on the way there, and it still feels like a show that’s set in “the ’80s!” instead of the 1980s.

In some ways, the series is trapped by elements entirely beyond its control. The first season became a phenomenon entirely by word of mouth and gentle nudging by the Netflix algorithm. Before you knew it, think pieces rained from the skies, catalogs to the show’s ’80s movie references popped up on every website in existence (including this one), and merchandise filled Hot Topics across our great nation.

Since series creators the Duffer brothers know what an incredible ensemble cast they have (about which more in a bit), they feel more comfortable splitting up the characters and filling episodes with multiple storylines. The cross-cutting between the stories can sometimes feel a little arbitrary, but it’s still exciting when 15 different things are happening at once and all of them are bad.

Even better, there’s more attention paid to the idea of each installment of the show as an episode of television than there was in season one. The season’s boldest conceit is its seventh episode, which seems to exist solely as a test of whether young Millie Bobby Brown, who plays the telekinetic badass Eleven, is as good of an actress as she seems to be. (Good news: She is!) It sends her off on a quest of her own, expanding the show’s backstory just a bit by introducing some of the previous kids with psychic powers experimented upon in the lab where Eleven grew up. And it doesn’t feature any of the other regulars at all.

But more importantly, the Duffers know when to bring their many splintered storylines and characters back together. The season’s final two episodes are a long process of reweaving everything that’s been frayed, and when the season’s coda (which takes place during a Christmas season that seems to exist in the middle of summer) unfurls at a school dance, there’s a distinct sense of time having passed, lessons having been learned, and kids growing up.

9. Money Heist, part 3: 426 million hours

Photo: Netflix

If you enjoyed seasons 1 and 2 and maybe even learned some Spanish in the process, this cynical Spaniard has good news for you: You'll enjoy part 3. A lot. (If your Spanish is decent, you can read the review in that language.)

After stealing around a billion euros from the Royal Mint in Madrid and managing to get away with it, the band of criminals is back together, with some new and welcome additions. Their own Río (Miguel Herrán) has been captured for reasons better not spoiled, and they really want him back. They have a new, bigger heist to pull off.

Yes, they still look fabulous. Even when they wear those red jumpers with Dalí masks. (I'll say from experience that those aren't necessarily flattering.) And yes, El Profesor (Álvaro Morte) still has the same nerdy-sexy vibe and seems capable of pretty much anything -- other than dancing. One scene set to Who Can It Be Now by Men at Work is as painful to watch as you'd expect when El Profesor is forced to show his lack of rhythm.

Aside from the new faces, one of the main differences between this season and the previous ones is that Madrid isn't the only main setting. The show feels more international with sequences shot in Florence, Panama City and the Guna Yala archipelago.

Please watch La Casa de Papel in its original version with subtitles. Only then will you learn to admire the beauty (and meaning) of a word like "jarana" or an expression like "eso es liarla pardísima."

10. Ginny & Georgia, season 1: 381 million hours

Photo: Netflix

Like Gilmore Girls, Ginny & Georgia is about a mother (Georgia) who had her daughter (Virginia/Ginny) as a teenager and is dealing with parenting that daughter now that said daughter is a teenager. When the series begins, Georgia is 30 and Ginny is 15; they live in a small town in Massachusetts (instead of Connecticut like in Gilmore Girls), and complicated family dynamics, class issues, and love triangles dominate both shows’ plotting.

But Ginny & Georgia adds a hefty dose of Shonda Rhimes-ian melodrama to that basic template. Creator Sarah Lampert and executive producer Debra Fisher ladle on the sudsy complexity as we learn Georgia has a more checkered past than she has let on to her kids. (Ginny has a half-brother named Austin, who is 9.) By the end of the first episode, it’s clear Georgia has got some serious skeletons in her closet.

The most notable reason to watch Ginny & George is for the half of the show that focuses on Ginny, played by newcomer Antonia Gentry. Ginny’s mother is white, and her father is Black. The show is at its best when it starts to dig into the complicated ways Ginny understands her own identity. A scene where Ginny argues about biracial identities with one point of her love triangle — Hunter (Mason Temple), a boy with one parent of Asian descent and one white parent — is a highlight of the whole season.

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