Archive · 5 Aug 2026
Stranger Things tops 2026 streaming chart with 23.26 billion minutes
Stranger Things is a Netflix show about a group of kids and their friends who fight scary monsters from another world in a town called Hawkins.
The show has been running for almost ten years.
In the first half of 2026, it was the most-watched streaming show of the year.
Viewers watched it for more than 23 billion minutes, which is a whole lot of watching.
The final season came out in two parts in late 2025.
During one week in December, the show set a record for the most minutes watched for any streaming show in a single week.
A kids' cartoon called Bluey came in second place.
Older shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Big Bang Theory also drew huge audiences.
A company called Nielsen counts these viewing minutes and made the report.
Stranger Things was the most-watched streaming title of the first half of 2026 with 23.26 billion minutes viewed, per Nielsen's biannual report.
The final season of the Netflix series arrived in two volumes, on November 27 and December 26, 2025, closing its nearly decade-long run.
It set a record 8.65 billion weekly viewing minutes for the week of December 29, the highest total in Nielsen's Streaming Top 10 history.
Bluey finished second with 22.81 billion minutes, while Grey's Anatomy and The Big Bang Theory each topped 20 billion minutes.
The Pitt (21.12 billion minutes) and Bridgerton (17.15 billion minutes, sixth place) were among the few streaming originals in the Top 10.
- Who
- Stranger Things, the Netflix sci-fi series created by the Duffer Brothers
- What
- Became the most-watched streaming title of the first half of 2026 with 23.26 billion viewing minutes
- When
- First half of 2026, according to Nielsen's biannual report; the final season premiered in late 2025
- Where
- Nielsen-measured streaming platforms, with Stranger Things streaming on Netflix (Volume 2 released in India on December 26, 2025)
- Why
- The concluding fifth season drove record-breaking viewership as the series wrapped up its nearly decade-long story
- Most-watched title
- Stranger Things (Netflix)
- Viewing minutes (H1 2026)
- 23.26 billion
- Runner-up
- Bluey — 22.81 billion minutes
- Record weekly total
- 8.65 billion minutes (week of December 29)
- Season 5 release
- Volume 1: November 27, 2025; Volume 2: December 26, 2025; finale January 1
- Data source
- Nielsen biannual streaming report
- Other Top 10 streaming originals
- The Pitt (21.12B) and Bridgerton (17.15B, 6th)