The Boys tops streaming charts for the first time with season 4 finale, breaks Prime Video records

If you look at fan reactions to the latest season of The Boys, the show's fourth, you'll see that they're a bit more muted and aggressive than in seasons past. Personally, I didn't see much different about the hyper-violent, subversive superhero show this time around, , and theorized that the increased backlash was due to the series becoming more popular. The more people there are watching, the more people there are to complain, after all.

And with the release of the latest streaming numbers, I think I might be right. According to Deadline, The Boys topped the official Nielsen streaming charts for the first time in its history for the week of Monday, July 15 through Sunday, July 21. The Boys season 4 finale aired in that frame, so people were tuning in to see how the season would wrap up.

All told, people watched The Boys for 1.329 billion minutes that week. That's the eighth week that The Boys had broken a billion minutes watched, the first Prime Video show to achieve that feat. It's been in the Nielsen streaming Top 10, another first for a Prime Video show.

So basically, The Boys is more popular than ever heading into its fifth and final season, which at this point may well be a pop cultural event. The only downside is that we have to wait until (probably) 2026 to watch it.

House of the Dragon comes in second behind The Boys in top 10 streaming chart

The week before this, HBO's House of the Dragon topped the streaming charts. For the week of July 15 - July 21, it got bumped down to second place, although it still cleared over a billion minutes watched. This particular week elapsed after the episode "Smallfolk," which we think was the weakest episode of the show's second season. I daresay House of the Dragon will be back on top of the streaming charts again before its season ends.

Check out the full top 10 below:

1. The Boys (Prime Video), 1.329 billion minutes viewed
2. House of the Dragon (Max), 1.107 billion minutes
3. Cobra Kai (Netflix), 1.085 billion
4. Love Island (Hulu/Netflix/Peacock), 1.051 billion
5. Bluey (Disney+), 1.035 billion
6. Family Guy (Hulu), 989 million minutes viewed
7. Grey’s Anatomy (Hulu/Netflix), 965 million minutes
8. Trolls Band Together (Netflix), 937 million
9. Suits (Netflix/Peacock), 850 million
10. Land of Bad (Netflix), 848 million

Later this month, Prime Video is going to roll out the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a show into which it's invested a lot of time and money. Will it be able to rival the success of The Boys season 4?

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