We were expecting Stranger Things 5 would ultimately become the most popular Netflix release (English language) in the history of the streamer, but I don't know if anyone predicted its opening week numbers would be this big.
According to Netflix, Stranger Things 5 scored 59.6 million views in its first four days on the streaming service. The final season premiered at 8 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 26, and despite Netflix making arrangements not to crash, things did not go as planned. The rush to watch Stranger Things 5 crashed Netflix for a few minutes for most, and even longer for others. Thankfully, Netflix was able to come out of the premiere relatively unscathed.
Earlier this year, Wednesday season 2 opened with 50 million views, which was the second-largest English TV opening ever for Netflix. For Stanger Things 5 to clear that bar by 10 million views is quite impressive, considering the shows cater to a similar audience.
I have no doubt that Stranger Things 5 is going to earn a spot on the all-time Netflix Top 10 TV shows list, and it will probably knock Wednesday season 1 out of the top spot at 252.2 million views. I would be surprised if Stranger Things 5 didn't pass 300 million views on Netflix by early 2026.
To top Stranger Things 4, which ranks third of the all-time Netflix Top 10, all Stranger Things 5 has to do is rack up about 80 million views, and that's definitely going to happen. To pass Adolescence, it needs about 82 million views.
The wild part of this is we still have four more episodes, including two prime time holiday releases. Stranger Things 5 Vol. 2 consists of three episodes, and those will be released at 8 p.m. EST on Christmas Day (Dec. 25). The Stranger Things 5 finale hits Netflix (and theaters around the US) on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) at 8 p.m. EST, as well.
The other part that I can't quite wrap my head around is that Stranger Things 5 is still getting more popular. With a holiday release, there was a portion of the audience who was simply too busy to watch over the holiday weekend. Now, Stranger Things 5 is still No. 1 in the US and most countries around the world. It's easily the biggest opening release in Netflix history.
All five Stranger Things seasons are in the Netflix Top 10, too
In addition to the record-breaking ratings, Netflix also revealed that all five seasons of Stranger Things ranked in the weekly Top 10 for the week of the season 5 premiere. This is the first time in Netflix history that all five seasons of a show have ranked in the Netflix Top 10 for a week.
We usually see a bump of viewers tuning in for previous seasons right before and right after big releases, but we've never seen anything like this. It's remarkable just how one show has basically taken over Netflix. And, each Stranger Things season posted ratings that you would see for decent Netflix new releases between 4.6 million views and 8.9 million viewers.
And, it seems like the Stranger Things rewatches are in full swing from now until Vol. 2 on Christmas and the finale on New Year's Day. I have a feeling we'll see this show's older seasons continue to rank in the Netflix Top 10 throughout the month.
Stay tuned for more news about Stranger Things!