With the media abuzz with the dismal growth of Netflix’s subscribers, here comes some slightly positive news. Shonda Rhimes’ raunchy period piece, Bridgerton season 2 landed on the platform on March 25 and has raced ahead of season 1 to be the most-watched English language series on Netflix. In its premiere week, it displaced Julia Garner’s series Inventing Anna from the #1 spot with a total viewership of 251.7 million hours. And now it has settled nicely in the #1 spot as the most-watched English language series in the first full four weeks globally. 

The period drama amassed total viewership of 627.11 million hours. While its first season isn’t far behind. The first season accumulated 625.49 million hours watched. Following closely behind the giant romance drama is Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things season 3. It has a modest viewership of 582.10 million hours and occupies the #3 spot. 

Although ironic, this does call for some cheers at the Netflix headquarters.

How did the show accumulate such viewership despite the falling rate of subscribers?

The second installment of the Regency-era drama was more family-friendly. The fewer sex scenes did disappoint some viewers but it led to an increase in views. Additionally, the hype around the show helped. It was coming back after 2 years.

Bridgerton season 2 is still not close to Squid Game

Although Bridgerton season 2 has shattered all the records, it has a long way to go to catch up to the Korean giant Squid Game. The Korean survival series is still the number one watched series of all time on Netflix, overall. It had accumulated a whopping 1.65 billion hours! 

Even then the series topped in 88 countries this week with 66.61 million views. Close behind on the weekly top 10 list is The Ultimatum: Marry or Move on at #2 and Anatomy of a Scandal at #3. However, season 1 is still trending at #4. 

With new shows debuting on the platform, the top 10s weekly and all-time tend to change. The upcoming season of Stranger Things may turn all the top 10 lists upside down considering the excitement around its release. It may come for the period drama’s title, who knows!