Squid Game unexpectedly became Netflix’s biggest-ever hit last October (according to self-reported data from Netflix), with over 1.6 billion hours viewed in its first 28 days on the streaming service. It’s the only Netflix season to exceed one billion hours, although like poor Chrissy being lifted in Eddie Munson’s trailer, Stranger Things 4 is going higher and higher on the all-time chart — and could soon even surpass Squid Game.
Stranger Things 4 has racked up 883 million hours in its first 24 days of release. It only has four more days to reach Squid Game’s 1.6 billion hours (or 1.599999999999999999 billion hours more than anyone spent wondering if a Squid Game competition series is a good idea). That obviously isn’t going to happen… until you remember that there are still two more episodes of season four of Stranger Things to go. Forbes reports:
Netflix has already said what they will count and what they won’t. The 28 day clock will start ticking from July 1, but only for those two episodes. While viewings of part 1 will count toward the overall grand total (and last we checked, Squid Game’s lifetime views are something like 2.2 billion hours), they will not add to the 28 day counter. Part 2’s will, within those 28 days.
Many Stranger Things fans will re-watch at least a portion of the first seven episodes of season four before the show returns on July 1. Those two new episodes equally roughly four hours of viewing (including a whopping and butt-numbing two hours and 20 minutes for the finale), so there’s a chance that it could break Squid Game’s record. At the very least, Stranger Things 4 will exceed one billion hours, which is also how much time Max spends listening to Kate Bush this season.
Here’s the English language top 10:
1. Stranger Things 4 (883,300,000)
2. Bridgerton: Season 2 (656,260,000)
3. Bridgerton: Season 1 (625,490,000)
4. Stranger Things 3 (582,100,000)
5. Lucifer: Season 5 (569,480,000)
6. The Witcher: Season 1 (541,010,000)
7. Inventing Anna (511,920,000)
8. 13 Reasons Why: Season 2 (496,120,000)
9. Ozark: Season 4 (491,090,000)
10. The Witcher: Season 2 (484,340,000)
And the non-English language top 10:
1. Squid Game: Season 1 (1,650,450,000)
2. Money Heist: Part 5 (792,230,000)
3. Money Heist: Part 4 (619,010,000)
4. All of Us Are Dead: Season 1 (560,780,000)
5. Money Heist: Part 3 (426,400,000)
6. Café con aroma de mujer: Season 1 (326,910,000)
7. Lupin: Part 1 (316,830,000)
8. Elite: Season 3 (275,300,000)
9. Who Killed Sara?: Season 1 (266,430,000)
10. Elite: Season 4 (257,090,000)
(Via Forbes)