‘Stranger Things’ & Diddy Doc ‘Sean Combs: The Reckoning’ Dominate Netflix In First Week Of December
Stranger Things was still dominating Netflix last week after a record-breaking opening over the Thanksgiving holiday. The first four episodes of Season 5, while down about 57% from its debut weekend, put up a massive 25.2M views from December 1 to 7, which is still a bigger weekly total than many scripted series ever hit.
Stranger Things 5 Vol. 1 was No. 1 on the English-language TV rankings last week and the most-watched title on the platform. The biggest illustration of the series’ continued strength despite a three-year hiatus between seasons is that fact that all four previous seasons remain in the weekly Top 10. Season 1 came in at No. 3 with 8.2M views, Season 2 was at No. 5 with 6.8M views, Season 3 at No. 6 with 5.9M views, and Season 4 in seventh place with 5.3M views.
That now puts Season 5 at 84.8M views in total since its launch, positioning it to almost certainly enter the most popular list within the next few weeks, ahead of Volume 2 and the finale. Tied for ninth and tenth place currently are The Night Agent Season 1 and Fool Me Once with 98.2M views.
While Stranger Things 5 was at the top of last week’s rankings, it had a close competitor in Netflix’s latest docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning. The four-part series from executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson amassed 21.8M views in its opening week.
Another new series, The Abandons, also premiered last week to a promising 7.3M views in its opening week. This is a decent start for the female-led Western epic starring Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey, especially given the tough competition it faced opening against the buzzy Diddy documentary and the final season of one of Netflix’s most popular and enduring franchises.
Unfortunately for almost anything else on Netflix, the Stranger Things furor will continue well into the new year as the series finale is set to debut on New Year’s Eve.
On the film side of things, holiday movies are still the top choice for audiences. The latest to reach No. 1 on the English film charts is My Secret Santa with 18.1M views. That was joined by Jingle Bell Heist in the No. 2 spot with 10.4M views. Matt Rife Unwrapped: A Christmas Crowdwork Special was also in the mix at No. 10 with 4.6M views.
