Stranger Things tops Nielsen’s 2022 streaming charts

By Dan Girolamo Published January 26, 2023

2022 belonged to the Upside Down as Netflix’s Stranger Things occupied the top spot on Nielsen’s 2022 streaming rankings. Thanks to its record-breaking fourth season, Stranger Things was the most-streamed television show of 2022, with 52 billion minutes viewed.

The nine-episode fourth season catapulted Stranger Things to the top of the charts. The science fiction drama was also number one for the most-streamed original program of 2022. To this day, Stranger Things season 4 remains Netflix’s most popular television program of all time. The fourth season accumulated 1,352,090,000 minutes streamed in the first 28 days.

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Coming in behind Stranger Things on the overall chart was NCIS, which registered 38.1 billion minutes viewed. The rest of the top 10 featured Cocomelon, Ozark, Encanto, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Bluey, Gilmore Girls, and Seinfeld.

Chart for Nielsen's 2022 Top 15 Streaming Programs Overall — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Overall, Netflix dominated the television charts, occupying 11 of 15 spots overall and 13 of 15 spots for originals. Popular Netflix series like Ozark, Wednesday, Bridgerton, Cobra Kai, and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story all cracked the top 10 for original programming.

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Aside from Netflix, the other services that found their programs on the rankings include Disney+, Prime Video, and HBO Max. The highest-ranked program to come from a service other than Netflix was Disney+’s Encanto, with over 27 billion minutes. The Oscar-winning animated feature was the highest-streamed movie in 2022 by a wide margin. The second closest movie was Turning Red, which clocked in at over 11 billion minutes.

One of the surprises came from Prime Video as their most-streamed original program was not The Rings of Power, but The Boys. The only other Prime Video program featured on any of the charts was SpongeBob SquarePants in acquired programming.

View the charts in their entirety below.

Chart for Nielsen's 2022 Top 15 Streaming Programs Originals — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chart for Nielsen's 2022 Top 15 Streaming Programs Acquired — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chart for Nielsen's 2022 Top 15 Streaming Movies — Image used with permission by copyright holder

No doubt it’ll top the list again in 2024 when Stranger Things season 5 finally hits the service.

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Dan is a passionate and multitalented content creator with experience in pop culture, entertainment, and sports. Throughout…

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David Harbour cried reading the Stranger Things season 5 finale: ‘Best episode they’ve ever done’

stranger things season 5 finale david harbour cried

Judging by David Harbour's comments, fans will need tissues when watching the Stranger Things season 5 finale.

On Thursday, Harbour appeared at the Happy Sad Confused podcast's 10th anniversary celebration at New York Comic Con. Harbour gave the live crowd a little treat by teasing what they can expect for Stranger Things season 5. Harbour and his castmates have read the series finale, which he called "the best episode they've ever done." The finale was so good that it moved people to tears.
“The end of this [final] episode, when we were reading it — just us reading it — about halfway through, people started crying,” Harbour said. “Then about the last 20 minutes, it was just uncontrollably crying, waves of different people. Noah Schnapp being my favorite.”
In Harbour's mind, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer "landed the plane" for a satisfying conclusion to the five-season show. Harbour, who stars as Jim Hopper, has worked with this young cast for nearly a decade, so he's witnessed their growth from a young age. The transition from childhood to adulthood plays a major theme this season that Harbour believes will be a hit with fans.

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