Stranger Things 4 breaks all-time record with 287 million hours viewed

“Stranger Things” is returning after a three-year layoff, and it’s making big incredible viewership numbers for Netflix. Stranger Things 4 volume 1 surpassed Season 2 of “Bridgerton” for the largest-ever premiere weekend of an English-language series.

Stranger Things 4 of the Duffer Brothers’ hit sci-fi series was viewed for 287 million hours during the week of May 23-30, according to Netflix’s recently revealed Top 10 rankings. Volume 1 of the season launched with seven episodes on Friday, and this comes after only three days of release.

Netflix top 10 chart for English language series — Netflix’s Top 10 Ranking, Week of May 23-30, 2022 (Courtesy: Netflix)

For the week of May 23-30, Netflix’s Top 5 titles included all four seasons of “Stranger Things.”

Season 1 of “Stranger Things” came in third with 28 million hours seen, after sliding back into the Top 10 last week as fans rewatched the series in expectation of Season 4. Season 3 came in fourth place, with 24.2 million hours, and Season 2 came in fifth place, with 22.2 million hours.

Season 2 of “Bridgerton” received 193 million hours of view during its premiere weekend, which took place March 21-27. The streamer’s remarkable three-day viewership set a new milestone, with “Bridgerton” Season 2 becoming the most-watched Netflix English-language TV title in its opening weekend ever. “Stranger Things 4” now holds the crown, surpassing “Bridgerton” by over 50 percent.

When “Stranger Things” premiered in 2016, it soon became a Netflix flagship series, starring young performers Millie Bobby Brown (as Eleven/Jane Hopper (“El”)), Finn Wolfhard (as Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (as Dustin Henderson), and Caleb McLaughlin (as Lucas Sinclair) with seasoned veterans Winona Ryder (as Joyce Byers) and David Harbour (as Jim Hopper). Even after three years of new episodes, the buzz surrounding the upcoming episodes has held steady.

The show recently made headlines when Netflix revealed Season 4’s unusual runtimes. The shortest episode is 63 minutes long, while Episode 7 is a movie-length 98 minutes — which surely helps the show’s chart standing — and the Season 4 finale, which has yet to be aired, will be nearly two hours long.

Part 2 of Season 4 of “Stranger Things” will premiere on Netflix on July 1 and will consist of two episodes. The fifth and final season of the show has already been renewed.

Official Poster of “Stranger Things 4”