“Stranger Things” was king among TV shows in 2022.
Audiences watched the Netflix supernatural series for 52 billion minutes last year, making it the most-streamed show in the U.S., according to Nielsen data.
The prolific “Stranger Things” viewership was fueled by the release of the show’s fourth season, which featured nine episodes, all over an hour long. The first seven episodes premiered in late May, and the last two — including a nearly two-and-a-half-hour finale — came out in early July.
Season 4 recorded more than 1.3 billion hours of global viewership over its first four weeks, setting a Netflix record for an English-language show. The season introduced the villainous Vecna, a storyline set to continue in the undated fifth and final season.
The “Stranger Things” viewership marks the largest total recorded by Nielsen since 2020, when “The Office” scored 57.1 billion minutes during a year largely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Netflix accounted for the top five shows of 2022 between its original series and acquired projects. Finishing second on the Nielsen U.S. streaming chart was the police procedural series “NCIS,” which recorded 38.1 billion minutes of viewership across its 356 episodes on Netflix.
The children’s series “Cocomelon” finished third with 37.8 billion minutes across its 18 episodes on Netflix. “Ozark” was viewed more than 31 billion hours and “Grey’s Anatomy” recorded nearly 27 billion hours to round out the Top 5.
The most-streamed movie of the year was the animated musical “Encanto,” which debuted on Disney+ in late 2021 after originally premiering in theaters. “Encanto” received 27.4 billion minutes of viewership in 2022, according to Nielsen.
Second among movies was Pixar’s “Turning Red,” which recorded 11.4 billion minutes of viewership on Disney+.
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