Revealed! the 10 most popular recent Netflix shows and movies

Netflix has released its second What We Watched report, lifting the lid on what were actually the most popular films and TV shows on the streaming service.

What was number one show? One Piece Season 1, which racked-up 541.9 million hours, equivalent to 71.6 million views.

These figures collate the viewing habits of Netflix subscibrers from July 2023 to December 2023.

Here’s the full top 10 TV shows, along with those view counts.

• One Piece (71.6 million views)
• Dear Child (52.5 million)
• Who is Erin Carter? (50.1 million)
• Lupin Part 3 (49.7 million)
• The Witcher Season 3 (47.9 million)
• Sex Education Season 4 (46.3 million)
• Beckham (43.9 million)
• Cocomelon Season 8 (37.6 million)
• Virgin River Season 5 (35.8 million)
• The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 (35.7 million)

We were pretty unsure of whether One Piece was as big a hit as Netflix hoped, even following its release. But with such a massive lead over the competition, it clearly was a big hit.

Movies get a separate chart. And while none gets closer to the 541.9 million hours spent watching One Piece, the view counts of the big hitters are even higher. Here's the top 10 again:

• Leave the World Behind (121 million views)
• Heart of Stone (109.6 million)
• Leo (96 million)
• Nowhere (86.2 million)
• The Out-Laws (83.8 million)
• Hidden Strike (73.3 million)
• Reptile (73.1 million)
• The Killer (67.8 million)
• Family Switch (61.9 million)
• The Boss Baby (61.7 million)

It's worth noting these viewing figures have more weight than YouTube's, as they are equivalent to full watches (calculated by dividing viewing time by content length). Selecting and bouncing off after 12 seconds doesn't count here.

The big surprise here is The Boss Baby, a 2017 film. Who knew a baby could have such legs?

We’re also glad to see David Fincher’s The Killer make its way into the top 10, having made fairly little impact at launch, given the name at the helm.

Any other notable stats? The sheer number of Cocomelon entries in the top 50 shows the power of family viewing. And some older favourites are still pulling in eyeballs, including The Night Agent (19 million views) Squid Game (14.1 million) and Peaky Blinders, whose first season racked-up 12.4 million views.

• The best Netflix shows revealed - this is the TV to stream (May 2024)