After a lengthy break imposed by the pandemic, Netflix’s flagship scripted series returned in full force. Stranger Things 4 Volume 1, which launched May 25, logged the biggest premiere weekend ever for a Netflix original series with 286.79 Million hours viewed, surpassing Bridgerton Season 2, which drew 193M.
This also is the first season of Stranger Things to reach #1 in 83 countries setting another premiere weekend record. The series reached the Top 10 in all 93 countries Netflix is tracking.
The release of Season 4 V.1 also lifted the previous seasons of the coming-of-age drama, which all landed in the Netflix Top 10 for English-language series for the week of May 23-29: Season 1 (38M hours viewed), Season 2 (22.2M hours viewed) and Season 3 (24.3M hours viewed).
Stranger Things crowded the Top 5, taking the No. 1 spot (Season 4, V.1), No.3 (Season 1), No.4 (Season 3) and No.5 (Season 2.) Coming in at No.2 was the previous week’s most watched English-language series, The Lincoln Lawyer, which added 64.8M more hours of viewing.
Rounding out the global Top 10 among English-language series are Ozark S4 (21.9M), The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib: Season 1 (19.9M), Love, Death & Robots: Volume 3 (15.4M), Bridgerton S2 (11.3M), and The Circle S4 (10.3M).
Underlining Stranger Things‘ outsized pop culture reach beyond TV, Max Mayfield’s favorite Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill” from the Stranger Things 4 soundtrack shot up to #1 on iTunes – 37 years after its original release. On Spotify as of Monday, May 30, there was a more than 8,700% increase in global streams of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” by Kate Bush. There was a more than 9,900% increase in streams in the U.S. on Spotify for the same song. There was a more than 1,030% increase in global streams of “Pass the Dutchie” by Musical Youth. Since the Stranger Things 4 premiere, there was a more than 1,600% increase in global streams of Kate Bush’s catalog.
