Buoyed by the highly anticipated release of its final two Season 4 episodes “Stranger Things” just became only the second Netflix series ever to cross 1 billion hours viewed within its first 28 days of availability, according to the streaming service’s internal metrics. Korean-language sensation “Squid Game” Season 1 was the first; it remains the overall record holder with 1.65 billion hours of viewership over its first four weeks. “Squid Game” has been renewed for a second season. Now with 1.15 billion hours viewed within its first 28 days of availability, “Stranger Things 4” is the first (and only, of course) English-language series to top that mind-numbing billion-hour threshold. Episodes 8 and 9, the supersized final two episodes of Season 4, were released by Netflix on Friday. Those two episodes combined for 235 minutes of runtime and 301.28 million hours viewed in just three days of availability. They were very long (the season finale was about 2 hours and 20 minutes), but not that long.
Previously, “Stranger Things 4” posted the biggest premiere weekend ever for an English-language TV show on Netflix with 286.79 million hours viewed. And that counted seven episodes combining for 547 minutes of runtime vs. just two. So “Stranger Things 4” quite safely topped Netflix’s Most Popular English TV List over the past week. All told, Volumes 1 and 2 of Season 4 combined for 335.01 million hours viewed in the past seven days — that’s a new week-long record for an English-language TV series on Netflix. The fourth season of the obviously uber-popular Duffer Bros. sci-fi show made Netflix’s Top 10 in 93 countries. To put it all in perspective, this viewership is crazier than trying to explain the Upside Down to the show’s new characters. It almost makes us very nervous about our bold prediction, Why “Stranger Things 4” Won’t Break the “Squid Game” Record for Most-Watched Netflix Show. Almost. “Stranger Things 4” became Netflix’s most-watched English-language TV show after just 17 days. All of this is gravy. Very, very thick and tasty gravy. Seasons 1-3 of “Stranger Things” held their ground on Netflix’s every-Tuesday list. For June 27-July 3, Season 1 nabbed 34.47 million hours viewed, Season 2 had 30.26 million hours, and Season 3 scored 30.28 million hours. “Stranger Things 4” stars Winona Ryder (as Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner).
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