On Tuesday, Netflix revealed that “Bridgerton” Season 2 was viewed for a mind-boggling 251.7 million hours in its first full week, shattering the streaming service’s previous English-language series record from the near-196 million hours “Inventing Anna” tallied in February during its own first full week on the service. Korean-language series “Squid Game” still holds the overall record of 571.8 million hours viewed in one week in early fall. (Technically, four different “Squid Game” weeks bested this one from “Bridgerton.” There is also an important cutoff here: Netflix’s Global Top 10 website only dates back to the week of June 28, 2021-July 4, 2021.) Guess what the number-two show was last week on Netflix? Yep, it was also “Bridgerton;” Season 1 amassed 53 million hours viewed as subscribers clamored to catch up on the Shondaland phenomenon. “Inventing Anna” posted its eighth week on the Top 10, ranking fourth with nearly 22 million hours viewed. “Anna” has not fallen out of the streamer’s Top 5 English-language TV shows since debuting February 11.
Last week, “Bridgerton” set a new record for a Netflix English-language series’ season premiere week with 193 million hours viewed. “Bridgerton” Season 2’s opening weekend bested “The Witcher” Season 2’s first few days (142.4 million hours viewed) by more than 50 million hours viewed. Through just its first 10 days of availability, “Bridgerton” Season 2 has been viewed for nearly 345 million hours. There’s one more key Netflix record that “Bridgerton” Season 2 is still gunning for. That record, too, is held by “Bridgerton.” “Bridgerton” Season 1 racked up 625.49 million hours viewed in its first 28 days, which remains the largest-ever sum for an English-language Netflix series. For those records, Netflix goes way back. The 28-day mark, which counts four full weeks of availability, is the one Netflix really uses to judge the success or failure of a show. “Bridgerton” Season 2 is about 55 percent of the way to catching Season 1. See Netflix’s Top 10 English-language TV seasons (from just six shows) of all time, counting their first 28 days, below. Here again, “Squid Game” would dwarf the competition with a bonkers 1.650 billion hours viewed – if it were not in Korean. Soon, “Bridgerton” Season 2 should bump “You” Season 2 from this list. The question is how many more shows and seasons will be downgraded by one slot? Check back with us in 18 days. (Or in 21 days if Netflix sticks to its own Tuesday-reveal strategy.) Netflix Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
