With the release of Volume 2, Stranger Things 4 in the prime position to continue its record-breaking hot streak. After becoming Netflix’s top English-language TV season of all time, and pushing Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” to the top of the iTunes and Spotify charts, it has hit yet another milestone.
The supernatural mystery-thriller series is now Netflix’s second title to rack up over one billion hours viewed, falling just behind South Korean drama Squid Game. The new episodes, which clocked a total runtime of nearly four hours, brought Season 4 up to 1.15 billion viewed in total since the premiere of Volume 1 on 27 May.
This means there’s still a chance for the show to surpass the viewership of Squid Game, which remains the most popular series on Netflix with 1.65 billion hours viewed. According to the streamer, the statistic is calculated during each title’s first 28 days of availability, with segmented releases counting towards the popularity tally.
Season 4 of Stranger Things was viewed for 301.3 million hours during the 27 June to 3 July viewing window where Volume 2 was only available for three days, making it the season’s second most successful week following the 30 May to 6 June window. The rest of the chart is dominated by the other seasons of Stranger Things and The Umbrella Academy, with the Rowan Atkinson-led Man Vs Bee taking the sixth spot.
Considering how Volume 1 ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, it’s no surprise that the second part caught the attention and excitement of fans — even if it ended up with more questions than answers. Season 5 will mark the end of the Stranger Things saga, but each episode, barring the finale, is expected to be shorter than that of Season 4. Outside of the main story, there’s also a Stranger Things spin-off, though that won’t be coming from series creators Ross and Matt Duffer.
Season 4 of Stranger Things is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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