Entertainment

10 Netflix shows everyone is watching as chart-topper gains 34,500,000 more views

Nell Fisher as Holly Wheelerwearing a hooded cloak while standing in a desert in Stranger Things seaosn 5.
If you’re looking for something new to watch in the new year, then look no further. Netflix has revealed the most-watched TV shows of the past week and, if you haven’t already checked them out, there are some seriously gripping options to sink your teeth into. Whether you’re after a documentary, reality TV, romance or even looking to keep the festive fluff going into 2026, there’s something for everyone. And, of course, a certain sci-fi horror has dominated the charts with seasons old and new, as viewers catch up ahead of the epic finale released yesterday. (Picture: Netflix)

10. Stranger Things: Season 3 – 3,600,000 views

Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Netflix/Kobal/Shutterstock (10340534aw) Maya Thurman Hawke as Robin, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson 'Stranger Things' TV Show Season 3 - 2019 When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.
It’ll come as a surprise to no one that several seasons of Stranger Things appear on the most-watched chart this week. After the first few episodes of season 5 landed in November, and the second batch dropped on Christmas Day, fans have been catching up on previous episodes. After all, it has been three and a half years since the season 4 premiere, so many viewers are feeling a little out of touch with the happenings in Hawkins. Stranger Things season 3 sees the gang attempt to defeat the Mind Flayer, a hive-mind, shadow-like being from the Upside Down that controls victims. (Picture: Netflix)

9. Sean Combs: The Reckoning – 3,700,000 views

Sean Combs: The Reckoning. (L to R) Christopher Wallace, The Notorious B.I.G. and Sean Combs. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix ?? 2025
Released just months after a high-profile court case, where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was handed a 50-month prison sentence, this documentary is in the Netflix chart for the fourth consecutive week, having previously held the top spot. It explores Combs’ stratospheric rise to fame in the 90s, thanks to the success of his Bad Boy Entertainment label, and his later sexual misconduct allegations. It’s also produced by 50 Cent, with whom Diddy has a decades-long feud. (Picture: Netflix)

8. Cashero – 3,800,000 views

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Cashero / Lee Jun-ho as Kang Sang-ung in Cashero Cr. Kim Hobin/Netflix ?? 2025
Jumping straight into Netflix’s top 10 chart after its release on December 26 is this South Korean superhero drama. It follows an ordinary man who inherits super strength and discovers a greater evil out to steal his power. There’s a catch to his newfound abilities, however: every use drains money from his wallet. Can he protect his normal life while grappling with his new powers and tacking the evil forces threatening to turn the world to chaos? You’ll have to watch to find out. (Picture: Netflix)

7. Stranger Things: Season 4 – 4,100,000 views

15397287 No Merchandising. Editorial Use Only. No Book Cover Usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Netflix/Everett/Shutterstock (14219648ab) STRANGER THINGS, from left: David Harbour, Winona Ryder, 'Chapter Nine: The Piggyback', (Season 4, ep. 409, aired July 1, 2022). photo: ?Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection Everett Collection - 01 Jul 2022
Yep, it’s Stranger Things again, with season 4 adding an additional 4.1 million views to the popular show’s already impressive total. This season is set eight months after the last, after Eleven, Will, Jonathan and Joyce move to California to escape the supernatural happenings in Indiana. Back in Hawkins, the gang have drifted apart. But it’s only a matter of time before they’re reunited against their biggest threat yet – a monster/human hybrid called Vecna. Oh, and this is also the season that saw Kate Bush’s 1985 hit, Running Up That Hill, go utterly viral 37 years after it was originally released. (Picture: Netflix/Everett/Shutterstock)

6. Culinary Class Wars: Season 2 – 4,700,000 views

No Merchandising. Editorial Use Only. No Book Cover Usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Netflix/Everett/Shutterstock (16216611c) CULINARY CLASS WARS, (aka HEUGBAEKYORISA: YORI GYEGEUB JEONJAENG), contestant, (Season 2, ep. 202, aired Dec. 16, 2025). photo: ?Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection Culinary Class Wars - 16 Dec 2025
After a year’s wait, Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars is finally back with a new set of talented competitors. Korea’s most renowned chefs (known as ‘white spoons’) face off against a group of amateurs (‘black spoons’) with a passion for cooking, to see if experience can win over the bold newcomers. Last year saw black spoon chef Napoli Matfia rise above the veterans to win the contest – but will a white chef take the crown this time around? (Picture: Netflix/Everett/Shutterstock)

5. Stranger Things: Season 1 – 4,800,000 views

Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Netflix/Everett/Shutterstock (5799822a) Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Season 1, Episode 1 Stranger Things - 2016
Stranger Things season 1 enjoyed its 19th week in the Netflix top 10 charts last week. The first series sets up a supernatural web leading to the uncovering of secret government exploits, which follows the disappearance of a young boy named Will Byers in Hawkins, Indiana. Will’s friends, his mother Joyce and a police chief, Hopper, try to find out what happened to him and, along the way, they encounter Eleven, an escapee child test subject who is attempting to evade her former captors. (Picture: Netflix/Everett/Shutterstock)

4. Man vs Baby – 7,900,000 views

Rowan Atkinson wearing a woolly hat and blue raincoat, smiling at a baby in a blue babygrow sat on a set of scales in the fruit and veg aisle of a supermarket.
Dropping down after two weeks in the top spot is this festive-themed comedy starring British legend Rowan Atkinson. The actor has reprised his role as Trevor Bingley, first seen in Man vs Bee, who has swapped house-sitting for working as a school caretaker – until he lands a job looking after a London penthouse over Christmas. He’s not alone, however, as an abandoned baby has fallen into his care after being left behind at the school nativity. Metro TV reporter Rebecca Cook gave the mini-series three stars in her review, writing: ‘Stick it on this Christmas and you will at least laugh more than you ever did at that hateful bee, even if you do come away craving an out-of-this-world expensive glass of Dom and wondering why Atkinson revisited this character as opposed to any of his other better ones.’ (Picture: Netflix)

3. Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable… – 9,200,000 views

15402365 Dave Chappelle stuns audience with Charlie Kirk comment in surprise Netflix comedy special
Comedy icon Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special is spending its second week in the top 10, having climbed up from ninth place. The ‘no-holds-barred’ show has proved somewhat controversial, however, receiving a disappointing 36% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Decider critic Sean L. McCarthy criticised the special, writing in his review: ‘For all of the humor and humanity he displays both in his closer as well as the end credits, there’s unfortunately a half-hour full of unnecessary cruelty and juvenile jabs masquerading as jokes to sit through first.’ (Picture: Netflix)

2. Emily in Paris: Season 5 – 13,300,000 views

Undated Handout Photo from Emily in Paris Season 5. Pictured: Ashley Park as Mindy and Lily Collins as Emily See PA Feature SHOWBIZ TV Emily in Paris. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ TV Emily in Paris. PA Photo. Picture credit should read: Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix ? 2025. NOTE TO EDITORS: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ TV Emily in Paris
Emily is back, to the delight of her many fans, but she’s not in Paris this time. Instead, Emily in Paris season 5 kicks off in Rome, where Lily Collins’ titular character has found love with Italian Marcello. And it’s not the only new romance, as Mindy (Ashley Park) and Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) share some surprising intimate moments too. Metro’s very own TV reporter Charlotte Minter gave the latest series four stars, saying it left her ‘optimistic, charmed and ready for more.’ (Picture: Netflix)

1. Stranger Things: Season 5 – 34,500,000 views

STRANGER THINGS: SEASON 5. Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in Stranger Things: Season 5. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX ?? 2025
In the top spot, enjoying its fifth week in the chart, is, of course, Stranger Things season five. The first batch of episodes are set around 18 months after the events of series four, and sees Eleven in hiding, Holly Wheeler as Vecna’s latest victim, and Will discover that he can control Demogorgons. The two-hour finale landed on New Year’s Eve,and fans were left ‘screaming’ after Netflix appeared to stop working while they tried to watch. With the epic finale not counted in this week’s viewing figures, it’s safe to say this won’t be the last time we see Stranger Things in the Netflix chart. (Picture: Netflix)
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