Stranger Things 5 Shatters Netflix's Premiere Records

The final season of “Stranger Things” smashed Netflix’s records, pulling in nearly 60 million global views in its first five days to become the biggest-ever debut for an English-language series on the platform. The premiere’s performance is second only to the launch of “Squid Game’s” second season.

• Painting the map red: The show hit #1 in 90 countries and made the top 10 in every territory the streamer tracks, according to its data. In a statement, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer said, "the response has been more than we ever could have dreamed."

• Total chart takeover: The franchise’s return also sent its entire back catalog surging up the charts. For the first time, all five seasons of a single series took over the English-language TV top 10, a feat that even passed the record set by “Wednesday.”

• A monster-sized asterisk: While viewership jumped 171% from Season 4’s 2022 debut, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. As Variety noted, Netflix’s methodology for counting a 'view' has changed, and the new season had a longer five-day premiere window than its predecessor's three.

Netflix is splitting the final season into three parts. The next batch of episodes drops on Christmas Day, with the series finale arriving on New Year's Eve. While the Upside Down dominated TV, the new holiday movie “Jingle Bell Heist” took the top spot on the film charts. Elsewhere, the animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters” set its own record, becoming the longest-charting movie in Netflix history with 24 straight weeks in the top 10.