The pop culture behemoth that is Stranger Things is, obviously, incredibly popular but it couldn’t quite beat the record for views set by another monster hit show – Squid Game.
Netflix calculates its statistics of the impressive superlative most popular show ever during a show’s initial 28 days on the streaming platform, according to Variety. Because the fourth season of the show was split into two parts, Netflix combined the eligibility of Volume 1 with Volume 2, meaning that Volume 1 views didn’t count during Volume 2’s eligibility window.
Volume 1 debuted on May 27 and Volume 2 was dropped on July 1. At the end of all the counting, the tally was close… ish. Season 4 finished with 1.4 billion hours viewed versus 1.7 billion for Squid Game. What sort of puts this in context to how much of a runaway smash Netflix had with Squid Game — consider the fact that Squid Game is 8 hours long and Stranger Things season 4 is 13 hours long.
Even with the extra five hours of run time in Stranger Things, Hwang Dong-hyuk’s South Korean class warfare show comes out on top. This, however, doesn’t mean Stranger Things is going anywhere. For the viewing period of July 25-31, Stranger Things was second in the top ten behind Virgin River Season 4, which clocked in an impressive 87.9 million in its first week on the platform.
Keep Breathing, Manifest: Season 1 and Resident Evil: Season 1 all round out the top ten. Previous seasons of Stranger Things also appear in the top ten and have consistently for a while now. Stranger Things 3 clocks in at 9 on the chart and Stranger Things 2 comes in at number 10.
Despite not being the most viewed ever, Stranger Things pop culture reverberations are still being felt. After Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” was featured in the show, it returned to the charts after more than 30 years – and is continuing to climb some two months on.
Veteran rockers Metallica experienced a similar situation, though on a smaller scale, when their song “Master of Puppets” was used in a pivotal scene. The band recently appeared at Lollapalooza with actor Joseph Quinn, who played the song on the show.
When asked if he liked the show, lead singer James Hetfield said “I’m a big fan of it, have been since Season 1. My kids and I, it’s been a bonding experience for us.”
All seasons of Stranger Things are currently streaming on Netflix.