Netflix Tightens Its Grip: 5 of America’s Top 10 Shows in 2025-26 Are on Netflix

Netflix spent the 2025 –26 TV season doing what it does best: crowding out everyone else. For the second straight year, the streamer not only topped the charts overall, it also delivered the single most-watched show in the country and grabbed half of the top 10. If it felt like your queue was ruled by Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Squid Game, you were not imagining it. Toss in surprise breakouts like Adolescence and His & Hers, and yeah — the year belonged to Netflix.

By the numbers

These are the key placements from the 2025–26 season based on cross-platform viewing measured over 35 days, using Nielsen data through April 12 (the latest week with full 35-day ratings):

• 1. Stranger Things (final season) — 32.9 million viewers average over 35 days; the most-watched series across any platform
• 2. His & Hers — 25.6 million; a genuine shocker that finished closer to Stranger Things than anyone expected
• 3. Marshals (CBS) — 20.7 million; the top broadcast show, and it got there halfway through its first season
• 4. Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix) — 20.6 million; missed the top three by a hair and proved viewers are still glued to documentary and true-crime stories
• 5. Landman — 19.8 million
• 6. Bridgerton ( Netflix) — 18.3 million
• Tracker (CBS) — 16.4 million; landed in the season’s overall top 10 across streaming and broadcast
• 10. Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix) — 13.4 million

What the rankings actually tell us

Netflix dominated for the second consecutive season, and not by a little. Stranger Things closed things out on top with 32.9 million over 35 days — a 7.3 million lead on runner-up His & Hers at 25.6 million. That gap is massive in a year when plenty of shows were fighting just to break through. Also worth flagging: the doc boom is still a boom. Sean Combs: The Reckoning landed 20.6 million and sat inches outside the top three.

And because the original phrasing floating around made it sound like a whole other show existed called Upside Down: no, there was not a separate series. That line was clearly a nod to Stranger Things’ spooky parallel world. The actual title breaking records was Stranger Things — the show — not an Upside Down spinoff.

Broadcast check-in: CBS quietly cleaned up

Even with primetime down overall this season, CBS had the strongest broadcast footprint. Marshals pulled 20.7 million by midseason, making it the most-watched network program and third overall. Tracker added 16.4 million and cracked the top 10 across platforms. Strip out sports, and CBS accounted for a little more than half of the top 25 aired programs — a reminder that the Eye network still has reach when it finds the right procedural hook.

But the crown stays with Netflix. Between the outsized finish for Stranger Things, the surprise muscle of His & Hers, and steady franchise heat from Bridgerton (with global juggernauts like Wednesday and Squid Game keeping the spotlight bright), the streamer owned the season and half the top 10 to prove it.

What grabbed you this year — the sure-thing finales or the out-of-nowhere hits?