The 25 Most Watched Netflix Series in the First Half of 2026, According to Netflix

After being criticized for being notoriously private about its data in its early years, Netflix has been more forthcoming about its viewership in recent years, with its biannual What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report and weekly emails about its Top 10 lists, both of which detail the amount of views its movies and shows get. And then what happens? Every entertainment and tech journalist writes stories about how viewership is cratering for Netflix shows in their second seasons and good shows are canceled before their time, demonizing the world's biggest streamer in a glorious internet pile-on (that isn't necessarily undeserved — bring back The Baby-Sitters Club!!). Damned if you do, damned if you don't, Netflix. 

Coincidentally or not, Netflix has opted to move What We Watched to an annual report, which, honestly, makes more sense than splitting the year in two, even if it means fewer numbers for us dataheads. That means this batch, which covers the most-watched shows from January 1 to June 30, 2026, will be the last in this six-month iteration.

Before we get into it, a few of the usual disclaimers. The ranking is sorted by total views, which Netflix defines by total hours watched divided by a show's runtime in order to put a show like Stranger Things Season 5, which has a runtime of over 10 hours, on an even playing field with a limited series like His & Hers, which only has just over 4 hours of runtime. And with the hard cutoff date of June 30, this ranking benefits those shows that were released earlier in the year because they have more time to accumulate views, as opposed to a series that was launched in mid-June. It's an imperfect measurement, but it's all we got. 

Here are the most watched Netflix shows in the first half of 2026, according to Netflix. 

Though the title of this docuseries is a bit of a misnomer (isn't that right, Rachel? Give me my hoodie back!), Season 2 of Worst Ex Ever once again covers some pretty terrible former flames, and people flocked to it with 26.5 million views. That's even more than Season 1, which had 26.1 million views back in 2024.

It's a question we always ask ourselves: Should I Marry a Murderer? Lots of people tuned in to find out the answer, and the true crime docuseries accumulated 26.6 million views. By the way, the answer to the question is "depends how tall they are." 

The Spanish series Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine is kind of Season 2 of Berlin, the Money Heist prequel starring Pedro Alonso in the title role, but Netflix classifies it as a miniseries. Viewers don't care how it's categorized; they gave it 27.6 million views. 

Netflix released two projects about the 1992 killing of Rachel Nickell on the same day: the documentary film The Murder of Rachel Nickell and the scripted drama The Witness. Netflix subscribers preferred the drama, as The Witness racked up 28 million views, good enough for No. 22 on this list. For comparison's sake, The Murder of Rachel Nickell drew 13.9 million views, which was 116th on the most watched movies list.

The British cult drama Unchosen got dragged by critics and viewers, but the views still piled up to the tune of 28.4 million. There's no word on whether or not it has been chosen (or unchosen) for a second season.

The three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery got decent reviews, but that didn't keep audiences away, as it got 28.6 million views. However, there's still one mystery to solve: Will it get a second season?

Can this data be translated? The rom-com Can This Love Be Translated? grabbed 28.6 million views, making it a nice little hit for Netflix. It is one of two Korean limited series on this list.

Currently Netflix's longest-running scripted drama, Virgin River is still flowing. Season 7 had 28.8 million views, which helped it get a Season 8 order. Virgin River Season 6 doesn't have great comparable data because it was released in mid-December 2024 (18.9 million views), but Season 5 was a Top 10 hit with 35.8 million viewers when it was released in September 2023.

In a year in which the Michael Jackson biopic Michael earned over a billion dollars at the box office, Netflix has to be bummed that its docuseries Michael Jackson: The Verdict only got 28.9 million views and didn't crack its top 10. It is worth noting that this docuseries was released in June, which likely dampened its numbers a bit. 

The To All the Boys spin-off series was fairly consistent from season to season, with Season 3 picking up 29.3 million views compared to Season 2's 35.3 million views. As of July 2026, Netflix hadn't made a decision on a Season 4 renewal, but Deadline reports that there are multiple options for the show's future, including, possibly, a wrap-up movie.

Even though Ms. Rachel is readily available for free on YouTube, it's still a big hit for toddlers on Netflix. Season 2 drew 31.3 million views, and Season 1, which is further up the list, drew *spoiler alert!* even more.

Will we ever get sick of computer-generated dinosaurs? Nope. The nature docuseries The Dinosaurs lands at 14 with 31.5 million views, making it the top unscripted program on the list. That's quite a surprise given how successful true-crime docuseries have been on Netflix. Here's a free idea, Netflix: a true-crime series about a dinosaur murder. You're welcome!

The German spy thriller Unfamiliar — which shares a lot of similarities to the excellent The Americans — was the second-most watched international series in this group, with 31.6 million views. There's been no word on whether or not there will be a second season, and if you watched it, you know we NEED a second season.

The crime drama Nemesis, created by Power showrunner Courtney A. Kemp and Tani Marole, was a pleasant surprise for Netflix with 32.6 million views in the first half of 2026. It was renewed for a second season in June.

Here's a 2026 success story: The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 drew more views than The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3 did (35 million views vs. 32.5 million views)! Season 4, which premiered in early February 2026, did have a little more time in its respective time period than Season 3, which premiered in mid-October 2024, but that's remarkable consistency given natural viewership erosion. Way to go, Mickey Haller. The Lincoln Lawyer will be back for a fifth and final season. 

Season 3 of The Night Agent was the most critically acclaimed season of the show so far, but viewership has fallen off since its massive premiere season, which at one point was on Netflix's Top 10 of all time. Still, 36.1 million views is quite good, and the series will be back for a fourth and final season (with Rose returning!). 

Cocomelon has nothing on Ms. Rachel. The staple of Netflix's charts babysat toddlers to the tune of 37.3 million views, and since debuting on the streamer in January 2025, the show has appeared in the Top 10 in each of the last three What We Watched reports.

The thriller starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and based on A. J. Quinnell's novel (which was also the source for Scott Glenn's and Denzel Washington's films) was a big hit for Netflix with 40.4 million views. However, as of July 2026, the series has not been renewed for a second season. What's up with that, Netflix?

The live-action One Piece is a former No. 1 on What We Watched; Season 1 had 71.6 million views in the second half of 2023. Season 2 was released in March 2026, almost three years after Season 1, but only reached No. 7 with 47.3 million views. I know that viewership drop-off between the first and second seasons is a sensitive topic around Netflix, but 47.3 million views ain't too shabby, especially with 30 months between seasons. 

The top international release for the first half of 2026 is this Korean drama about government workers who are permitted to use unconventional methods to improve troubled schools. It had an impressive 48.2 million views in the first half of the year despite being released in June.

The first of two Harlan Coben adaptations on this list should give Netflix reason to celebrate, but the numbers (50.3 million views) for this British adaptation of Coben's Run Away might have been slightly disappointing given that in the first half of 2024, Coben's Fool Me Once — another British adaptation that was also released on Jan. 1 — was No. 1 with 107 million views. 

The series finale of Stranger Things was released on Dec. 31, 2025, meaning it was technically released before this time period, but some people likely had other plans that day that didn't involve watching a two-hour episode of television. The season had 55.6 million views in the first half of 2026, compared to 93.5 million views in the second half of 2025. But given the hard cutoff date between the two six-month periods and the unusual release schedule for Stranger Things — it was released in three parts through the fall and winter, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve drops — these numbers don't tell the whole picture.

Harlan Coben did it again. The numbers (63.9 million views) may not be as impressive as other Coben adaptations (Fool Me Once had 107 million views in the first half of 2024), but I Will Find You was released on June 18, meaning it only had 13 days of data for this time period. In late July, I Will Find You made it into Netflix's Top 10 shows of all time, bumping another 2026 juggernaut that's higher up on this ranking off that list. Make no mistake, this show is massive. Netflix has produced 13 Harlan Coben adaptations, with the upcoming Myron Bolitar also in the works.

Thanks to a January launch, Bridgerton Season 4 grabbed 100.2 million views, more than the 91.9 million views that Season 3 had in the first half of 2024. While it may seem that Season 4 was more popular, Season 3 premiered in mid-May, so it had fewer months to tally views in its six-month period, and it also appears in Netflix's Top 10 shows of all time, which tracks views in a show's first 91 days of release. This is a prime example of why the "What We Watched" data across different time periods for the same show is more apples to oranges than bananas to bananas.

Even though the first six months of 2026 didn't feature new seasons of many of Netflix's biggest franchises — only Bridgerton was one of the streamer's big guns — no one expected Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson's limited series His & Hers to be Netflix's most-watched TV series in the time period. With 104 million views, it wasn't as popular as Wednesday Season 2 (123.9 million views), the previous six months' champ, but only six shows have broken the 100 million views mark on these lists since Netflix started making the metric publicly available. Until late July 2026, it was No. 10 on Netflix's most-watched shows of all time, before being knocked off by I Will Find You. Also as of July 2026, it is No. 1 on my list of "What kind of ending was THAT?" shows. 

A cool picture in case you're more of a visual data person.

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