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“Bridgerton” Season 2 just settled its supremacy battle with “Bridgerton” Season 1. After shattering viewership milestones in early April to become Netflix’s most-watched English-language show in its first full week, “Bridgerton” Season 2, in its first 28 days, has now become the streaming giant’s most-watched English-language show – straight up.
With 627.11 million hours viewed, the new season of the soapy period series bested the previous version of itself; “Bridgerton” Season 1 now ranks in second place for that same achievement at 625.49 million hours viewed over its first full four weeks. The 28-day mark, which counts four full weeks of availability, is Netflix’s primary metric to determine the success or failure of a show.
Remember that this claim is just for an English-language series, as South Korean-favorite “Squid Game” still holds the overall championship record at 1.65 billion hours viewed in its first 28 days. On the English-language front, “Stranger Things” Season 3 is close (enough) behind “Bridgerton” at 582.10 million hours streamed in its first 28 days. That show is returning in just over a month, on May 27, after nearly three years of the air. Before (the likely) “Bridgerton” Season 3, “Stranger Things 4” is coming for the crown.
This week, Season 2 of “Bridgerton” clocked 66.61 million hours viewed and appeared in Netflix’s top 10 in 88 countries. The series, produced by Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland and created by Chris Van Dusen, made Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest sibling and head of the Bridgerton household, the star this time around, though in a less ribald season that, per some critics, seemed aimed more at the family-friendly set. That could help to explain its viewership numbers, not to mention more than a year of anticipation since Season 1 premiered on Christmas Day in 2020.
Also currently behind (and with some distance) “Bridgerton” Season 2 are the guilty-pleasure reality series “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On” at #2, “Bridgerton” Season 1 at #3, followed by “Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story,” “Inventing Anna,” and “Better Call Saul” Season 5.
From IndieWire’s review: “‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 tries hard to please everyone, but ends up feeling watered down. Gone is the sexiness in favor of a more chaste series that almost everyone can watch together. Simone Ashley is a gem this season, but there’s never enough chemistry between her and Bailey to get a fire started.”
