Stranger Things racked up 23.26 billion minutes of viewing in the United States from 29 December 2025 to 28 June 2026, making it the most-streamed series or film of the first half of 2026, according to Nielsen. The measurement firm published its half-year rundown on 4 August 2026 (The Hollywood Reporter).

The Netflix series also set a single-week record of 8.65 billion minutes for the week its series finale debuted. That number covers all episodes available on the platform, meaning returning viewers revisiting earlier seasons contributed alongside those watching the finale for the first time.

Close behind in second place overall was Bluey, the animated family series on Disney+, with 22.81 billion viewing minutes. Bluey led the acquired-series rankings, which measure titles a platform licences rather than produces itself. It was one of only three shows — alongside Grey's Anatomy (20.41 billion minutes) and The Big Bang Theory (20.4 billion) — to appear in Nielsen's weekly top 10 every single week of the half-year (The Hollywood Reporter).

Among original series, meaning shows commissioned by the platform that carries them, The Pitt finished second with 21.12 billion minutes on HBO Max. The medical drama's second season had already been flagged as the most-watched streaming original TV season of 2026 so far by Luminate Streaming data in April (Luminate). Bridgerton (17.15 billion), Landman (12.4 billion) and The Lincoln Lawyer (10.53 billion) completed the top five originals (The Hollywood Reporter).

One notable entry further down the list: Love Island USA placed 13th among original series with 7.62 billion minutes, despite not premiering until early June. It amassed that total in roughly four weeks.

On the film side, Zootopia 2 led all movies with 6.54 billion minutes on Disney+, topping the movie chart regardless of classification. KPop Demon Hunters drew 5.59 billion minutes, and The Rip led Nielsen's general-audience movie chart with 4.43 billion (The Hollywood Reporter).

Stranger Things was no stranger to the top spot. Nielsen named it the top original series of 2025 at its ARTEY Awards in January 2026, after it accumulated 40 billion minutes on Netflix that year. It also drove a 10% month-over-month rise in Netflix's US viewership from November to December 2025, when streaming captured nearly half of all American television viewing (Reuters; Nielsen).

Bluey, too, carried momentum from 2025, when it led the year-end Nielsen streaming charts with 45.2 billion minutes — the second consecutive year it finished first (The Hollywood Reporter).

What makes the half-year picture striking is how much ground Stranger Things covered in its final stretch. A series that had been building an audience since 2016 ended its run by outpacing everything else American viewers streamed — family cartoons, long-running network dramas and new prestige hits included.