PremiumSquid Game Season 2 breaks streaming records, dominates Netflix's global charts—plus, THIS Indian title makes waves
Squid Game Season 2 has smashed viewership records and toppled the Wednesday premiere, becoming Netflix's most-watched show in its debut week.
Last Updated: 04.07 PM, Jan 01, 2025
Fans were as excited as children opening Christmas presents to see what fresh episodes of Squid Game were available last week. With an unprecedented 68 million views, the second season of the immensely popular Korean drama series produced and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk and featuring Lee Jung-jae broke the record for most views in a show's premiere week (which had been held by Wednesday Season 1 in 2022, with 50.1 million views) and topped the non-English TV list. The show also ranked first in 92 countries.
Squid Game continues to dominate as most popular non-English TV show
With 265.2 million views, Squid Game Season 1 is still the most popular non-English TV show on Netflix, and since its release on December 26, the show's sophomore run has become the seventh most popular non-English TV show of all time. And that's not all: 2025 marks the release of the third and final season.
With 14.4 and 14.3 million views, respectively, NFL Christmas Gameday Live topped the English TV list and featured the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Houston Texans (which now has Beyoncé's electrifying halftime performance available to stream as a standalone special) and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. Historically, the two most-streamed NFL contests in the US were during the NFL Christmas games.
Carry-On and The Six Triple Eight continue their chart-topping success
The English-language film Carry-On continued its dominance, spending three weeks in a row at the top of the charts with 34.9 million views. Plus, with 23.3 million views, the historical drama The Six Triple Eight maintained its outstanding popularity and landed at No. 2.
Spanish thriller 1992 (No. 9 in non-English TV with 1.2 million views) and American thriller The Madness (No. 7 in English TV with 3 million views) both piqued the interest of viewers. They also enjoyed the wholesome romance of Virgin River Season 6, which garnered 9.2 million views and placed third in English TV this week; Season 1 had 1.3 million views and was 10th. In addition, Umjolo: Day Ones from South Africa received a lot of positive feedback and debuted at number four in the non-English film category with a whopping two million views.
Christmas joy with popular films and TV shows making a Holiday impact
During the holiday week, there was a strong sense of Christmas joy, with several popular films and TV shows making an impact. That Christmas topped the charts with 11.9 million views, Black Doves came in at number five with 5.4 million views, and Our Little Secret came in at number seven with 7 million views.
The abundance of drama also captivated viewers, with La Palma from Norway maintaining its position at No. 2 in non-English TV with 12.2 million views, and When the Phone Rings from Korea coming in at No. 4 with 4.4 million views. With 1.8 million views, Colombia's One Hundred Years of Solitude: Part One landed at No. 6, while Brazil's limited series Senna continued its run at No. 8 with 1.4 million views, marking its fifth week on the list.
With 6.1 million views, Ferry 2 from Belgium has topped the non-English film charts, whereas Ferry, the film's predecessor from 2021, only managed 1.4 million views, putting it in eighth place. Many also consumed The Children's Train from Italy, ranking third in non-English films with 2.3 million views, and Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous from India, a documentary about the famous singer, music producer, and actor, ranking tenth in non-English films with 1.1 million views.