The Most Streamed Original Series of 2025 Might Surprise You

Who even remembers traditional TV anymore? Things came on at a certain time and you had to flip through channels to find them? Until streaming came along, watching TV felt like going to the casino. If you missed your show, you hopelessly channel surfed until you found something else.

Now, pretty much everything premieres on streaming. All the new buzzworthy shows are streaming originals, premiering only on streaming platforms. Nielsen just released its data for the most streamed original series of 2025, and the series at the top of the list may surprise you.

No, it's not Heated Rivalry. In fact, it's not even a series that premiered last year — or even within the last few years. The most streamed original series of 2025 is nostalgic for more reasons than one.

'Stranger Things' Took the Top Spot

Fans may have had to wait three years for the final season of Stranger Things, but they didn't lose interest while they waited. Season five of the wildly popular Netflix show made it the most streamed original series of 2025 — by a huge margin.

U.S. viewers spent 39.54 billion minutes streaming Stranger Things last year, reports Variety. Perhaps the three years between seasons actually contributed to this massive number. As a society, our attention spans have gotten so bad we can barely remember what happened three minutes ago, let alone three years ago. More likely than not, most people needed a refresher on the events of the previous season, leading them to rewatch it before the newest one dropped.

Squid Game took the number two spot, with 22.41 billion minutes. A lot of minutes for sure, but still way behind Stranger Things.