Most Popular TV Series 1986 - 2022
1,178,492
Published 2022-12-02
Timeline history of the most viewed TV series from 1986 to 2022. Ranking is based on the following factors: prime-time first 24 hours audience reports, one week of reported statistics for downloaded copies (pirated), one week of streaming services viewership. Numbers are worldwide with significant bias towards the US market up until 2002, afterwards it's balanced by p2p distribution across the globe.
Data source: prime-time TV viewership, streaming services reports, DHT traffic analysis.
As always, your feedback is welcome.
*****
I am a first year PhD student, data geek and I love visualizations.
2022 update: I am now officially a program drop out and father of beautiful girl.
Please support my channel. It can buy me another cup of coffee and a lot of diapers.
All Comments (21)
-
Sorry I'm late. I owe you more videos!
-
What I learned from this is that NCIS is apparently a beast and I've never seen a single episode. Lol.
-
After two years, the legend has returned; awoken from its hibernation.
-
I was under the impression that the Simpsons was one of the most popular shows of all time. It had a brief moment in the top 10 in 96 and that was it. I'm shocked
-
Love seeing The X-Files break into the ranks. 25 million is an insane number of viewers for a show of that kind.
-
GoT Meta was strong. Also didn't expect Wandavision to be that popular.
-
Sad the data didn't start a few years earlier and it would reveal MASH as the all time Most Popular TV series produced. I'm surprised Stranger Things didn't rank higher, it seems to be a victim of the very long delays between seasons. Netflix certainly feels like they are struggling to be represented in the top listed TV series.
-
Interesting how the 80's & 90's stuff all made sense to me (I can remember what was popular even if I didn't watch it), while the newer stuff was often a total surprise. It's so easy now to be isolated in our own fan communities, absorbing tons of data and discussion about what we like, and not even accidentally run across something outside that range. We don't even have "saw it while waiting for something to come on" anymore, since we watch everything on-demand now.
-
The longevity of NCIS is insane 🤯.
-
the legend is back 🎉 i loved your content back in 2019/2020, it's honestly what inspired me to do graphs, so thanks and a happy welcome from everyone here in the comments :D
-
Dexter, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones all on at once. Golden Era
-
Twenty years down the road and NCIS is still on the top. Quite impressive
-
I'm just amazed at how long NCIS was up in the top two or three. It held the top spot longer than any other series since the Cosby Show and ER I think.
-
Can't believe it has been two years already. Excited for more great videos from Data Is Beautiful!
-
Michael Crichton was the writer of Jurassic Park and the creator of ER. In the early 1990s, he had the number one book, number one movie, and number one TV show.
-
I knew that BBT was very popular but the fact that it was within the top 3 for so long (almost as long as its existence), is quite fascinating. It also immediately helped Young Sheldon to get a spot within the list here.
-
Did anyone else smile when Game of Thrones jumped up there and battled it out with Big Bang Theory?
-
Rings of Power appeared for 1 second, then disappeared... beautiful
-
80s/90s/00s were rich with comedy and laughter. I was fortunate to grow up during this era.
-
This has been very helpful. I see now why I stopped watching TV in the mid 90's.
