The series "Stranger Things" has become the most popular project in Netflix history, gathering over 1.2 billion views even before the release of the final episodes of the fifth season. This is reported by Variety citing data from the streaming platform.

The show has surpassed other hit Netflix projects — "Wednesday" and "Squid Game". Notably, these are the only platform series whose individual episodes can compete with the fourth season of "Stranger Things", which was released in 2022 but still holds second place among Netflix's most popular English-language series.

First Episodes of Fifth Season Conquered the World

The first four episodes of the final season, which were released at the end of November, gathered 102.6 million views in 25 days. The new season became Netflix's most-watched project in 90 out of 93 countries where the streaming service operates.

The release of the final season also prompted viewers to rewatch the previous four seasons, which additionally increased the total number of views for the series.

Most Striking Scenes of the Series

The most-watched scene of the series since its release became the moment from the seventh episode of the fourth season, when Nancy (Natalia Dyer) falls into a trance under Vecna's influence (Jamie Campbell Bower).

Second place went to a fragment from the eighth episode of the third season, in which Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo) sing together the song NeverEnding Story from "The NeverEnding Story".

Economic Impact on the USA

Besides being a cultural phenomenon, "Stranger Things" significantly impacted the US economy. Throughout 2016, the series created over 8 thousand jobs in the production sphere and brought 1.4 billion dollars to the national GDP.

The biggest impact was on the state of Georgia, where the main part of the series was filmed — 650 million dollars contribution to the state's GDP with involvement of over 2 thousand suppliers of various products. California took second place with a contribution of 500 million dollars to the state's GDP.

When the Final Episodes Will Be Released

The next three episodes of the fifth season will be available December 26 on Netflix. The final, eighth episode will become available for Ukrainian viewers on January 1, 2025, putting an end to the story of the iconic series about the town of Hawkins and its supernatural secrets.