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Stranger Things season 5 pulls in 59.6 million views in 6 days, making it the biggest English-language premiere week "in the history of Netflix"

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By Emily Garbutt published 3 December 2025

Stranger Things season 5 Volume 1 is breaking Netflix records

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Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger Things season 5
(Image credit: Netflix)
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The first volume of Stranger Things season 5 is already breaking Netflix records.

Since the first four episodes of the final season debuted on the streamer on November 26, they've amassed 59.6 million views, which is the biggest premiere week ever for an English-language show (the "English-language" part is an important caveat – earlier this year, Squid Game season 3 amassed 60.1 million views in just three days of streaming).

It's certainly on track to make waves in Netflix's English-language shows all-time top 10, though. Wednesday season 1 currently holds the top spot with 252.1 million views in its first 30 days, and the previous installment of the show, Stranger Things season 4, had 140.7 million views in its first month.

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  • (L to R) Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in Stranger Things 5. Stranger Things co-creator cryptically teases season 5 part 2: "It's gonna be a long six day wait for the finale"

The final season of Stranger Things is split into three parts, so there are still four more episodes to come later this month. The finale will be its own installment, and its runtime has finally been confirmed – although it's not as long as we were expecting. It still clocks in at a feature-length two hours and five minutes, but it's 14 minutes shorter than the season 4 finale.

"Having watched the final version of the final episode of the final season of Stranger Things, it is a masterpiece. The Duffers have stuck that landing. So 10 out of 10 perfect," director Shawn Levy previously said of the season 5 finale. Our hopes are high…

Stranger Things season 5 Volume 2 arrives on Netflix on December 25, with Volume 3 following on December 31. In the meantime, fill out your watchlist with our picks of the other best shows on Netflix.

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Emily Garbutt
Emily Garbutt
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Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.

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