Okay so Nielsen dropped the full TV ratings for the 2025–26 season and I genuinely wasn’t prepared for how dominant Stranger Things was.
32.9 million viewers. Per episode. Averaged over 35 days across every platform — Netflix, cable, broadcast, everything combined. The second place show got 25.6 million. That’s His & Hers, which is a perfectly good show. But the gap between them is 7.3 million people. That’s bigger than some countries.
I’ve been sitting with that number for a couple days now and it still feels weird to read.
The Numbers Themselves Are Kind of Absurd
Last year Squid Game led the season with 27.14 million viewers and everyone called it the biggest streaming thing ever. Stranger Things beat that by almost 6 million.During Thanksgiving week — the Volume 1 launch — the show did 8.46 billion viewing minutes in a single week.
Top 5 looked like this:
- Stranger Things — 32.9M
- His & Hers — 25.6M
- Marshals (CBS) — 20.7M
- Sean Combs: The Reckoning — 20.6M
- Landman — 19.8M
They Actually Put the Finale in Cinemas
This one still sounds made up to me but it’s real — Netflix screened the series finale in actual movie theaters on New Year’s Eve, at the same time it went live on the app. And it made $25 million.
People at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood were cheering the Netflix logo when it came on. Like it was a Marvel movie. Singing along to David Bowie in the end credits. When Joyce finally decapitated Vecna with an axe and said “you f***ed with the wrong family” — apparently the entire room erupted.
I watched it on my couch and I still yelled. So I get it.
What Actually Happened
The finale is called “The Rightside Up” and it pretty much does what it says. Everyone comes together for the last fight. Eleven, Kali and Max go after Vecna inside his own head. Hopper and Murray are on bomb duty, trying to blow up the Upside Down from the inside. The rest of the gang goes into the Abyss to get the kids out.
There’s this moment where Eleven realizes she has to stay when the bomb goes off. Mike comes running in to stop her and she pulls him into her mind instead. They’re saying goodbye to each other with Prince’s Purple Rain playing. I’ve seen people say that scene broke them completely in the cinema. I believe it.
Joyce swings the axe. Vecna’s dead. The worlds stop merging. Then there’s an 18 month time jump, everyone gets an epilogue, and finally — the basement. One last D&D campaign. Mike closes the door.
Matt Duffer said it was “about this group of characters saying goodbye to their childhood.” Yeah. That’s it exactly.
Eleven’s fate is still technically ambiguous. She might be alive, might not. The D&D scene hints she made it but the show doesn’t confirm it. Fans are split. Some people love the ambiguity. Some people called it a cop out. Honestly both reactions make sense depending on what you needed from the ending.
The Show That Came From Nowhere and Refused to Leave
A monster that wasn’t fully explained. A girl who communicated mostly through expression and effort. Christmas lights as a communication device. It was absurd and it completely worked.
Season 3 is still underrated. The Starcourt Mall stuff, Billy’s arc, the way it balanced complete tonal chaos with genuine emotional weight. Dacre Montgomery turned what was basically “the mean older kid” into someone whose death actually hurt.
Season 4 is when it became something else. They had more money and more confidence and they used both. Vecna as a villain with a real psychology instead of just being a monster. Eddie Munson, one season, became one of the most mourned characters the show ever had. And then Max floating above that field with Running Up That Hill — Kate Bush hadn’t charted in 37 years. That song went to number 1. From a streaming show. Based on one scene.
How many viewers did Stranger Things Season 5 get?
32.9 million per episode, averaged over 35 days across streaming, broadcast and cable. Second place was His & Hers at 25.6 million. The gap between them — 7.3 million — is bigger than the total audience of most hit shows.
Did Eleven die in Stranger Things Season 5?
The show doesn’t confirm it either way. She’s last seen in the collapsing Upside Down, but a closing scene hints she survived. The Duffer Brothers left it deliberately open. Fans are still debating it.
How did Stranger Things Season 5 end?
Vecna is defeated — Joyce kills him with an axe. There’s an 18-month time jump showing where everyone ends up. The show closes in the Wheeler basement with a final D&D game. Mike shuts the door. That’s it.
Did the Stranger Things finale screen in theaters?
Yes. Netflix put Episode 8 in cinemas on New Year’s Eve at the same time it went on the app. It made $25 million at the box office — genuinely unprecedented for a TV finale.
What was the most watched TV show of 2025–26?
Stranger Things Season 5 with 32.9 million average viewers. It beat second-place His & Hers by 7.3 million. CBS’s Marshals was the top network show at 20.7 million.