Stranger Things continues to be a cultural phenomenon even almost a decade after its debut on screens. The cult favourite series broke Netflix viewership records as the highly-anticipated fifth season managed to rake in 59.6 million views within just the first five days of streaming as per Variety.
Volume 1 of 3 debuted on the OTT platform on November 26, 2025, close to the Thanksgiving Day in the US, and millions across the world tuned in to the thrilling final season. With 59.6 million views, Stranger Things season 5 became the biggest premiere week debut for an English-language show in the platform’s history, and the third highest debut overall behind the second and third seasons of Squid Game.
A massive increase in viewership from the last season
In 2022, Stranger Things’ fourth season opened with 287 million hours watched, which roughly translates to 22 million views. Back in the day Netflix calculated viewership by streaming time versus views therefore, this conversion is necessary to contrast the massive surge in viewership for the show’s last season.
According to Variety, the premiere-week viewership of season 5 indicates a 171% jump, though it should be noted that season 4’s viewership was counted over 3 days while the current season’s was calculated for 5 days.
Apart from this, the show also managed to acquire another viewership record when all four previous seasons managed to chart in Netflix’s Top 10 as anticipation built for the latest season. This was the first time in the platform’s history that four seasons of a single show cracked the top 10 simultaneously.
The Stranger Things season 5 schedule
With a confirmed 8 episodes in the final season, Netflix divided season 5 of Stranger Things into 3 parts or volumes – volume 1, volume 2 and the finale. Volume 1 saw its debut on November 26 with the release of the first four episodes. Another 3 episodes are slated for a Christmas Day release on December 25th 2025 for volume 2 and the grand finale will make its debut on December 31, ahead of New Year celebrations.
Netflix also revealed that the finale would have an incredible run time of 2 hours and 5 minutes – practically the length of a full feature film. According to its website the reason behind the length of the final episode is, “setting the stage for one last, massive journey into the Upside Down.” North American fans can expect a limited screening in more than 500 theatres across the country and Canada beginning Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. PT.