“Squid Game” has been dethroned from Netflix’s top 10 list by a new show

This article was published on July 1st. published and on August 1st. republished.

If you thought that the second season of Squid Game, which set ratings records when it debuted, would stay at the top of Netflix’s top 10 list for weeks, you were wrong. At least that’s the case in America, where it’s just been pushed out of the No. 1 spot by the arrival of WWE Monday Night RAW, Netflix’s new acquisition that’s still airing for a very, very long time, and I wonder if it will stay that way take the first place, or if it’s just for the introduction here.

RAW’s debut clocks in at a massive 183 minutes, over three hours, and features the likes of The Rock and others returning to the big event. And in contrast to other Netflix shows, some traditional commercial breaks are provided here.

Like the old RAW, this film will actually air every week for a decade. Yes, that’s the deal Netflix made, which is reportedly worth over $5 billion. Yes, a billion, with a B. We’ve reached 1,650 RAW episodes and are about to get hundreds more on Netflix itself. I’m actually going to get pretty bored if it keeps ranking at number one every week.

Of course, Squid Game is still running surprisingly well. We don’t know the first week numbers yet, but we should get them soon, and I expect them to be potentially record-breaking, just like the early premiere. Squid Game will return for season three in 2025, but according to Netflix, which itself briefly leaks the dates, it could be as early as June. It will conclude and lead into Netflix’s other two major releases later this year, the fifth season of Stranger Things and the second season of Wednesday. Between all three, RAW and other unexpected hits, this could be a record year for Netflix.

The rest of the list is Missing You, a new crime drama that did pretty well and was only beaten by Squid Game, so that’s solid. Virgin River and No Good Deed are still in the back half of the list, as is the tidal wave drama La Palma. At the back of the list are Black Doves, the big hit from late December, and the newly added The Equalizer with Queen Latifah.

RAW will usher in a whole new era of live content for Netflix, and no matter what you think about pro wrestling, this is a huge deal for the service. We’ll see how it develops from here over the next decade.

Update (1/8): I’ve been waiting for new numbers to come in, and Netflix is ​​now sharing the first week totals for Squid Game. As expected, records continue to be set. Squid Game has already racked up 58.2 million views this week, making it the second most-watched non-English Netflix series of all time.

This new weekly figure can be added to the total of 126.2 million views in just 11 days, and this pace is a Netflix TV record. It’s on track to surpass Squid Game’s first season, although I think the original season was on the slower rise in terms of virality. Still, nothing can be ruled out and the show is currently setting one record after another, so it has a good chance of ending up.

There was some other interesting news that had nothing to do with Squid Game: Netflix announced that Carry-On is the fifth most-watched Netflix original film of all time, with 149.4 million views in just four weeks. No word on a sequel, which may seem inevitable, but previous Netflix megahits have struggled to mount follow-ups like the No. 1 movie of all time, Red Notice.

We’ll keep following Squid Game and see what records it breaks next.

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