Tim Burton’s Wednesday dances past Dahmer to become one of Netflix’s most popular series ever

Last Updated on February 10, 2023

Tim Burton’s Wednesday is not stopping from taking the world by storm. The creepy and kooky series already banked big numbers for Netflix the week of its debut, but those numbers are growing, and we’re here to celebrate. Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega as the macabre detective of the Addams family, has officially become the third title to surpass 1 billion hours viewed on Netflix during its first month. To put things into perspective, the only other shows to achieve this milestone are Squid Game and Stranger Things. These numbers also mean that Wednesday has overtaken Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story as Netflix’s second-most popular English-language series of all time.

The popularity of Tim Burton’s Wednesday is nothing short of sensational. If you dabble in social media spaces, you’re likely aware of the show going viral thanks partly to a dance routine choreographed by Jenna Ortega. Everyone and their grandmother (literally) are busy recreating the scene in which Wednesday dances to a cover of the song “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps. In the scene, Wednesday shimmies and shuffles on the dancefloor, evoking the character’s history of cutting a rug on screens large and small. While Wednesday is often defined by her love of all things dark and dreary, she never misses an opportunity to set the dancefloor on fire. It also helps that Wednesday is an outstanding series and a return to form for Tim Burton. The show combines the director’s spooky sensibilities with a murder mystery set in a school for gifted teens. I’ve already watched the first season of Wednesday twice and plan to watch it again before the month ends.

Netflix calculates its Most Popular list based on viewership in a title’s first 28 days of availability. Dahmer banked 856.2 million hours in that window, while Wednesday still has one more week to reach the cut-off date. Wednesday is 352.1 million hours behind Stranger Things Season 4 for the 28-day window. While Stranger Things is likely to keep the crown once all is said and done, the idea that Wednesday, a brand-new series, can even come close to Stranger Things‘ massive numbers is madness. Not impressed? Think about how popular Stranger Things has become in the years since Season 1 debuted on Netflix. Then consider that Wednesday is breathing down the neck of Stranger Things Season 4, a show at the height of its popularity after years spent at the top. It’s wild. Wild, I say!