Game of Thrones overtakes The Sopranos as HBO’s most popular show of all time

HBO announced this week that its intensely followed fantasy series, Game of Thrones, has edged out another one of the premium cabler’s more brutal outings, The Sopranos, to become the network’s most popular show of all time. Up until now, the record was held by the mobster drama’s peak audience of 18.2 million viewers, which the show reached in 2002. Game of Thrones‘ average season four audience has increased from 18 million to its current record high of 18.4 million viewers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thrones‘ audience has increased by a stunning 4 million viewers since the third season’s premiere.

We recently reported that Thrones, in contrast to its incredible success in the more traditional realm of Nielsen ratings, has effectively dominated the torrenting world, too. Each Sunday night (or Monday morning, depending on where you’re located) hundreds of thousands of fans (likely without HBO subscriptions) flock to the globe’s most popular torrent tracker to illegally download the latest Thrones episode, mere moments after the official broadcast ends and it’s uploaded by whichever brave pirate gets to it first.

Just two episodes, “The Watchers on the Wall” (June 8) and “The Children” (June 15), remain in season four of the beloved series, which is based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels. The show has been rumored to have been slated for a potential six or seven total seasons, a decision made difficult by the fact that Martin has not yet concluded writing the series of novels.

Given the final two episodes of this season have yet to air, it is likely that we will see this record broken at least once more in the coming weeks. 

Image via Screenrant