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The 10 most popular TV shows on Netflix right now

Exploring the thousands of titles on Netflix can be both exciting and overwhelming. From dramas and comedies to reality shows and documentaries, content of all types abounds. There’s even a Top 10 list to help narrow down your decision by letting you see the most popular Netflix shows.

Every week, Netflix releases a list of the 10 most-watched TV shows over a recent seven-day period. Below, we’ve listed the top 10 shows in the U.S. from March 13 to March 19, along with general information about each show, including genre, rating, cast, and synopsis.

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Note: There will be a description of plot points from each of the series, so consider this a spoiler warning if you haven’t watched them yet. 

10. Wednesday season 1 (2022)
10. Wednesday season 1
66 %
8.5/10
tv-14 1 Season
Genre Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery, Comedy
Cast Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome
Created by Miles Millar, Alfred Gough

The eldest sibling of The Addams Family is the star of the new series Wednesday. Jenna Ortega stars as Wednesday Addams, a strange high school student obsessed with death and mischief. Sent to the Nevermore Academy after her expulsion from a previous school, Wednesday soon discovers her psychic powers and uses them to investigate a local murder.

Wednesday broke the record for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix with an astonishing 341 million hours. Wednesday tied Stranger Things season 4 by going No. 1 in 83 countries.

9. Sex/Life season 2 (2023)
9. Sex/Life season 2
45 %
5.5/10
tv-ma 2 Seasons
Genre Comedy, Drama
Cast Sarah Shahi, Mike Vogel, Adam Demos
Created by Stacy Rukeyser

Netflix’s raunchy, sexy, lustful series about a suburban housewife who dreams of living another fantasy returns for season 2. In Sex/Life, Billie Connelly (Sarah Shahi) is a wealthy Connecticut housewife who appears to live the dream with her loving husband (Mike Vogel) and two kids. However, Billie’s life flips upside-down with the return of Brad Simon (Adam Demos),an ex-boyfriend who brought out her lustful desires and fulfilled her sexual fantasies.

Billie has to make a choice. Does she continue living her fairy tale life as a happily-married housewife with kids or opt for a life of exciting sexual escapades with her previous lover? Season 2 continues the soap opera, but adds even more sex and lust to the storyline.

8. Perfect Match season 1 (2023)
8. Perfect Match season 1
82 %
6.3/10
1 Season
Genre Reality
Cast Nick Lachey, Vanessa Lachey

Netflix has another hit dating show on its hands in Perfect Match. The series brings together previous castmates on popular reality shows like Love Is Blind, Selling Tampa, The Mole, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, Sexy Beasts, The Circle, Twentysomethings: Austin, and Too Hot to Handle. The premise is simple: find the perfect summer romance. Contestants will team up to share a suite in a private villa as they compete against other couples in various challenges.

The winners choose which new singles come into the house and who to go on dates with. At the end of each round, contestants must decide their Perfect Match. Those single at the end of the selection process go home, and the remaining couples stay in the game with a chance at the mysterious grand prize. 

7. Shadow and Bone season 1 (2021)
7. Shadow and Bone season 1
69 %
7.6/10
tv-14 2 Seasons
Genre Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Cast Jessie Mei Li, Archie Renaux, Freddy Carter
Created by Eric Heisserer

The book series by Leigh Bardugo came to life in the fantasy series Shadow and Bone. Based on the books Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows in the Grishaverse, the series follows Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), an orphaned mapmaker serving the First Army in Ravka, a war-ridden nation. The country has been ravaged by the Shadow Fold, a wall of darkness in the region with evil winged monsters called Volcra that feast on human flesh.

Legend has it that the only person who can destroy the Shadow Fold is a Sun Summoner, a special Grisha who can summon light. Alina eventually learns that she is the Sun Summoner, but not everyone wants her to rescue Ravka from the darkness, so she will have to choose her allies wisely on her quest to save her country.

6. MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (2023)
6. MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
71 %
6.0/10
tv-14 1 Season
Genre Documentary

March 8, 2014, is the day that Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared. All 239 passengers vanished without a trace. To this day, no one knows what happened on that fateful flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. All that’s been found is some debris, but there’s no definitive proof as to where the plane ended up or what happened. MH370: The Plane That Disappeared attempts to find answers nine years later.

The three-part series features interviews with friends, family members, investigators, aviation experts, journalists, and scientists as they all seek to find out how a plane could disappear. The series presents conspiracy theories and ideas as to what might have happened on that fateful night.

5. Outer Banks season 3 (2023)
5. Outer Banks season 3
52 %
7.6/10
tv-ma
Genre Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Cast Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Jonathan Daviss
Created by Josh Pate, Jonas Pate, Shannon Burke

After escaping the cargo ship, the Pogues and their newest member, Cleo (Carlacia Grant), survive for over a month on a deserted island they call “Poguelandia.” A pilot rescues the group and takes them back to the Bahamas. However, it’s not a rescue mission, but a kidnapping. Five of the Pogues escape, but Kiara is captured and brought to the house of Carlos Singh (Andy McQueen), a powerful businessman in search of the city of gold known as El Dorado.

Meanwhile, John B learns that his father, Big John (Charles Halford), is still alive and living in the Bahamas. Big John is also after El Dorado and enlists his son’s help to find the treasure he’s been searching for his entire life. Since its debut on February 23, Outer Banks season 3 registered 154.97 million hours viewedOuter Banks will continue as Netflix renewed the series for a fourth season.

4. Outlast (2023)
4. Outlast
4.7/10
tv-14 1 Season
Genre Reality

How far would you go for $1,000,000? Sixteen survivalists converge on the Alaskan wilderness in the new reality show Outlast. The survivalists believe they will be working alone, but upon arrival, they’re forced to split into four teams. The only way to win money is to be part of a team, so cohesion will be the key to success. However, not everyone was born to be on a team, as contestants reach their boiling point throughout the competition.

In a compelling twist, no one is voted out of the competition. Instead, players can switch teams at any time, which will affect each team’s ability to survive. The only way to go home is to quit. Outlast combines the cutthroat nature of Lord of the Flies with the teamwork of Survivor to make a reality series that survivalists will love. 

3. The Glory season 1 part 2 (2023)
3. The Glory season 1 part 2
8.0/10
tv-ma 1 Season
Genre Drama
Cast Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon
Created by Kim Eun-sook, An Gil-ho

In December 2022, The Glory premiered the first eight episodes of its first season. The South Korean television series revolves around Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo), a teacher who was assaulted and bullied during her time in school. The leader of the bullies was Park Yeon-jin (Lim Ji-yeon), who now works as a weather broadcaster at a television station.

Dong-eun has made it her mission to seek revenge on all those who wronged her, including Yeon-jin. Dong-eun takes her plan one step further by becoming the homeroom teacher for Yeon-jin’s daughter. In part 2, Yeon-jin learns about Dong-eun’s plot for revenge and tries to stop it. The Glory will keep you guessing until the end as the show slowly turns into a murder mystery.

2. Shadow and Bone season 2 (2023)
2. Shadow and Bone season 2
69 %
7.6/10
tv-14 2 Seasons
Genre Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Cast Jessie Mei Li, Archie Renaux, Freddy Carter
Created by Eric Heisserer

Shadow and Bone returns with its second season two years after the first. Alina is on the run as she fights to save Ravka and destroy the Shadow Fold. However, General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), who revealed himself to be the Darkling toward the end of season 1, is out to stop Alina. Kirigan brings a new army of terrifying creatures, the Nichevo’ya, into the fold. The Nichevo’ya can move in the daylight, unlike the Volcra.

Teaming up with her best friend, Mal (Archie Renaux), Alina begins a new quest in Novyi Zem to find two mythical creatures that will increase her powers as the Sun Summoner. Season 2 notably introduces Nikolai Lantsov (Patrick Gibson), a prince of Ravka and a fan-favorite from the book series.  

1. You season 4 part 2 (2023)
1. You season 4 part 2
72 %
7.7/10
tv-ma 4 Seasons
Genre Mystery, Crime, Drama
Cast Penn Badgley, Tati Gabrielle, Charlotte Ritchie
Created by Greg Berlanti, Sera Gamble

You, the global phenomenon about the exploits of the stalker and serial killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), returns for the second half of its fourth season. After things went haywire in his previous relationship with Love (Victoria Pedretti), Joe heads to London to start a new life. He takes up the alias of Jonathan Moore and becomes an English literature professor.

Joe begins to hang out with a group of new characters when he learns of a killer stalking him and his new friends. For once, Joe is not the hunter, but the hunted. It’s up to Joe to play the role of detective as he attempts to uncover the person terrorizing his friend group before they strike again.

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