Series premieres are important for determining a TV show’s future prospects. The numbers can give you a rough idea of how the project resonates with an audience and how much you can expect it to continue to do so in the future. Is this series worth financing, or can we put the money somewhere else? Although the numbers are crucial, it’s not often they’re freely displayed for public knowledge.

Given how a lot of big TV shows are created by Netflix now, which has a strong policy of not revealing their viewership (as outlined by The Atlantic), it’s challenging to create a full truthful list of the most watched premieres. Shows like Money Heist, 13 Reasons Why, or Black Mirror had a strong dedicated fanbase of viewers, but it’s difficult to find the true numbers when it comes to series premieres. With that being said, here’s our list of the most watched TV shows’ premieres.

10 Game of Thrones — 2.22M Viewers

Created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO, based on George R.R. Martin's book A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama series that has gathered a dedicated fanbase all across the world. It follows an ensemble cast as they fight for the Iron Throne, spur rebellions, or try to keep their high status. The show was positively reviewed left and right, mainly for its performances, action sequences, story arcs, and overall production value. That said, it was also sometimes criticized for its raw depiction of violence, especially sexual assault against its women characters. The series' premiere was watched by 2.2 million people and the numbers kept only rising from then on. Many viewers ended their subscription to HBO once the show finished with the eighth season.

9 The 100 — 2.73M Viewers

Developed by Jason Rothenberg, The 100 is a post-apocalyptic science fiction TV series about people who live on the space habitat called Arc, and are sent back to Earth as the first ones after a nuclear catastrophe. As many shows, it started with high critical acclaim, but received more and more criticism as more seasons got developed and it lost its initial focus. Critics viewed it in a more positive light than the general audience and fans themselves. The main focus of the criticism was the sudden death of Lexa after she served its purpose as a queer character. It was the same repeated trope of killing off a gay character once they find their happy ending. Many of the story arcs should have ended differently, like Bellamy's. However, at least the premiere of the show was a success, with 2.73 million people watching it.

8 Arrow — 4M Viewers

As the first series in the Arrowverse, Arrow was the start of a new DC superhero universe that decided to explore the comic book character Green Arrow. Given how the character had already been included in the TV series Smallville, it was probably easier to draw 4 million viewers for its premiere on The CW. Showrunners Berlanti, Guggenheim, and Kreisberg decided to approach the character in a different light, hence why they cast a completely different actor. The plot follows billionaire Oliver Queen, who spent five years shipwrecked on an island and returns as a secret vigilante who fights crime and corruption in his city with a bow and an arrow. Although the series finished with eight seasons, Stephen Amell was offered to bring back Queen for season nine during the pandemic.

7 The Flash — 4.8M Viewers

Serving as a spin-off of Arrow and existing in the same Arrowverse, The Flash is a superhero TV series based on the DC comic book character Barry Allen. The Flash or Allen (Grant Gustin) is a crime scene investigator who gains super-human speed and helps solve crime and fight criminals with other people similar to him. The show's pilot became the second-most-watched pilot in the history of The CW, with 4.8 million viewers. The series is still ongoing as it's been renewed for a ninth and final season in March 2022. With the recent controversies involving Ezra Miller's The Flash movie, fans are asking that Gustin replace Miller in the lead role.

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6 The Walking Dead — 5.35M Viewers

Based on the comic book series of the same name, The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic horror TV series that forms the core of the franchise. The plot follows an ensemble cast of apocalypse survivors as they constantly have to fight zombies for survival, as well as each other due to the different set of rules each group has established. The show's premiere attracted 5.35 million viewers, and it continued to increase as the show has attracted the most 18-to-49-year-old viewers of any cable or broadcast television series back then. The epic finale of the series is set to premiere in November 2022.

5 Supernatural — 5.69M Viewers

Created by Eric Kripke who departed from the show after the fifth season, Supernatural is the longest-running American live-action fantasy TV series ever, with 15 seasons in total. The plot focuses on the Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean, who follow the family tradition of hunting different supernatural beings. Thanks to the series premiere, estimating 5.69 million viewers, the creators were prompted to pick up the series for a whole season. There's already a Supernatural prequel origin story, titled The Winchesters, about to be released in October 2022. To this day, Supernatural is considered to be one of the greatest fantasy shows of all time.

4 House of the Dragon — 9.98M Viewers

Set about 200 years before the events that happened in Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon is a fantasy drama TV series that portrays the beginning of the end of House of Targaryen. The show premiered only recently, and it's already attracted almost 10 million viewers for its premiere, HBO's highest-ever premiere. The positive reviews and numbers were probably all that the showrunners needed to have the series renewed for a second season. Although the series is turning away (slightly) from the depiction of sexual violence in Game of Thrones, fans still ask for certain trigger warnings before the episodes as there are still some shocking scenes included.

3 Stranger Things — 14.07M Viewers

Created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things is a science-fiction drama series set in the fictional town of Hawkins, and focuses on central child and adult characters as they deal with the supernatural events of The Upside Down. Given how it's set in the 80s, the creators made it their mission to include as many pop-cultural references as possible, while also gaining inspiration from real-life experiments during The Cold War. Although Netflix refrains from disclosing their numbers, it's been estimated that the series premiere was watched by 14.7 million people in total. The show's popularity is stronger than ever, considering the 7.2 billion minutes of watched time it pulled in for season four.

2 All of Us Are Dead — 474.26 Million Hours

All of Us Are Dead is a South-Korean coming-of-age zombie apocalypse horror TV series that has taken over the world with its popularity. Based on the Naver webtoon Now at Our School, the story is set at a high school where a lab experiment gone wrong causes the students and staff turn to zombies. In its first 30 days on Netflix, the show managed to pull 474.26 Million of watched hours. The show's already been renewed for a second season, with many deeming it as more than just a zombie TV show.

Related: South Korean Shows That Touched On Serious Topics

1 Squid Game – 1.65 Billion Hours

Last but not least, we have the South Korean series Squid Game, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk. Inspired by the creator's own financial struggles early on in life, the series focuses on 456 players who are in financial hardship and agree to play a survival game, consisting of Korean children's games, to win a big amount of money. The idea was initially developed back in 2009, but picked up by Netflix only in 2019. The streaming platform made a great decision given how the show has become Netflix's most-watched series of all time, with 1.65 billion viewing hours during its first four weeks from launch. Squid Game has been renewed for a second season.