Elizabeth Smart’ and ‘Skyscraper Live’ Debut Strong

It was a week of stark contrasts on Netflix, featuring a high-wire live event that stuck the landing and a major reality competition that completely missed the mark. While Skyscraper Live managed to scale the charts to an impressive #3 spot—proving the viability of the streamer’s live strategy—the heavily marketed Star Search failed to crack the top 10 entirely. Meanwhile, the platform’s true-crime dominance continues unchecked with a massive debut for Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, while major titles like The Rip and Stranger Things see their all-time ranking aspirations falling away. Here is your full breakdown of the hits, flops, and everything in between from last week on Netflix.

If you’re looking for more Netflix top 10 coverage, we just published our big look back at English-language movies released throughout 2025 to determine the winners and losers from the slate.

A big title didn’t get into the top 10s this week: Star Search. Despite a big marketing push, the talent show clocked in less than 2.3M views in all, which is pretty shocking given that only a few episodes have aired so far, which should’ve provided a helping hand in getting in. On the flipside, Skyscaper Live, perhaps aided by its delay, which drew a lot of press coverage in addition to the stunning photos and clips circulating on social media, reached #3 on the weekly English TV list. Not many comps for live events, but if you consider WWE is currently getting about 2-3M views a week and the most recent Jake Paul fight only got 10.9M views, it’s impressive.

Before we get into the headlines, here’s the weekly ranks:

• English TV: 56,400,000 (Rank 32 of 136 weeks)
• English Film: 103,900,000 (Rank 10 of 136 weeks)
• Non-English TV: 29,600,000 (Rank 55 of 136 weeks)
• Non-English Film: 15,700,000 (Rank 129 of 136 weeks)

1. The Rip Will Narrowly Miss The All-Time Top 10

Last week, The Rip debuted strongly, and we noted that the movie could be on the all-time top 10 list, albeit far down. This week, its chances just dropped dramatically. Hours stayed consistent week to week with only a 3% drop, but its total view count now sits at 82 million, which means it’s now tracking ever so slightly beneath Damsel, which occupies #10 on the all-time list. 

2. Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart Debuts High (As Expected)

When Netflix drops documentaries, it isn’t quite as religiously scheduled as most of its series and movies, with titles coming out across the week. One they determined for a Wednesday release is Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, a true-crime documentary with a poster that makes you want to vomit, given the blurred effect on the poster and tile background. That didn’t put people off from watching, though, with 15.9M views in its opening week, putting it amongst the most-watched doc features released on a Wednesday. 

3. Can This Love Be Translated? has a massive jump in week 2. 

Picture Credit: Netflix

Already debuting strongly in week 1, the romantic comedy series from South Korea saw a 122% jump in viewing hours in week 2, putting it in an elite tier of K-dramas, alongside The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, which was a rare limited series higher as of week 2. 

4. Single’s Inferno showing strength in season 5

It’s going to be an easy season 6 renewal for the South Korean reality drama series Single’s Inferno, which dropped by less than 5% in season 4, which debuted a year ago. 

5. Finding Her Edge Debuts Strong Ahead of Winter Olympics

Netflix’s new teen ice-skating drama, Feeling Her Edge, debuted strongly in the Netflix top 10s with 5.5M views compared to other shows in a similar category. Geek Girl is perhaps the most comparable comp, which did get a season 2 renewal and will return in 2026.  

6. Free Bert debuts about where it should!

Picture: Netflix

Another star-driven comedy series dropped this week, and it debuted with 3.2M views, which is about where most other “hard” comedy series have debuted in recent years. A likely season 2 renewal based on prior titles performance. 

Check-Ins

His & Hers is Netflix’s first major series hit of 2026, and it’s actually leaving many limited series from yesteryear in the dust, with only Adolescence currently tracking above it from recent years. After week 3, it’s now sitting at 66.6M views. 

Its current trajectory means it should get into the all-time top 10s, just ahead of The Night Agent season 1, but below DAHMER.

Last week, we posted how Stranger Things season 5 may not surpass season 4 in the all-time top 10s and that it’s already found its permanent position. That said, we caveated that it was incredibly close, but this week, we can pretty confidently say that season 5 will come in beneath season 4. Once again, here’s an updated guide to the race as it stands now, courtesy of Netflix & Chiffres.

What are your big takeaways from the Netflix top 10s this week? Let me know in the comments.