It’s been a year since Verdict first worked out the best Netflix original series and ranked them accordingly.
To no one’s surprise, Stranger Things came in first place. When we took a second look at Netflix’s slate, back in March, remarkably little had changed. Stranger Things was still at the top, and the rest of the top ten was similar, if not exactly the same.
One year later, and things are looking quite different. For a start, there are now a lot more Netflix original series out there. Verdict’s first ranking had 52 series, by March we had 77. As of July, we’ve got 130 series in our ranking.
That’s partially because Netflix is churning out new series all the time, but it’s also partially down the fact we’ve broadened our definition of original content. Previously co-productions and foreign language productions were excluded on the basis that the audience might be coming to them from different cultures. An American audience, for example, is likely to be using Twitter and Facebook much more than say, a Japanese audience.
This time around, we’ve been as definitive as possible. Co-productions are included, foreign language productions are included, and more reality series are included than ever before.
We didn’t include comedy specials because they’re more about the comedian’s personal popularity than any particular show’s merits. We also, as always, didn’t include series aimed at children as their target audience won’t be on social media, which is a major factor in our calculations. Netflix also needed to have actually had some sort of production duties. Sorry, Star Trek: Discovery, Netflix may claim you’re an ‘Original’ but we all know they just bought your distribution rights. Aside from that, the only shows we excluded were those where not enough data was available.
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By GlobalDataStill, safe to say, if you want to know which Netflix series have the biggest buzz around them, this is the guide.
Best Netflix original series 2018 (Summer):
1. 13 Reasons Why
Movement:Â Â 1
2. Stranger Things
Movement:Â Â 1
3. Orange Is The New Black
Movement:Â Â 2
4. Jessica Jones
Movement:Â Â 2
5. Luke Cage
Movement:Â Â 3
6. Daredevil
Movement:Â Â 1
7. House Of Cards
Movement:Â Â 9
8. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 6)
Movement:Â Â 8
9. Making A Murderer
Movement: No change
10. Queer Eye
Movement:Â Â 16
11. Arrested Development (Season 4)
Movement: No change
12. Luis Miguel: The Series
Movement:Â Â New Addition
13. The Punisher
Movement:Â Â 2
14. The Defenders
Movement: No change
15. Dirty Money
Movement:Â Â 2
16. Black Mirror (Season 3 and 4)
Movement:Â Â 13
17. The Crown
Movement:Â Â 13
18. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life
Movement:Â Â 5
19. The End Of The F***ing World
Movement:Â Â New Addition
20. Sense8
Movement: No change
21. The New Legends Of Monkey
Movement:Â Â New Addition
22. A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Movement:Â Â 4
23. GLOW
Movement:Â Â 11
24. Narcos
Movement:Â Â 9
25. Safe
Movement:Â Â New Addition
26. Alias Grace
Movement:Â Â New Addition
27. Collateral
Movement:Â Â New Addition
28. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return
Movement:Â Â 7
29. Requiem
Movement:Â Â New Addition
30. Master of None
Movement:Â Â 2
31. Crazyhead
Movement:Â Â New Addition
32. Godless
Movement:Â Â 9
33. The Get Down
Movement:Â Â 6
34. Lovesick (Season 2)
Movement:Â Â 12
35. Ozark
Movement:Â Â 4
36. Glitch (Season 2)
Movement:Â Â 9
37. Ingobernable
Movement:Â Â New Addition
38. Five Came Back
Movement:Â Â 14
39. Iron Fist
Movement:Â Â 15
40. On My Block
Movement:Â Â 22
41. Chelsea Does
Movement:Â Â New Addition
42. Anne with an E
Movement:Â Â New Addition
43. Mindhunter
Movement:Â Â 1
44. Dark
Movement:Â Â New Addition
45. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Movement:Â Â 3
46. The Mechanism
Movement:Â Â New Addition
47. The Last Kingdom (Season 2)
Movement:Â Â 1
48. Dear White People
Movement:Â Â 20
49. Cooked
Movement:Â Â New Addition
50. My Next Guest Needs No Introduction
Movement:Â Â New Addition
51. The Letdown
Movement:Â Â New Addition
52. Devilman Crybaby
Movement:Â Â 37
53. Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (Season 10)
Movement:Â Â New Addition
54. American Vandal
Movement:Â Â 17
55. The OA
Movement:Â Â 12
56. Castlevania
Movement:Â Â 29
57. Rotten
Movement:Â Â New Addition
58. The Keepers
Movement:Â Â 19
59. Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On
Movement:Â Â New Addition
60. Fire Chasers
Movement:Â Â New Addition
61. Big Mouth
Movement:Â Â 11
62. Flint Town
Movement:Â Â 40
63. Aggretsuko
Movement:Â Â New Addition
64. Santa Clarita Diet
Movement:Â Â 11
65. Wormwood
Movement:Â Â 16
66. Everything Sucks!
Movement:Â Â 14
67. Seven Seconds
Movement:Â Â 19
68. Captive
Movement:Â Â New Addition
69. Rapture
Movement:Â Â New Addition
70. Altered Carbon
Movement:Â Â 18
71. The Toys That Made Us
Movement:Â Â New Addition
72. Wild Wild Country
Movement:Â Â New Addition
73. Kiss Me First
Movement:Â Â New Addition
74. Atypical
Movement:Â Â 17
75. Evil Genius: The True Story Of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist
Movement:Â Â New Addition
76. Ugly Delicious
Movement:Â Â 21
77. Nailed It!
Movement:Â Â 52
78. Trailer Park Boys Out of the Park: USA
Movement:Â Â 23
79. BoJack Horseman
Movement:Â Â 32
80. Fuller House
Movement:Â Â 17
81. One Day At A Time
Movement:Â Â 71
82. Wet Hot American Summer
Movement:Â Â 23
83. Daughters Of Destiny
Movement:Â Â New Addition
84. Grace And Frankie
Movement:Â Â 50
85. Lost In Space
Movement:Â Â New Addition
86. Suburra: Blood on Rome
Movement:Â Â New Addition
87. The Rain
Movement:Â Â New Addition
88. Shot in the Dark
Movement:Â Â New Addition
89. Abstract: The Art Of Design
Movement:Â Â 23
90. Coach Snoop
Movement:Â Â New Addition
91. Fastest Car
Movement:Â Â New Addition
92. The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale
Movement:Â Â New Addition
93. She’s Gotta Have It
Movement:Â Â 50
94. Gypsy
Movement:Â Â 36
95. The Ranch
Movement:Â Â 24
96. Marco Polo
Movement:Â Â 33
97. The Killing (Season 3 and 4)
Movement:Â Â 35
98. Haters Back Off!
Movement:Â Â 60
99. The Break With Michelle Wolf
Movement:Â Â New Addition
100. Damnation
Movement:Â Â New Addition
101. Bloodline
Movement:Â Â 33
102. Dark Tourist
Movement:Â Â New Addition
103. Girlboss
Movement:Â Â 34
104. F Is For Family
Movement:Â Â 37
105. Marseille
Movement:Â Â New Addition
106. Bill Nye Saves The World
Movement:Â Â 43
107. Easy
Movement:Â Â New Addition
108. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Movement:Â Â New Addition
109. Frontier
Movement:Â Â New Addition
110. Love
Movement:Â Â 67
111. Chelsea
Movement:Â Â New Addition
112. Longmire (Season 4, 5, and 6)
Movement:Â Â 44
113. Travelers
Movement:Â Â 41
114. Friends From College
Movement:Â Â 40
115. White Rabbit Project
Movement:Â Â New Addition
116. Between
Movement:Â Â New Addition
117. Bobby Kennedy For President
Movement:Â Â New Addition
118. El Chapo
Movement:Â Â 45
119. Neo Yokio
Movement:Â Â New Addition
120. Troy: Fall Of A City
Movement:Â Â New Addition
121. Chef’s Table
Movement:Â Â 47
122. Lady Dynamite
Movement:Â Â 65
123. Sugar Rush
Movement:Â Â New Addition
124. Ultimate Beastmaster
Movement:Â Â 65
125. Lilyhammer
Movement:Â Â New Addition
126. Hemlock Grove
Movement:Â Â 49
127. Last Chance U
Movement:Â Â 51
128. Flaked
Movement:Â Â 52
129. Disjointed
Movement:Â Â 58
130. Edha
Movement:Â Â New Addition
Check out the next page for some analysis of the major trends and what we can learn from this ranking of the best Netflix original series of 2018…