Netflix has racked up 15 No. 1 shows in 2025 (so far) — here are the 3 you shouldn't miss
We'll soon be halfway through 2025, and that means Netflix has served up an awful lot of new movies and TV shows to watch.
If you've not been able to keep up with Netflix's new releases, but want to try and start catching up on all the new shows you've missed out on, I can help. After all, keeping up with what's worth watching on the best streaming services is literally my job.
By scanning through a list of shows that have claimed the top spot in the streamer's most-watched charts throughout 2025 so far, I've put together a brief set of recommendations that I think are most deserving of a spot on your watchlist.
If you saw me break down the 10 Netflix No. 1 shows of 2025 to my top three choices earlier this year, you can skip ahead to the recommendations. Otherwise, before I move on, I'll quickly explain how I made my choices.
To build the initial list, I headed over to Tudum, where Netflix shares its weekly viewing data (available from the start of 2025 through to June 8, at the time of writing). After noting down the 15 shows that have risen to the top spot in a given week, I then whittled that list down to just three picks.
Because Netflix only gives us weekly data, I do have a couple of favorites that didn't fit into my criteria — I'd love to be spotlighting 'The Residence' and 'Dept. Q' — but rules are rules. So, with the methodology explained, I'll move on to my top three Netflix No. 1 shows of 2025 (so far)
I recommended 'Adolescence' last time around, but I couldn't bring myself to replace it just yet, thanks in no small part to the massive impact the four-part series has had.
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This powerful limited series sees 'Boiling Point' star Stephen Graham and creator Philip Barantini reuniting to tell the story of a fictional family whose world is turned upside down when their 13-year-old son, Jamie (Owen Cooper), is arrested for the murder of a fellow female pupil.
Since its release, 'Adolescence' has become the No. 2 Most Popular English-language TV show (second only to 'Wednesday') and has sparked conversations about young people, healthy relationships and online radicalization.
'Adolescence' isn't just worthy of a mention owing to that impact, though. It's also an expertly crafted and brilliantly performed series in its own right, and one that you shouldn't miss out on. It's not a 'fun' series, as such, but it has lingered in my memory long after streaming it back in March.
Watch "Adolescence" on Netflix now
If you're into "The White Lotus" brand of shows — TV series that whisk us away to luxury settings, and revolve around enigmatic or off-kilter affluent ensembles, with mysteries or secrets just waiting to come to the fore — then Molly Smith Metzler's glossy dark comedy "Sirens" should be on your radar.
Set over Labor Day weekend, "Sirens" sees us following Devon DeWitt (Meghann Fahy) to the lavish estate of socialite Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore). She's there because she thinks the Kells have brainwashed her younger sister Simone (Milly Alcock), who resides on-site as Michaela's live-in assistant. The problem is, Michaela proves to be a far more formidable opponent than Devon expected....
It might not have been as well-received as Metzler's previous Netflix creation, "Maid," but "Sirens" remains a worthy watch. It's a dark dramedy that's equal parts intriguing, dramatic, emotional, and, crucially, very funny, and can be powered through in a matter of hours. In my eyes, it's one of Netflix's best new originals of the year.
Watch "Sirens" on Netflix now
"The Four Seasons" is a hilarious eight-part comedy from Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield.
The series is based on the 1981 Alan Alda movie of the same name, and sees us accompanying a group of friends played by an impressive cast that includes the likes of Fey, Steve Carell, Will Forte and Colman Domingo.
When the gang discovers that one of the three couples is about to call it quits, the entire group is upended by the news. The series plays out across a year and across four vacations, and shows how that decision affects the whole dynamic. It's easy, warm, and witty viewing: what more could you want?
Watch "The Four Seasons" on Netflix now
Below, you can find the full list of the 15 Netflix series that have been a No. 1 show at some point in 2025 (listed alphabetically).
Already streamed all three picks? For even more Netflix recommendations, check out our guide to the best Netflix shows for even more help finding your next watch.
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Los Angeles Times
36 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘The Waterfront': Where crime and dysfunction are a family affair
Kevin Williamson, whose previous screen creations include teen romantic drama ('Dawson's Creek'), meta slasher horror ('Scream') and teen supernatural gothic ('The Vampire Diaries'), has thrown his hat into the popular dysfunctional-family-doing-crimes ring with 'The Waterfront,' premiering Thursday on Netflix. Set in North Carolina, like 'Dawson's Creek,' it's a soap opera with drug smuggling. Welcome to Havenport. As crime families go, the Buckleys are not the Corleones, although their involvement with the darker side of life is generational. (Legitimately they run fishing boats and a fancy restaurant and are sitting on a prize piece of undeveloped seafront property.) Grandpa (deceased) was some kind of troublemaker; father Harlan (Holt McCallany), who fondly remembers the cocaine trade of his younger days, when people dressed well and were polite, has checked out of all family affairs after a heart attack or two in favor of drinking and cheating on his unusually understanding wife, Belle (Maria Bello). Meanwhile, without telling Harlan, Belle and son Cane (Jake Weary), a disappointed former high school hero, have been providing boats to idiot drug smugglers in order to pay off mortgages and loans that might cause them to lose their aboveboard businesses and cherished identity as the Buckleys of Havenport. When things go south, they get drawn in deeper — Cane, reluctantly, and Harlan, almost enthusiastically. It makes him feel like his old self again and gives him a reason to bully Cane — in order, he imagines, to toughen him up. But he's basically a bully — imposing yet somehow bland. Cane had a chance to play college football in Miami, but his father undercut his confidence; he is still waiting for it to return. 'I'm really good at almost,' he tells high school girlfriend Jenna (Humberly González), whose unexpected return to town has him emotionally unsettled, in spite of having a perfectly lovely wife, Peyton (Danielle Campbell), and a young daughter. 'Almost good enough. Almost a good guy. I'm almost a good husband, father, son. Just not quite, you know.' (Jenna is nominally a journalist, working in Atlanta. 'I read some of your articles online,' says Cade. 'You're a good writer!') The remaining Buckley, younger sister Bree (Melissa Benoist), is not currently doing any crimes, though she earlier burned her family's house down and is now permitted to see her sulky teenage son, Diller (Brady Hepner), only in the presence of a court-appointed chaperon. Not that Diller wants to see her at all; she did burn his house down. ('No one was hurt,' Bree points out. 'Physically,' Diller replies.) But manners are manners, whatever your mother's done, and she was an addict, after all. Now she's out of rehab, going to meetings and working in the family restaurant, though asking to get back into the front office. Perhaps she has an ulterior motive; so many of these characters do. Also in the intertwined mix: Gerardo Celasco as too-buff-by-half Drug Enforcement Administration agent Marcus Sanchez; Michael Gaston as dangerous Sheriff Clyde Porter, an old frenemy of Harlan, seething with class resentment; and Rafael L. Silva as Shawn, the new bartender at the Buckleys' restaurant, whose poor knowledge of mixology raises alarms. Topher Grace is on the cast list for a future appearance. Given that Williamson grew up where the series is set and is the son of a fisherman, one might have hoped for more local color and a little insight into the fishing business, rather than concentrating on the criminal shenanigans and sexy stuff that could happen anywhere and does. (Yes, I have odd hopes.) Instead, everything's a little fuzzy, lacking in detail. Characters put on attitudes and get in and out of trouble — there are shootings and scrapes, surprising reveals and shocking events — but few are, or seem about to develop into, interesting people. (Only three episodes of eight were out for review, so something might well pop; still, that's three hours of television down.) They're a little bland, even, and what happens to any of them, though of idle interest, is never really a compelling question. Belle stands out by virtue of being played by Bello and given at least one scene in which she seems like a regular, empathetic person, and Bree can be sympathetic, given how much her son hates her. I would counsel Peyton, one of the few without an agenda — so far, anyway — to take her daughter and leave town, but I'm guessing that won't happen. If in some ways 'The Waterfront' feels assembled off the shelf, there's enough activity that some viewers, possibly a lot of them, will dig in just to see how this thing caroms into that. That's the engine that runs no small amount of television. It's easy enough to watch. And sometimes 'just OK' equals 'good enough.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
How the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Got a 400% Pay Raise
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Kleine, a 4-year veteran, is working four different jobs while the Cowboys are in season. In the series, Megan points out that the cheerleaders get some services like hair styling and spray tans, as part of the job. 'But at the end of the day, that doesn't pay my rent. I've got student loans, I've got car payments,' she says. The first group meeting in which cheerleaders vent about their pay happens about halfway through Season 2, in Episode 4. 'For us to all be struggling financially, I'm kind of over it,' Jada says over breakfast at a diner with other cheerleaders. 'I would love to leave this place better than it was when we started,' Armani adds. 'Our legacy will be the money,' Jada says. At the beginning of last summer, McLean tells TIME, the cheerleaders started consulting family members of alumni who were in the legal field about what their options were, and then had several meetings with the Cowboys' HR and legal teams. Viewers will see the cheerleaders talking to one another about the need for a pay increase, but their meetings are not on camera. During a Zoom call with the team featured in America's Sweethearts, a group of veterans updated their teammates on the slow progress of negotiations. 'We sat in this meeting and I was almost in tears,' Amanda says on the call. 'It was just breaking my heart the way they were speaking about us.' But she says she's not going to back down on the cause, arguing that the Netflix show has given them a huge platform to leverage: 'If there's any time to do it, it's now that we are relevant and the world is on our side.' She even encourages her teammates to consider not showing up to a practice and stage a walkout. Some members talk about potentially leaving the team for good. While staging a walkout and going on strike may have been talked about, McLean tells TIME they didn't follow through because the dancers were too worried about disappointing fans: 'We didn't want to let people down who were so excited to see the cheerleaders after supporting us through the first season of our television show.' Judy Trammell, a choreographer for the cheerleaders, says in the show, 'A walkout would really make me nervous, but I know people have to fight for certain things to make changes, and I understand that.' The cheerleaders continued to hold meetings to discuss the issue of pay. Amanda does bring up pay during a progress check-in she has with Trammell and the director of the team, Kelli Finglass. 'I do hope that one day we can get the cheerleaders paid more,' Amanda tells them. 'We work extremely hard, and I think all of these girls would quit their full-time jobs in order to be Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.' Trammell replies: 'But why do we want people to quit their full-time jobs when that's what's so impressive about ya'll?' Speaking with TIME, McLean responded to that comment: 'The reality of having to balance two or three or four jobs isn't easy, and it's hard to be the best at something when you feel like you're having to spread yourself thin in other areas instead of fully committing to that one thing.' Though she fought for the pay raise for her teammates, McLean will not be returning to the Dallas Cowboys, citing the workload and a general desire for a more flexible schedule. When asked what valuable life lessons she's learned as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, she brought the conversation back to fair pay. She hopes their fight for fair pay inspires other women to speak up in their own jobs, arguing, 'at the end of the day, you don't know what's going to come from it, and it may be something that benefits you or the people who come after you.' And she hopes the Netflix series will give people a greater appreciation for the hard work that goes into cheerleading. 'We're not just pretty faces out there shaking pom poms," she says. "We're true athletes. We're women who are successful outside of the uniforms.' Write to Olivia B. Waxman at
Yahoo
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- Yahoo
From The Split to This Is Us, the 6 best family dramas to watch after Ginny & Georgia
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