You Season 4 Has Launched The Thriller's Entire Catalog To The Top Of Netflix

When Netflix announced it was adding a little psychological thriller series called "You" to its platform a few years back, the entertainment world barely blinked an eye. That's mainly because the show — based on a series of books by Caroline Kepnes — had already aired an entire season of the bloody, stalker-centric drama on Lifetime Channel. Despite displaying maybe a few too many of the soapy hallmarks Lifetime fare tends to revel in, "You" was surprisingly well-received by both audiences and critics, some of whom even ranked it on Year-End lists alongside the likes of "Better Call Saul," "Barry," and "Atlanta."

Behind a captivating performance by star Penn Badgley, the savage, unsettling, and undeniably sexy first season of "You" proved one of the more binge-worthy treats Netflix had to offer when it arrived on the platform. So too did the show's second season, which was bolstered mightily by the ace work of "The Haunting of Hill House" breakout Victoria Pedretti. A few years (and many dismembered bodies) later, the fourth season of "You" has just premiered on Netflix. And not only has the new season become the most-watched program on the platform, but it's also apparently bringing seasons past along for the ratings-crushing ride.

That unexpected "You" news came to light via a recent Variety piece examining viewership numbers of the programs in Netflix's current Top 10. And according to the numbers, streamers spent a staggering 64.06 hours watching love addict, serial killer, and stalker extraordinaire Joe Goldberg navigate the vicious world of England's super-wealthy and serial killers in the new season. If you can believe it, those numbers are actually down from the week prior, in which viewers reportedly devoted more than 92 million hours to the fourth season of "You."

Despite the drop, the new numbers were more than enough for the show to retain the title of Netflix's most-watched program for a second straight week. And with the back half of the season set to premiere on March 9, 2023, "You" will likely continue to be the talk of Netflix-land for the foreseeable future.

As noted, the arrival of the show's fourth season has indeed led to viewership spikes for every other season of "You," with Season 1 of the series even jumping up into the third spot with more than 22 million hours viewed. Seasons 3 and 2 of "You" slotted in at 9 and 10, respectively, boasting more than 15 million hours viewed themselves. If the numbers continue to add up, "You" will almost certainly become one of the precious few Netflix series to earn a fifth season renewal. That's not too shabby for what initially charted as a low-risk Lifetime Channel reclamation project.