Netflix is known for producing bingeable series and hosting old favorites. It's common for particular shows to rise to the top of pop culture, becoming the topic of conversation among friends, family and online circles. This year, Netflix's The Queen's Gambit was all the hype. The classic series The Office remained a top watch as well. However, neither of these were the most watched Netflix show of 2020. That title instead went to CoComelon.
Many people have likely not heard of CoComelon unless they have preschool age children, because that is the show's target audience. CoComelon has had an interesting rise to popularity. It began as a YouTube channel under the name ThatsMEonTV in September 2006, featuring short singalongs and nursery rhymes illustrated by 3D animation. The show became wildly popular, and by 2015, the YouTube channel had grown into the third most popular channel on the platform. As of December 17, 2020, it still has over 100 million subscribers.
It wasn't until June 2020 that Cocomelon moved to the Netflix platform.Each hour long episode is constructed like a compilation of its YouTube videos. is constructed like a compilation of those videos, with each episode being about an hour long. Being that it reigns supreme as Netflix's Top Show of 2020, its previous online success clearly translated to television.
According to Variety, Reelgood has tracked CoComelon as spending 104 days in Netflix’s Top 10 this year, more than any show except for The Office (178 days). In fact, the number three show on that list, Ozark, has clocked in at exactly half of CoComelon’s time (57 days), underlining the dominance of the streamer’s two top shows.
But if The Office has been in the Top 10 more often than CoComelon, how can the latter be ahead in the ranking? That has to do with Reelgood’s point system. A show is awarded points according to the Top Ten place it appears in each day. The number one show is awarded ten points; the number ten show gets one point. Considering this, the margin between CoComelon’s 572 points compared to The Office’s 438 points are even more impressive. It means that CoComelon, on average, earned 5.5 points each day in the Top Ten, while The Office gained less than 2.5 points.
Though CoComelon surprisingly reigned supreme, The Queen’s Gambit, Tiger King, Ozark, The Umbrella Academy and Love is Blind all landed in this year’s Top Ten as well. All of these were certainly more predictable contenders, but CoComelon ultimately stole the show.