Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ Proves the Value of Romance After Being Streamed for Over a Billion Hours

Bridgerton has quickly become one of Netflix’s most popular series since its debut in late 2020. The second season of this steamy romantic drama, which was released last month, has only added to that popularity. Now, Season 2 has officially made Bridgerton the streamer’s most-watched English-language program. After 28 days, the second season has been watched for more than 627 million hours across 88 countries.

It dethroned its own first season which now sits in second, all-time, with 625 million hours watched across 64 countries. When you combine both seasons, the series has been streamed for over 1.25 billion hours. On top of that, the series topped the weekly English-language chart with 66.6 million and 23.3 million hours streamed respectively.

Even though it is well known that Bridgeton has been a major hit for Netflix, these numbers are still insane. Bridgerton has been an absolute sensation for romance fans the way that Stranger Things has been for horror fans. If anything, these numbers reflect how good the overall quality of the series is. In its two seasons, Bridgerton has been a series full of rich drama, enthralling sexual tension, breathtaking direction, and elegant costume design. It has been a hopeless romantic’s fever dream and, even though Regé-Jean Page was not in the latest season, Season 2 proved the series’ success was not solely on The Duke’s shoulders.

RELATED: Kate Sharma Was Exactly What ‘Bridgerton’ Needed

Rather than copying what the first season did, Season 2 went for a more slow burn, page-turner, approach to its romance. Anthony’s love triangle with Kate and Edwina was filled with all the jaw-dropping romantic twists a genre fan would want, but it was also filled with a surprising amount of intimately thematic storytelling surrounding the concept of trauma. Specifically, how trauma impacts our own ability to love. Due to this, the latest season was not just a love story about a potential couple. It was an emotionally expansive tale about a family’s love for one another.

So many shows have had amazing first seasons only to never recapture that same magic for the remainder of their run. Bridgerton avoided this by evolving its storytelling past its infamous sex scenes and dramatic lines of dialogue. Season 2 told a meaningful story about how it is easier to dwell in one’s trauma than it is to have the strength to move on and love again — something a lot of people can relate to. The series is more than just your cheesy period piece romance and these numbers prove it’s a cultural movement. With historic numbers like these, it is also easy to see why Netflix is producing a spin-off series.

While we wait for that Queen Charlotte spin-off and Season 3 of Bridgerton, you can cry all over again to the first two seasons of this popular romantic drama on Netflix now.

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