Top K-Dramas #1 to #5 — The Dramas That Broke Netflix Records
Deep dive into the top 5 most-watched K-dramas ever on Netflix — Squid Game, Queen of Tears, All of Us Are Dead, The Glory, and Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
👈 This is Part 2 of a 3-part series.
These five K-dramas did not just top the charts. They rewrote the rules of what global television could be.
A survival game. A crumbling marriage. A zombie school. A revenge plot 18 years in the making. A lawyer who loves whales.
Let’s meet them properly.
🥇 #1 — Squid Game (오징어 게임) Season 1
Squid Game Season 1 — Netflix (2021)
📊 1,650,450,000 hours watched
No TV show in history has come close to this on Netflix.
Squid Game debuted on September 17, 2021. Within 28 days, over 111 million households had watched it. It hit #1 in 94 countries simultaneously. Netflix called it the most successful series launch in their entire history.
The story is simple and terrifying. 456 people buried in debt are invited to play children’s games. Losing means death. The prize? ₩45.6 billion (about $33 million USD).
Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk spent 10 years trying to get this made. Studios said it was too dark. Too weird. Too Korean. Then Netflix said yes.
The rest is history.
📋 Show Info
| Year | 2021 |
| Episodes | 9 |
| Genre | Survival Thriller |
| Director | Hwang Dong-hyuk |
| Cast | Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-jun, HoYeon Jung |
| Netflix Hours | 1,650,450,000 hrs — all-time record |
| Countries #1 | 94 countries simultaneously |
| Awards | Emmy · SAG · Golden Globe nominee |
✨ Why It Hit So Hard
The games are familiar. Red Light Green Light. Tug of War. Marbles. Everyone knows them from childhood.
But watching adults play them for their lives — with real desperation, real love, real betrayal — turned nostalgia into nightmare. It worked in every language, every culture.
💡 Fun fact: The “Red Light, Green Light” doll became one of the most recognized pop culture symbols of 2021. Real-size replicas appeared in cities across Asia and Europe. Fans lined up for hours just to take photos with her.
🥈 #2 — Queen of Tears (눈물의 여왕)
Queen of Tears — tvN / Netflix (2024)
📊 860,400,000 hours watched in 2024
In 2024, Queen of Tears was the 2nd most-watched show on all of Netflix — behind only Bridgerton Season 3. Not 2nd among K-dramas. 2nd among everything.
It also broke two major records:
- Most-watched K-drama ever on Netflix (surpassing Crash Landing on You)
- Highest-rated drama in tvN history — peaking at 24.9% nationwide ratings
The twist that made it work? It starts where most K-dramas end. The couple is already married — and about to divorce. Baek Hyun-woo is done. But then his wife Hong Hae-in is diagnosed with a terminal illness. And suddenly, everything he thought he felt gets complicated.
📋 Show Info
| Year | 2024 |
| Episodes | 16 |
| Genre | Romance, Comedy-Drama |
| Director | Kim Hee-won, Jang Young-woo |
| Cast | Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Ji-won |
| Netflix Hours | 860,400,000 hrs (2024) |
| Peak Rating | 24.9% — tvN all-time record |
| Writer | Park Ji-eun (also wrote Crash Landing on You) |
✨ Why It Hit So Hard
The chemistry between Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won was undeniable. But what really got people was the structure — watching two people rediscover their love while running out of time.
Writer Park Ji-eun also wrote Crash Landing on You. She holds the #1 and former #1 records for tvN ratings at the same time.
💡 Fun fact: Director Kim Hee-won also directed Vincenzo (#10 on this list) — making him the only director with two dramas in the all-time K-drama Netflix top 10.
🥉 #3 — All of Us Are Dead (지금 우리 학교는)
All of Us Are Dead — Netflix (2022)
📊 560,780,000 hours watched
All 12 episodes dropped on January 28, 2022. The world binged it in days.
It hit #1 in 25 countries and stayed in Netflix’s global top 10 for weeks. The premise is simple: a zombie virus breaks out inside a Korean high school. The students have no weapons. No adults to save them. Just each other.
What made it different from Western zombie shows? The focus on teenagers. Their friendships. Their first loves. The choices you make when survival is the only option. It was terrifying and emotional at the same time.
📋 Show Info
| Year | 2022 |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Genre | Zombie Horror, Teen Drama |
| Director | Lee Jae-kyoo |
| Cast | Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon |
| Netflix Hours | 560,780,000 hrs |
| Countries #1 | 25 countries |
| Season 2 | Confirmed — in production |
✨ Why It Hit So Hard
Teen zombie apocalypse had been done before. But not like this. Korean drama added what Western zombie shows often skip — genuine heartbreak. You care so much about these kids that the horror hits twice as hard.
💡 Fun fact: The production team built a real four-story school building, 100 meters long, just for this drama. After filming, Netflix kept it standing for a fan experience event in Seoul.
#4 — The Glory (더 글로리)
The Glory — Netflix (2022–2023)
📊 436,890,000 hours watched
This is not a fun watch. It is a slow, cold, surgical revenge story — and it is one of the best-written K-dramas ever made.
Moon Dong-eun was brutally bullied in high school. Her bullies destroyed her life. They faced no consequences. Eighteen years later, she has rebuilt herself from nothing — and is ready to take everything from them. One by one.
Song Hye-kyo plays Dong-eun with a stillness that is more frightening than any outburst. This role redefined her career and showed a completely different side of one of Korea’s most beloved actresses.
📋 Show Info
| Year | 2022 (Part 1), 2023 (Part 2) |
| Episodes | 16 total |
| Genre | Revenge Thriller |
| Director | Ahn Gil-ho |
| Cast | Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon |
| Netflix Hours | 436,890,000 hrs |
| Writer | Kim Eun-sook (also wrote Goblin, Descendants of the Sun) |
✨ Why It Hit So Hard
School bullying is a real crisis in Korea — and audiences felt the truth in every frame. The show does not rush. The revenge is slow, methodical, and devastating. By Part 2, you cannot look away.
💡 Fun fact: Writer Kim Eun-sook said The Glory was inspired by a real Korean school bullying case. She spent years researching before writing a single word of the script.
#5 — Extraordinary Attorney Woo (이상한 변호사 우영우)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo — ENA / Netflix (2022)
🎬 ▶ Watch ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ Official Trailer on YouTube
📊 402,470,000 hours watched
Nobody expected this one.
It aired on ENA — a small Korean cable channel most people had never heard of. The cast was not A-list. The budget was modest. And yet — in its 7th week, it became the most-viewed title on ALL of Netflix globally. More than any English-language show that week.
Woo Young-woo is a brilliant lawyer with autism. She has a perfect memory, loves whales passionately, and struggles with social interactions. But she is the best lawyer in the room — and she proves it, case by case, with creativity no one else sees.
📋 Show Info
| Year | 2022 |
| Episodes | 16 |
| Genre | Legal Drama |
| Director | Yoo In-shik |
| Cast | Park Eun-bin, Kang Tae-oh, Kang Ki-young |
| Netflix Hours | 402,470,000 hrs |
| Peak | #1 on ALL Netflix globally — Week 7 |
| Awards | Multiple Baeksang Arts Awards |
✨ Why It Hit So Hard
It is warm. It is clever. It does not talk down to the audience. And Park Eun-bin’s performance is one of the most precise and moving in K-drama history — she had been a working actress for 25 years before this role made her a global star.
💡 Fun fact: After the show aired, whale-watching tours in Korea sold out for months. Woo Young-woo’s love of whales made real whales go viral on Korean social media.
👉 Continue Reading
- Part 1 — Full Top 10 Rankings Overview →
- Part 3 — #6 to #10: Crash Landing on You, Vincenzo & more →
- See all K-Drama posts →
Data: Netflix Engagement Reports · What’s on Netflix · Netflix Global Top 10.