Korean pop culture, ranked by the numbers · 한류 랭킹
오징어 게임 시즌 1–3, 숫자로 보기
Netflix's Squid Game (오징어 게임) side by side, season by season: 22 episodes, 603.6 million combined views in each season's first 91 days, and a Critics' Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Series for every season.
Data as of
| Metric | Type | Season 1 (2021) | Season 2 (2024) | Season 3 (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premiere date | Release | Sep 17, 20213 | Dec 26, 20244 | Jun 27, 20255 |
| Episodes | Release | 93 | 74 | 65 |
| Views, first 91 days | Netflix viewing | 265.2M1 | 192.6M1 | 145.8M1 |
| Hours viewed, first 91 days | Netflix viewing | 2,205.2M1 | 1,380.1M1 | 894.3M1 |
| Place on Netflix's all-time non-English TV list | Netflix viewing | #11 | #21 | #315 |
| Countries where it ranked No. 1 | Netflix viewing | 943 | 924 | 935 |
| Primetime Emmy nominations (wins) | Awards | 14 (6)67 | 08 | 09 |
| Golden Globe nominations (wins) | Awards | 3 (1)10 | 1 (0)11 | 012 |
| SAG / Actor Awards nominations (wins) | Awards | 4 (3)13 | 014 | 1 (0)15 |
| Critics' Choice, Best Foreign Language Series | Awards | Won16 | Won17 | Won18 |
A Netflix "view" is total hours viewed divided by the season's runtime, counted over the first 91 days after release; all three seasons' 91-day windows have closed, so these figures are final.1 Countries at No. 1 are Netflix's own counts, but they were not measured the same way: Season 1's 94 is the figure Netflix gave in October 2021, before it published weekly country lists, while Season 2's 92 and Season 3's 93 come from Netflix's weekly country rankings after each launch. Award counts cover the main ceremony each season was eligible for (Emmys: 2022, 2025 and 2026; Golden Globes: January 2022, 2025 and 2026); Emmy totals include the Creative Arts Emmys. The reality show Squid Game: The Challenge is not counted.
Hwang Dong-hyuk (황동혁) created, wrote and directed Squid Game.2 Season 1 came out worldwide on September 17, 2021, with nine episodes. Lee Jung-jae (이정재) leads the cast as Seong Gi-hun, player 456.3
The wait for Season 2 was more than three years. It arrived on December 26, 2024, with seven episodes. Season 3, the final season, was filmed back-to-back with Season 2 and followed six months later, on June 27, 2025, with six episodes.45
Netflix ranks its shows by views in their first 91 days. On its all-time list of non-English shows, the three Squid Game seasons hold the top three places: Season 1 with 265.2 million views, Season 2 with 192.6 million and Season 3 with 145.8 million.1 Together that is 603.6 million views and about 4.48 billion hours.
Netflix's English-language list counts too. Season 1 has more 91-day views than any season of any Netflix show; only Wednesday Season 1 (252.1 million) sits between it and Season 2.15
The hours gap is wider than the views gap because each season is shorter. Dividing hours by views gives a runtime of about 8.3 hours for Season 1, 7.2 hours for Season 2 and 6.1 hours for Season 3 (DabPop's calculation from Netflix's figures).
Each season's launch was reported in a different way, so these numbers don't line up exactly. In 2021, Netflix still counted "member households" that watched at least two minutes. By that measure Season 1 reached 111 million households in its first 17 days. Under the hours-based figures Netflix adopted that November, it logged 1.65 billion hours in its first 28 days.2
Season 2 drew 68 million views in its premiere week, which covered only its first four days. That beat the previous premiere-week high of 50.1 million views, set by Wednesday Season 1.4 Season 3 drew 60.1 million views and 368.4 million hours in its first three days.5
Season 1 was the first Korean drama to top Netflix's weekly global top 10 for TV. Netflix said it reached No. 1 in 94 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.3 Season 2 ranked No. 1 in 92 countries, according to Netflix.4
Season 3 ranked No. 1 in all 93 countries where Netflix publishes a Top 10. It was the first Netflix series to debut at No. 1 in every one of them, and it held that position for a full week. In all, it spent nine weeks in a row in Netflix's global Top 10 for non-English shows.5
Season 1 was the first non-English-language series nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. At the 2022 Emmys it received 14 nominations and won six. Lee Jung-jae won Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Hwang Dong-hyuk won Directing for a Drama Series, and Lee Yoo-mi (이유미) won Guest Actress in a Drama Series. The other three wins were for production design, special visual effects and stunt performance.67
Season 2 received no nominations at the 2025 Emmys, and Season 3 received none at the 2026 Emmys, including the Creative Arts awards.89
Golden Globes. Season 1 had three nominations: Best Television Series – Drama, Lee Jung-jae for Best Actor and O Yeong-su (오영수) for Best Supporting Actor. O won, the first Korean-born actor to win a Golden Globe.710 Season 2 was nominated for Best Television Series – Drama, which went to Shōgun.11 Season 3 received no nominations.12
SAG Awards (now the Actor Awards). For Season 1, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-yeon (정호연) won the male and female actor awards for a drama series, and the stunt team won the stunt ensemble award. The cast was also nominated for ensemble. These were the first SAG Awards won by a non-English-language series.713 Season 2 had no nominations.14 For Season 3, the stunt ensemble was nominated, and The Last of Us won.15
Critics' Choice Awards. Each season won Best Foreign Language Series: Season 1 on March 13, 2022, Season 2 on February 7, 2025, and Season 3 on January 4, 2026.161718