(Credit: Netflix)

Netflix has had an amazing year with plenty of releases stacking up on its shelves. While the pandemic ravaged the world, we found comfort in streaming endless hours of series and films to escape the harsh reality. 

With its burgeoning Original content, the streaming service, which is now a force to be reckoned with, has also introduced all-time fan favourites like Seinfeld, Cowboy Bebop (original anime) and The Office (US) yet again that has led to a sharp rise in viewership.

While they were pretty guarded and tight-lipped about their streaming numbers, the platform has recently started releasing viewership data.

While Rawson Marshall Thurber’s film Red Notice, starring Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot, received divisive reception, it has had a staggering viewership, nearly breaking the records of the previous undefeated winner Bird Box from 2018.

It is followed by Zack Snyder’s exciting zombie heist film Army of the Dead and the list also comprises Paul Weitz’s Fatherhood, starring Kevin Hart.

Netflix usually considers one to be a viewer if they watch two minutes of a title which is, according to them, “long enough to indicate the choice was intentional”.

Take a look at the 50 most popular Netflix film releases of 2021 below and cross them off your watchlist: 

• Red Notice
• We Can Be Heroes
• Army of the Dead
• Wish Dragon
• Army of Thieves
• The Mitchells vs. The Machines
• Fatherhood
• The Guilty
• Yes Day
• The Unforgivable
• Love Hard
• Outside the Wire
• Love and Monsters
• Kate
• Vivo
• Minions
• He’s All That
• Sweet Girl
• Back to the Outback
• Blood Red Sky
• Major Grom: Plague Doctor
• My Little Pony: A New Generation
• The Forgotten Battle
• The Kissing Booth 3
• To All the Boys: Always and Forever
• Thunder Force
• Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
• I Care a Lot
• The Woman in the Window
• 365 Days
• The Harder They Fall
• Afterlife of the Party
• The Secret Life of Pets 2
• The Last Mercenary
• A Boy Called Christmas
• Finding ‘Ohana
• Night Teeth
• Fifty Shades of Grey
• Resort to Love
• News of the World
• Gemini Man
• Things Heard & Seen
• Awake
• Venom
• Deadly Illusions
• Below Zero
• The White Tiger
• SAS: Red Notice
• Fear Street: 1994
• Spider-Man: Homecoming