Best TV Series of All Time: Top 10 from IMDb, RT, Empire

Streaming services now offer more television than any viewer can watch in a lifetime, yet Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones keep appearing at the top of every ranking. This article cuts through the noise by pulling together what IMDb users, Rotten Tomatoes critics, and fan polls actually agree on—and the results reveal both surprising consensus and a few sharp differences worth knowing about before you hit play.

IMDb Top TV: Breaking Bad · RT Fan Pick #1: Breaking Bad (96%) · WGA #1 Written Series: The Sopranos · Common Top Mentions: Chernobyl, Planet Earth II

Across these major rankings, Breaking Bad dominates every platform—whether measured by fan votes, critical acclaim, or user ratings.

What is the top 10 TV series of all time?

Aggregating across multiple authoritative sources reveals a clear pattern: three shows appear near the top regardless of whether you’re asking fans, critics, or IMDb users. Breaking Bad leads everywhere. The Sopranos and Game of Thrones follow closely. Beyond those three, lists begin to diverge based on who is doing the ranking.

IMDb Top 10 Highlights

The IMDb top TV list, built from user ratings across the platform’s global community, places Breaking Bad at the summit with a 9.5 rating (Prime Ten IMDb aggregation video). This extraordinary score reflects the cumulative judgment of millions of individual ratings rather than a panel or poll. Below Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones sits at #2 with averages near 9.3, followed by The Sopranos at #3 with approximately 9.2. The list continues with Better Call Saul (#4), Chernobyl (#5), and positions through The Office (US) at #10, The Wire at #9, and Sherlock at #8. Notably, The Walking Dead appears at #6 with a lower average around 8.2—a significant gap from the top tier, suggesting viewers rate it well but not at the elite level of the leading dramas.

Cross-Source Consensus Top 10

When comparing the Rotten Tomatoes fan poll of the last 25 years with critics’ choices and IMDb ratings, several shows consistently surface. Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones qualify as the “usual suspects” across every major ranking (Rotten Tomatoes). The fan poll’s top five includes Breaking Bad (96%), Game of Thrones (89%), The Sopranos (92%), The Office (81%), and Stranger Things (90%). Critics, meanwhile, favored Breaking Bad (96%), The Sopranos (92%), The Wire (94%), Mad Men (94%), and Succession (95%)—showing that professional reviewers and general audiences value different types of storytelling.

What is the #1 TV show ever?

By sheer volume of superlatives, Breaking Bad holds the strongest claim to the #1 spot. It earned the top position on both the Rotten Tomatoes Fans’ Top TV Shows of the Last 25 Years poll and the Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Top TV Shows of the Last 25 Years survey—making it the only series to simultaneously win both fan and critic favorites (Rotten Tomatoes Critics). Both lists awarded it a 96% Tomatometer score.

IMDb Highest Rated

IMDb’s user-driven ratings, which aggregate individual viewer scores rather than panel opinions, place Breaking Bad at #1 among all TV series. The platform’s methodology means the show’s position reflects tens of millions of discrete viewer decisions rather than a curated selection. With a rating approaching 9.5, Breaking Bad sits well ahead of its closest competitors—Game of Thrones (~9.3) and The Sopranos (~9.2)—in the community’s estimation.

Critic and Fan #1 Picks

What makes Breaking Bad’s #1 status notable is the breadth of agreement. Rotten Tomatoes editorial noted that “the usual suspects made it to the top—iconic series like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and The Office—but we also had some surprising results” (Rotten Tomatoes). The show earned top marks from both audiences who value entertainment and tension and critics who analyze storytelling craft. Critics specifically cited Breaking Bad for its narrative ambition, character development, and thematic depth.

What are the 10 most watched series?

Defining “most watched” requires choosing between different metrics. Some lists measure total viewership across all seasons, others track weekly ratings, and still others rank by streaming hours on specific platforms. This creates genuine ambiguity—Game of Thrones’ global water-cooler moments generated enormous live viewership, while Stranger Things accumulates massive streaming numbers through repeat viewings on Netflix.

Global Viewership Leaders

Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and The Sopranos dominate discussions of the most-watched prestige dramas. The Rotten Tomatoes browse page for popular TV shows reflects current engagement patterns, with these titles consistently appearing in recommendations and trending sections (Rotten Tomatoes). However, precise global viewership figures remain proprietary—streaming platforms do not publicly release complete data, making exact rankings speculative.

Platform-Specific Watch Counts

Netflix’s most-watched claims frequently feature Stranger Things, Squid Game, and Wednesday, but these represent streaming-specific metrics rather than “all-time” rankings. The IMDb list’s inclusion of The Office (US) at #10 and Stranger Things at #5 reflects sustained global engagement across multiple years and platforms. Without unified measurement standards, any “most watched” ranking involves interpretation rather than pure data.

Which TV series should everyone watch once?

If we filter for shows that appear across multiple authoritative lists with consistent praise, a smaller group emerges as genuinely essential viewing. These are series that critics, fans, and general audiences all recommend without reservation.

Must-Watch Consensus

Three series appear on nearly every “best of” compilation: Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and The Wire. The Sopranos receives particular acclaim as “the show that changed TV for good” (Prime Ten YouTube channel), with critics and audiences citing its influence on serialized drama storytelling. The Wire, meanwhile, ranks #3 among critics but does not crack the fan top 5—suggesting it rewards attentive viewing over casual entertainment. Band of Brothers appears frequently on “essential” lists for its WWII storytelling, while Chernobyl’s miniseries format makes it accessible to viewers hesitant about committing to multi-season epics.

Critically Acclaimed Essentials

Breaking Bad, Chernobyl, and Planet Earth II frequently appear together on lists of recent productions that belong on any serious watcher’s radar. Chernobyl’s 9.4+ IMDb rating places it in the top tier alongside Breaking Bad, demonstrating that shorter formats can achieve the same critical heights as sprawling sagas. For viewers seeking variety, The Office provides comedy alongside the drama-heavy upper rankings, while Stranger Things offers accessible genre entertainment without sacrificing quality.

What series has a 9.5 rating?

Breaking Bad holds an IMDb rating of 9.5, making it the platform’s highest-rated television series. This score places it in rare company—only a handful of shows have ever crossed the 9.0 threshold, and Breaking Bad’s sustained average reflects consistent excellence across five seasons.

IMDb 9.5+ Shows

Breaking Bad’s 9.5 rating stands as the definitive number in discussions of television excellence. No other series in the IMDb top rankings comes close to this figure when considering the volume of ratings (over 2.5 million votes). The show’s closest competitor, Planet Earth II, ranks highly but across a different content format. Among narrative scripted series, Breaking Bad’s sustained quality across its entire run—from the pilot through the finale—remains unmatched in contemporary television.

High-Rating Standouts

Chernobyl’s IMDb rating (9.4+) demonstrates that limited series can compete with ongoing dramas for critical acclaim. The miniseries format—five episodes telling a complete story—offers a lower barrier to entry while delivering maximum emotional impact. For viewers uncertain about committing to Breaking Bad’s 62-episode runtime, Chernobyl serves as an ideal preview of what creator Vince Gilligan achieves when given a contained narrative framework.

Confirmed vs. Rumor

What experts and audiences say

“Sure the usual suspects made it to the top—iconic series like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and The Office—but we also had some surprising results.”

— Rotten Tomatoes Editorial (Rotten Tomatoes)

“We sent out a survey to individually approved Tomatometer critics, asking them to choose their top five movies and top five TV series released in the last 25 years.”

— Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Team (Rotten Tomatoes Critics)

“Critics and audiences cited as the show that changed TV for good.”

— Prime Ten Narrator (Prime Ten)

Rotten Tomatoes is a trusted measurement for television quality through its Tomatometer system, which aggregates critical reviews into a single percentage score (Rotten Tomatoes). The platform’s dual polls—one for fans, one for critics—provide complementary perspectives on what audiences enjoy watching versus what reviewers consider artistically significant.

Related reading: Gold Rush TV series

While IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Empire inform our picks, the consensus top 10 list similarly weighs audience votes against WGA and critic acclaim.

Frequently asked questions