The global Top 10 on January 3, 2026, works almost like an X-ray of the current streaming landscape — and it is far more revealing than it seems at first glance. This is not just about who is on top, but how audiences are using platforms, why they are doing so, and in what emotional and cultural state they are entering 2026.

I’ll organize this reading around behavioral patterns, because that is where raw data becomes narrative.

The event still exists and its name is Stranger Things

The first signal is unmistakable: Stranger Things leads Netflix’s global series rankings by a wide margin. This is not merely brand strength — it is a collective ritual. The series has ended, yet audiences keep returning to it, rewatching, discussing, and reassessing. Viewers are not simply watching; they are processing an ending.

This behavior repeats itself across platforms. Game of Thrones appears among the most-watched titles in digital stores. Friends continues to sell. January’s streaming data reveals something fundamental: endings matter, and audiences revisit them when they need to measure the present against the past.

This is not empty nostalgia. It is a historical comparison.

Domestic thrillers and private guilt: fear has moved indoors

Netflix’s rankings make this especially clear. Titles like Run Away and Land of Sin sit alongside Stranger Things, while the most-watched films include Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story and other narratives centered on abuse, manipulation, and control.

This is not a thriller of grand political conspiracy. It is the thriller of betrayed trust, of the family as an unstable space, of toxic influence — themes that speak directly to a world saturated with social media, moral gurus, performative discourse, and collapsing authority figures.

The psychological takeaway is clear: fear is no longer located in the apocalypse; it lives in everyday life.

Prestige television has found renewed strength beyond Netflix

While Netflix concentrates on mass events and anxiety-driven viewing, HBO Max and Apple TV+ dominate the space of prestige storytelling.

On HBO Max, One Battle After Another leads with unusually strong numbers for a film that is politically charged, dense, and deliberately uncomfortable. Its presence at the top is no accident. It reflects an audience that has returned to cinema as a way of engaging with the present, not merely escaping from it.

The same logic applies to IT: Welcome to Derry, among series: horror as social metaphor, contaminated childhood, structural violence — themes that resonate far beyond genre boundaries.

Apple TV+ takes this even further. Titles like Pluribus, The Morning Show, Severance, Slow Horses, and Ted Lasso do not dominate by chance. This is a curated identity. Apple has firmly positioned itself as a platform for viewers seeking text, theme, and conversation — even when the tone is warm or comedic.

Comfort has won the post-holiday comedown

January is also a month of retreat into the familiar, and this pattern appears clearly across platforms.

Avatar dominates Disney+ in all its incarnations.
Home Alone resurfaces.
Animated films like Zootopia, Ratatouille, and Kung Fu Panda coexist with heavier dramas.
Franchises such as Harry Potter, Shrek, and How to Train Your Dragon return to the Top 10.

The behavior is unmistakable: audiences are alternating intensity with reassurance. A heavy episode calls for something safe afterward. A political film demands an animated palate cleanser. Streaming has become an emotional regulator.

Long-running series and closed universes remain powerful anchors

Amazon Prime and Paramount+ reinforce another crucial insight: durable universes still hold audiences.

Fallout leads on Prime, alongside Reacher and The Night Manager. On Paramount+, South Park, Yellowstone, Tulsa King, and Landman remain strong.

These are not fleeting buzz-driven hits. They are reliable ecosystems, shows that do not require reorientation. In an overcrowded market, familiarity itself has become a premium.

What this Top 10 says about 2026

The message is remarkably coherent.

Audiences are entering 2026 tired but alert. They want comfort without emptiness. They want major cultural events, but they also seek stories that grapple with guilt, power, trauma, media, and responsibility. They want nostalgia — provided it speaks to the present. And above all, they want to feel that something is still shared, that there are texts everyone has seen, discussed, and argued over.

Streaming today is no longer about “what’s trending.”
It is about what helps us understand where we are.

In that sense, this week’s Top 10 is less a ranking than a diagnosis.

Miscelana Top 10

1 — Stranger Things (Netflix)
2 — Run Away (Netflix)
3 — All Her Fault (Amazon Prime Video)
4 — Orgulho e Preconceito – 1995 (Amazon Prime Video)
5-  Landman (Paramount+)
6-  Robin Hood (MGM+)
7- Uma Batalha Depois da Outra (HBO MAX)
8 — Adeus June (Netflix)
9 —  Avatar: Fogo de Cinzas (Disney Plus – Cinema)
10 — Taylor Swift: The End of An Era (Disney Plus)