When it comes to the TV shows that captured our attention in 2023, Netflix still reigns supreme thanks to everything from its prestige dramas like The Crown and Stranger Things to addictive reality shows like Squid Game: The Challenge. At the same time, 2023 saw its streaming rivals like HBO and Apple TV+ continue to step up their game, with shows like The White Lotus, Succession, and The Morning Show securing critical buzz and captivating fans.
And now, here we are at the end of the year — it’s time, once again, to look back over the year in TV, courtesy of Google’s just-released “Year in Search” that reveals the top trending TV shows of 2023.
The search giant’s list of 10 shows, below, is skewed heavily in Netflix’s favor, with nine of the 10 titles belonging to the biggest streamer in the world. The sole exception is HBO’s The Last of US, which took the #1 spot this year — and which will begin production on Season 2, according to showrunner Craig Mazin, in February. Here, in order, are Google’s Top 10 TV shows of the year:
- The Last of Us
- Wednesday
- Ginny & Georgia
- One Piece
- Kaleidoscope
- King the Land
- The Glory
- That ’90s Show
- The Fall of the House of Usher
- Shadow and Bone
The ranking, according to Google, is “based on search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared to the previous year.” In other words, the list is not necessarily reflective of the best TV shows of 2023 — and Netflix’s Wednesday, for example, didn’t even come out this year. For more of a quality-based ranking of the year’s best shows, check out our look at AFI’s newly-released best of 2023 — covering everything from Hulu’s The Bear to Peacock’s Poker Face.
