Korean pop culture, in numbers

Korean movies on Netflix

Between 2021-07-04 and 2026-08-16, 577 Korean films entered some country’s Netflix weekly top 10. That is 181 more than the 396 Korean series that did the same over the same weeks. If you had guessed that Korean television dominates the catalogue by count, the count says otherwise.

The distance each one travels is where they part. The median Korean film reached 1 country and held a place for 3 weeks. The median Korean series reached 5 countries and held for 6 weeks. 328 of the 577 films — 57% — charted in exactly one country and nowhere else.

This counts chart places, not viewers. Netflix publishes no hours and no audience by country, only a weekly list of ten per country. So a film that charted in forty small markets and one that charted in forty large ones look identical on this page. Nothing here is a judgement of quality, and we are not going to tell you which Korean film is best — that is not ours to say.

Wide and thin, next to narrow and deep

FilmsSeries
Titles that ever charted577396
Median countries reached15
Median weeks on a chart36
Median chart places315
Charted in one country only328119
…as a share of all that charted57%30%
Lasted exactly one week11837
…as a share of all that charted20%9%
Reached number one somewhere155149
Have a page on this site262284

Reaching number one is not the rare part. 155 of the 577 films have been number one in some country in some week — number one in one small market for one week is common enough that the column separates almost nothing. Reach and duration do the separating on this page.

315 of the 577 films have no page here. We publish a title page only when we hold enough rows to fill one, and we would rather list a name with no link than publish a page that says nothing. Names below without a link are those.

How many first charted each year

YearKorean films entering a chart for the first time
2021100
2022124
2023125
2024100
202569
202659

The first and last years are partial — our weeks start 2021-07-04 and stop 2026-08-16, so neither covers a full twelve months. We are not going to call the shape of this a trend on that basis.

The Korean films that reached the most countries

How many of the countries we hold ever put this film in their weekly top 10. Top 25 shown.

FilmCountriesCountriesWeeksAt onceFirst charted
The Great Flood939311932025-12-21
Carter92925922022-08-07
Desire90905902026-07-19
Badland Hunters898910892024-01-28
Ballerina898918892021-10-24
Officer Black Belt89897892024-09-15
JUNG_E87874872023-01-22
Kill Boksoon848411822023-04-02
Uprising77779742024-10-13
Kingdom: Ashin of the North767612762021-07-25
Bogotá: City of the Lost73734732025-02-09
Noise727210682023-01-15
Humint676711672026-04-05
The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure67677662022-03-06
Revelations66665652025-03-23
Love Untangled61617612025-08-31
Yaksha: Ruthless Operations61618612022-04-10
Mantis59598572025-09-28
Wall to Wall58586582025-07-20
Made in Korea54545542026-03-15
Tarot545434102024-08-04
Outlaw53532532024-09-15
City Hunter52528502024-04-28
Unlocked525213462022-06-12
Happy Ending47475462022-11-27

The Korean films that stayed on a chart longest

How many distinct weeks the film held a top 10 place somewhere. A film in three countries for the same week counts that week once. Top 25 shown.

FilmWeeksCountriesWeeksAt onceFirst charted
Tarot345434102024-08-04
Man in Love2872832021-08-22
Land234323152023-01-01
Watcher223722102023-03-12
Memory202020102022-12-04
Barbie19371992024-05-05
Ballerina188918892021-10-24
Escape1631612022-11-13
Safe16161662021-12-05
Angel Eyes152815102021-11-07
Nocturnal1521512025-05-18
The Cursed15291562024-01-07
Mimi142114182021-08-01
Exhuma1311312024-07-21
Extreme Job1361332021-08-22
Night in Paradise1311312021-07-11
Unlocked135213462022-06-12
12.12: The Day1211212024-05-12
Addicted12191282021-12-05
Holy Punch1211212024-05-26
Jackpot1221222022-08-14
Kingdom: Ashin of the North127612762021-07-25
Pilot1211212024-11-24
Sinkhole1221212021-11-21
Confidential Assignment 2: International1131112023-01-08

The Korean films that took the most chart places

One place is one appearance in one country in one week. This is reach and staying power multiplied together. Top 25 shown.

FilmPlacesCountriesWeeksAt onceFirst charted
The Great Flood3519311932025-12-21
Desire247905902026-07-19
Ballerina2418918892021-10-24
Badland Hunters2268910892024-01-28
Kill Boksoon2258411822023-04-02
Officer Black Belt205897892024-09-15
Carter201925922022-08-07
JUNG_E172874872023-01-22
The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure158677662022-03-06
Uprising148779742024-10-13
Unlocked1455213462022-06-12
Yaksha: Ruthless Operations143618612022-04-10
Kingdom: Ashin of the North1357612762021-07-25
Love Untangled129617612025-08-31
Humint1256711672026-04-05
Mantis117598572025-09-28
Noise1157210682023-01-15
20th Century Girl114466462022-10-23
Revelations112665652025-03-23
Wall to Wall110586582025-07-20
Mimi1092114182021-08-01
Made in Korea107545542026-03-15
Bogotá: City of the Lost98734732025-02-09
City Hunter96528502024-04-28
Tarot935434102024-08-04

What this is, and what it is not

“At once” is not the same as “countries”. Countries counts every market that ever listed the film. At once is the most it held in any single week. A film that charted in 40 countries one after another and one that charted in 40 on the same Tuesday are different events, and the two columns keep them apart.

Not separated here. Our rows do not say whether a film opened in cinemas first or went straight to Netflix. Both sit in the same table here, because we cannot tell them apart from what we hold.

A chart position is not a viewing figure. Netflix publishes hours viewed only for its global lists, so a title that charted in 40 small markets and one that charted in 40 large ones look identical here.

Where to walk from here

Is it actually Korean? 423 names we cannot settle from a chart row · This week’s Korean titles on Netflix · Korean series on Netflix, the same counts · Three measures of “most popular” that disagree · The ones that ran and ran, almost nowhere · Where each title could actually be watched · The companies behind them · The people in them · Every Korean title we hold

How this was measured

Netflix's own weekly top 10 files by country, 2021-07-04 to 2026-08-16, across 93 countries. Netflix publishes two separate weekly lists, one for films and one for series; this page uses the films list only. A title that appears on both lists is two different works sharing a name, and we do not add them together — where we could not establish which work is the Korean one, we publish neither set of numbers.

What this cannot tell you

A chart place is not a viewing figure. Netflix publishes no hours or viewers by country, so nothing here says how many people watched, and a small market counts the same as a large one. Netflix states no country of production, so which titles count as Korean is our inference from the title text and from Wikidata. Our rows also do not say whether a film opened in cinemas before reaching Netflix, so theatrical releases and Netflix originals sit in the same table.

What we wrote from this data