Every page we publish counts chart places. A place at number one and a place at number ten both count as one. This page asks whether they arrive in equal numbers — and they do not.
A chart place is a chart place — but is a Korean title as likely to be at number one as to be anywhere on the list?
Across all 93 markets and all 10 ranks, Korean titles hold 7.8% of number-one places and 7.1% of number-ten places, against 7.7% of places overall — 50 of 93 markets sit lower at number one than across their chart. That is close enough to a coin toss to be worth nothing. The world total is where this question goes to die, and it is the figure we would have published if we had stopped there.
It only separates once the markets are grouped by how much of the chart Korean titles hold to begin with — and then it separates in two opposite directions at once, which is why the total is flat.
How this is counted. Every market hands out the same number of places at every rank: one film slot and one series slot at rank 1 each week, and the same at rank 10. Share at a rank is Korean places at that rank divided by all places at that rank.
| Korean share of the market | Markets | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | All places | #1 minus all |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5% | 49 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 2.8 | +0.1p |
| 5–10% | 23 | 5.5 | 6.8 | 7.7 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8 | 8.1 | 7.8 | -2.3p |
| 10–20% | 11 | 9.6 | 12 | 12.3 | 12.5 | 13.3 | 12.4 | 11.9 | 11.6 | 10.3 | 9.9 | 11.6 | -2p |
| 20% and over | 10 | 35.3 | 33.6 | 30.7 | 28.1 | 26.4 | 24.4 | 23.8 | 22.5 | 21.7 | 20.4 | 26.7 | +8.6p |
All figures are percentages of the places at that rank. Read a row across: in the 23 markets on the 5–10% row, the Korean share rises from 5.5% at number one to 8.6% in the middle of the chart. On the bottom row it does the opposite — 35.3% at number one falling to 20.4% at number ten.
Each row is scaled to its own largest bar. That is deliberate: the bands sit at very different levels, and levels are already in the table above. What is worth seeing here is theshape — where in the chart each band peaks.
The top three rows are humps — Korean titles are commonest in the middle of the chart. The bottom row is a slope down from number one. ⚠ Nothing here says one shape is better; a market on the bottom row is a market where Korean titles fill a quarter of the chart to begin with.
Number one is a tenth as many places as the chart, so a single long-running hit can make the whole shape. It has to be checked before anything else, and in one band it is exactly what is happening: in the 49 markets on the Under 5% row, Squid Game alone accounts for 67.9% of Korean number-one weeks. Take out the three biggest titles and that row's number-one share falls to 0.6% against 2.8% overall.
| Korean share of the market | Korean #1 weeks | Distinct titles | Distinct titles per market | Largest title | Its share of them | #1 share without the top three |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5% | 756 | 48 | 4.9 | Squid Game | 67.9% | 0.6% (all: 2.8%) |
| 5–10% | 672 | 67 | 14.8 | Squid Game | 36.2% | 2.9% (all: 7.8%) |
| 10–20% | 561 | 67 | 22.8 | Squid Game | 28.9% | 5.9% (all: 11.6%) |
| 20% and over | 1870 | 250 | 83.1 | Squid Game | 5.3% | 30.8% (all: 26.7%) |
The objection holds everywhere except the bottom row. There, the average market saw 83.1 different Korean titles reach number one, the largest of them took 5.3% of those weeks, and removing the top three still leaves 30.8% — above the 26.7% those markets give Korean titles overall. That is the one place where topping the chart is routine rather than exceptional.
| Korean share of the market | Films: all places | Films: #1 | Films: gap | Series: all places | Series: #1 | Series: gap | Markets where #1 is lower |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5% | 2% | 1% | -1p | 3.6% | 4.8% | +1.2p | 19 of 49 |
| 5–10% | 2.6% | 2% | -0.6p | 13% | 9.1% | -3.9p | 22 of 23 |
| 10–20% | 3.3% | 2.4% | -0.9p | 19.8% | 16.9% | -2.9p | 9 of 11 |
| 20% and over | 9.8% | 14% | +4.2p | 43.6% | 56.6% | +13p | 0 of 10 |
Splitting the two charts does not break the pattern, which is the point of splitting them. The last column counts direction rather than size: on the 5–10% row, 22 of 23 markets have a lower Korean share at number one than across the chart. On the bottom row it is 0 of 10.
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. They are listed alphabetically, not in order of size. We are not ranking them, and this list is a description of who is in the band — not a claim about why.
Across 93 Netflix markets Korean titles hold 7.7% of chart places. In the 23 markets where their share runs 5–10%, they hold only 5.5% of number-one places. In the ten where they are strongest it inverts: 35.3% at number one against 26.7%.
9 August 2026
How few titles fill half a country's chart · Where Korean titles gained and lost · How we count