Korean pop culture, in numbers

Underrated Korean drama, measured instead of guessed

Everybody’s list of underrated Korean shows is somebody’s taste. This one is a count. A title is here if it stayed on a Netflix weekly top 10 for6 weeks or more — the median run of the528 titles we publish — while appearing in the charts offewer countries than most of them. 75 titles do both.

This is not a claim that they are good. It says a title kept its place somewhere for a long time and almost nowhere else noticed. Netflix publishes only the weekly top 10, so a show that is enormous at home can be missing from this page entirely, and charting somewhere is not the same as being available there.

One country only

22 titles ran 6 weeks or more and charted in 1 country.

TitleKindWeeksWhere it chartedBest place
Mr. SunshineSeries23South Korea7
ExhumaFilm13South Korea1
It's Okay to Not Be OkaySeries13Philippines1
12.12: The DayFilm12South Korea1
Good PartnerSeries12South Korea1
The Killing VoteSeries11South Korea2
Citizen of a KindFilm9South Korea1
My MisterSeries8South Korea5
The Dream Life of Mr. KimSeries8South Korea1
Yadang: The SnitchFilm8South Korea1
Bad GuysSeries7Thailand1
Miracle: Letters to the PresidentFilm7South Korea2
The UglyFilm7South Korea1
A Good Day to Be a DogSeries6South Korea3
Amazon BullseyeFilm6South Korea1
Behind Every StarSeries6South Korea2
Decision to LeaveFilm6South Korea2
In Our PrimeFilm6South Korea1
My Happy EndingSeries6South Korea4
No Other ChoiceFilm6South Korea1
Parole Examiner LeeSeries6South Korea1
The WitchSeries6South Korea2

Exactly 2 countries

16 titles ran 6 weeks or more and charted in 2 countries.

TitleKindWeeksWhere it chartedBest place
The PromiseFilm37Canada, Philippines2
Reborn RichSeries13Japan, South Korea1
SinkholeFilm12Japan, South Korea1
Love in the Big CityFilm11South Korea, Thailand1
RansomedFilm10South Korea, Thailand1
Concrete UtopiaFilm9South Korea, Thailand1
PROJECT SILENCEFilm8South Korea, Thailand1
The ChildeFilm8South Korea, Thailand1
To My Beloved ThiefSeries8Nigeria, South Korea3
6/45Film7South Korea, Vietnam1
A Korean OdysseySeries7Hong Kong, Malaysia2
IslandFilm7Czech Republic, Slovakia1
SoilSeries7Belgium, Morocco2
The Policeman's LineageFilm7South Korea, Vietnam5
Midnight RunnersFilm6Philippines, Vietnam2
Miracle in Cell No. 7Film6Indonesia, Nigeria2

3 to 6 countries

37 titles ran 6 weeks or more and charted in 3–6 countries.

TitleKindWeeksWhere it chartedBest place
Itaewon ClassSeries64Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand1
Reply 1988Series39Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam3
Prison PlaybookSeries28Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam2
Guardian: The Lonely and Great GodSeries19Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam5
EscapeFilm16South Korea, Spain, Thailand1
Flower of EvilSeries14Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan2
Extreme JobFilm13Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam2
Doctor JohnSeries12Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan1
Once AgainFilm12South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam2
What's Wrong with Secretary KimSeries12Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam1
Cleaning UpSeries11Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom1
Confidential Assignment 2: InternationalFilm11Japan, Philippines, South Korea1
Hotel Del LunaSeries11Hong Kong, Nicaragua, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand1
ParasiteFilm11France, Hong Kong, Philippines, South Korea3
SwitchFilm11Japan, South Korea, Vietnam2
HuntFilm10Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam1
PeninsulaFilm10Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam1
Project Wolf HuntingFilm10South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam1
Green Mothers' ClubSeries9Indonesia, Japan, South Korea2
Hitman: Agent JunFilm9Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam3
The Divine FuryFilm9Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam2
We Are All Trying HereSeries9Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan1
Hello GhostFilm8Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan1
Tale of the Nine TailedSeries8Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam4
The Point MenFilm8Japan, South Korea, Thailand1
The World of the MarriedSeries8Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand2
18 AgainSeries7Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand4
Agents of MysterySeries7Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea2
FireworksFilm7Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia1
First LadySeries7Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam4
Last SummerSeries7Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam1
Racket BoysSeries7Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan4
Train to BusanFilm7Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan1
Diary of a ProsecutorSeries6Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan6
The Winning TrySeries6Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, South Korea3
TunnelFilm6Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam2
UnstoppableFilm6Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore2

Series or film — the split

Of the titles that clear both cut-offs at the strictest band, 12 are series and 10 are films. People search for the two separately, so we count them separately rather than folding them into one word.

Korean titles that stayed on a Netflix weekly top 10 for a long run while charting in very few countries. Both thresholds are taken from the measured distribution of the titles we hold, not chosen by taste.

What it is not. Not a quality ranking and not a claim that these are good. Charting is not the same as being available, and not charting is not the same as not being watched — Netflix publishes only the weekly top 10, so a title huge at home can be absent here entirely.

The other end — seen everywhere, gone in a fortnight

The same two measures, reversed: 6 titles charted in 28 countries or more and were gone within 3 weeks. Reach and staying power are not the same thing, and putting the two lists beside each other is what makes either one mean anything.

TitleKindCountriesWeeksBest place
DesireFilm9021
OutlawFilm5322
Spooky in LoveSeries4723
One More TimeFilm3831
The Sound of MagicSeries3631
Goodbye EarthSeries2832

Where to walk from here

Every country and how Korean its chart is · Longest run against hardest landing · Every Korean title we hold · All the rooms

How this was measured

Netflix's own weekly top 10 files, 265 weeks across 93 countries, 2021-07-04 to 2026-07-26. A title is counted here when its weeks on any weekly top 10 reach 6 — the median run of the 528 titles that have a page on this site — and the number of countries it charted in stays below the median of 7. The first quartile of that country count is 1, which is the band shown first. Neither cut-off was chosen by hand.

What this cannot tell you

Charting is not availability: Netflix does not publish where a title can be watched. Not charting is not the same as not being watched, because only the weekly top 10 is published, so a title that was enormous in Korea and never charted abroad does not appear here at all. Netflix also states no country of production, so which titles count as Korean is our inference and not its label.

The same two measures build the opposite list on this page, and the country counts behind them are on the country pages.