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Murder Mystery was Netflix’s top-ranked 2019 release in Australia and its leading movie, while The Witcher topped the series list. Chris Lilley’s Lunatics was the standout local success, ranking second among series. These were popularity rankings based on Netflix accounts starting a title, not a complete league table of hours watched or completed viewing.
The three Australian leaders
| Category | No. 1 |
|---|---|
| All 2019 releases | Murder Mystery |
| Series | The Witcher |
| Movies | Murder Mystery |
Netflix’s country-specific rankings were reported on 30 December 2019. They covered films and series that premiered on Netflix, or were added to the service, during 2019. The overall list combines both formats; the separate lists show the leading series and movies.
The ranking reproduced by PerthNow does not provide Australian account totals, so there is no defensible numerical audience count for any title.
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Australia’s top 10 Netflix releases overall
| Rank | Title | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder Mystery | Movie |
| 2 | 6 Underground | Movie |
| 3 | The Witcher | Series |
| 4 | Isn’t It Romantic | Movie |
| 5 | Lunatics | Series |
| 6 | The Irishman | Movie |
| 7 | Stranger Things 3 | Series |
| 8 | Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile | Movie |
| 9 | Triple Frontier | Movie |
| 10 | Dead to Me | Series |
Murder Mystery, starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as holidaymakers drawn into a murder investigation, led both the combined ranking and the movie ranking. That establishes its position under Netflix’s measure; it does not establish that it was the year’s best film or that it accumulated the most viewing hours.
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Top 10 series in Australia
| Rank | Series |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Witcher |
| 2 | Lunatics |
| 3 | Stranger Things 3 |
| 4 | Dead to Me |
| 5 | The Umbrella Academy |
| 6 | Unbelievable |
| 7 | Dirty John |
| 8 | Sex Education |
| 9 | Rick and Morty: Season 4 |
| 10 | You: Season 2 |
Lunatics, created by Australian comedian Chris Lilley, was the most distinctive local result. It placed second among series and fifth in the combined list, ahead of internationally prominent titles including Stranger Things 3 and The Umbrella Academy.
Netflix’s naming also matters: entries such as Rick and Morty: Season 4 and You: Season 2 refer to the ranked season, rather than an automatically aggregated total for every season of the programme.
Top 10 movies in Australia
| Rank | Movie |
|---|---|
| 1 | Murder Mystery |
| 2 | 6 Underground |
| 3 | Isn’t It Romantic |
| 4 | The Irishman |
| 5 | Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile |
| 6 | Triple Frontier |
| 7 | Aquaman |
| 8 | The Highwaymen |
| 9 | The Perfect Date |
| 10 | Falling Inn Love |
The inclusion of Aquaman shows that this was not an originals-only list. Licensed films and acquired series appeared alongside Netflix productions. Contemporary explanations from TV Guide and TheWrap describe the lists as covering titles released or added to Netflix in 2019, not only films first released in cinemas that year.
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What Netflix’s popularity measure counted
A short start, not a completed viewing
Contemporary reporting described the calculation as the number of Netflix accounts that watched roughly the first two minutes of a title during its initial measurement period. Reports vary between “the first couple of minutes” and “at least two minutes”; in either formulation, starting a title is not the same as finishing it or watching for a sustained period.
The first 28 days
The reported framework generally used a title’s first 28 days on the service. That creates a consistent launch window, but it is different from adding every minute watched across the whole calendar year. The methodology and its limitations were discussed by Yahoo’s syndicated coverage.
Projected results for late releases
Some December releases had not completed 28 days when the 30 December list was published. Netflix therefore used projections based on early viewing data for titles including The Witcher, 6 Underground and You: Season 2, according to reports at the time. The Witcher premiered in December yet ranked first among series and third overall, so its position should be read as an early popularity result with a projected component, not as a full-year cumulative total.
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Accounts are not individual Australians
The measure was described in terms of Netflix accounts or member households. One account can be shared, and Netflix did not publish the Australian number of accounts behind each rank. The lists consequently show ordering, not a count of individual viewers.
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How to interpret the biggest surprises
Murder Mystery ahead of The Irishman
The comedy-mystery ranked above prestige drama The Irishman in the Australian movie list. That comparison says which title ranked higher under Netflix’s account-start measure; it says nothing about critical quality, completion rate or total hours.
The Witcher’s rapid rise
A late-December launch normally has less time to accumulate starts than a title available early in the year. The first-28-days framework and projections explain how The Witcher could nevertheless lead the series table.
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A distinctly Australian series result
Lunatics’ second-place series ranking indicates that the Australian list was not simply a copy of a US or global chart. Country-specific catalogues, audiences and launch response produce different orders.
Original and licensed programming together
Aquaman in the movie top 10 and Rick and Morty in the series top 10 underline that “Netflix’s most popular” did not mean “Netflix originals.” Rights and catalogue availability determine which acquired titles can appear in a country’s chart.
What the list cannot prove
- It is not a ranking of total hours watched.
- It does not show how many viewers completed a film, season or episode.
- It is not a count of individual Australians.
- It does not represent every programme watched on Netflix during 2019; it concerns titles released or added during that year.
- It should not be merged with the US ranking, because the published charts were country-specific.
Readers considering a subscription should also check the current Australian catalogue at Netflix’s signup page: licensed availability changes, and a title appearing in a 2019 chart does not guarantee that it remains available today.
The bottom line
Netflix’s Australian 2019 chart identifies Murder Mystery as the leading overall release and movie, with The Witcher the leading series and Lunatics the notable home-market success. The fairest description is a ranking of early account-level popularity under Netflix’s reported first-28-days methodology—not a definitive table of everything Australians watched, or how long they watched it.
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