For the seventh year, Game of Thrones has taken the top spot as the most-pirated TV show on the internet through BitTorrent, according to TorrentFreak.
Newcomer Chernobyl, a limited series, landed in second place, followed by the Disney-exclusive show The Mandalorian. “Whether it will maintain its momentum remains to be seen,” said TorrentFreak. “This year’s numbers may in part be boosted by the fact that Disney+ is not available globally yet.”
The Big Bang Theory and Vikings round out the top five, both dropping one spot from 2018’s ranking.
The Walking Dead, which in 2018 topped the list at number one (in the absence of a new season of Game of Thrones), dropped to number six in 2019. The Flash, Rick and Morty, Supergirl and Arrow comprise the rest of the top ten, in consecutive order.
The ranking, for single episodes, is based on several sources, including statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers. Full season downloads are not included. TorrentFreak also notes that BitTorrent traffic only makes up a small portion of the piracy landscape, as a lot of people use streaming sites and services nowadays, which generally do not report viewing stats.
