The fourth installment of Netflix’s true crime anthology series has landed at the top of the charts. ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ pulled in 12.1 million views in its first four days of streaming, debuting at the number one spot on Netflix’s Global Top 10 for English language shows.
The series arrived on Netflix on September 17. Within just four days, it had already logged 80.1 million hours viewed, according to figures shared by the streamer. That performance made it the most watched title across all series and films on the platform for the week of September 14.
The debut puts the new season right in line with its predecessors. ‘The Ed Gein Story’ opened to 12.2 million views back in 2025, while ‘The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ debuted with 12.3 million views in 2024.
Some outlets noted that the release day worked slightly in favor of the newest season. ‘The Lizzie Borden Story’ had four full days of availability before the tracking week closed, one more day than ‘The Ed Gein Story’ received during its own debut window last year.
Measuring up to the franchise’s origins
Comparing the new season to the franchise’s very first entry is harder to do directly. ‘Dahmer, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ premiered back in 2022, before Netflix began ranking titles using the same viewership format it uses today.
Even so, that original season remains a massive outlier for the franchise. It opened with 196.2 million hours watched in its first four days, translating to roughly 22.3 million views by today’s measurement standards. That season still holds a spot as Netflix’s seventh most popular English language series of all time.
Since its debut, the ‘Monster’ anthology has continued to draw large audiences with each new season. Netflix says the franchise as a whole has now reached close to 170 million views across all four installments combined.
What the new season covers
‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ centers on Lizzie Borden, played by Ella Beatty. The season retells the story of Borden’s trial and eventual acquittal following the notorious axe murders of her father and stepmother, which took place in Fall River, Massachusetts, back in 1892.
Despite strong viewership, the season has received a mixed response from critics. It currently holds a 42 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes’ critic driven Tomatometer. The audience driven Popcornmeter score sits even lower, at 37 percent.
‘Crew Girl’ rides a wave right behind it
Just behind ‘The Lizzie Borden Story’ on the weekly chart was YA drama series ‘Crew Girl,’ which landed in the number two spot. The show more than doubled its viewership from its debut week, jumping from 5.2 million views to 11.3 million. It also reached the Top 10 in more than 90 countries during that stretch, a surge strong enough to earn it an early Season 2 renewal from Netflix.
The rest of the chart
Rounding out the rest of the English language TV Top 10, ‘The Gentlemen’ Season 2 landed in third place with six million views during its third week on the chart. Catch up viewing also pushed ‘The Gentlemen’ Season 1 back onto the list, landing at number five with 3.4 million views.
Sitting in fourth place was the debut of ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’ Season 14, which brought in 4.3 million views in its first week of availability.
On the non English language side, Israeli drama ‘Fauda’ saw its Season 5 climb to its highest ranking yet on Netflix’s charts. The season features new episodes that explore the October 7, 2023 attacks and their lasting aftermath. Even with that ranking boost, the show’s viewership slipped slightly, dropping from 2.1 million views the previous week down to 1.6 million.
- Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
- Netflix
