Which Shows Have the Highest IMDb Ratings Ever

Breaking Bad holds the highest IMDb rating of any television show ever made, sitting at 9.5 out of 10 with roughly 2.5 million user ratings. No other series — drama, comedy, documentary, or otherwise — has managed to unseat Vince Gilligan’s methamphetamine epic from the top of IMDb’s Top 250 TV list.

Behind it, Planet Earth II and Band of Brothers share the second slot at 9.4, followed by Chernobyl at 9.3 and Game of Thrones at 9.2. But raw numbers only tell part of the story.

IMDb’s ranking system uses a weighted formula that factors in both the volume of ratings and the credibility of voters, meaning a show can’t simply flood its way to the top with bot accounts or fan campaigns. Only series with at least 25,000 votes even qualify for the Top 250.

This article breaks down exactly which shows dominate the list, why some have risen or fallen over time, and what the rankings actually reveal about audience taste versus critical consensus. The list also holds a few surprises.

Animated series, miniseries, documentaries, and sitcoms all compete in the same pool, and the results challenge easy assumptions about what “the best TV” actually looks like.

Table of Contents

• What Are the Top 5 Highest-Rated TV Shows on IMDb of All Time?
• Why Do Some Shows Drop in the Rankings Over Time?
• Miniseries Punch Above Their Weight on the IMDb Top 250
• How Comedies, Animation, and Genre Shows Compete Against Prestige Drama
• The Limits of IMDb Ratings as a Measure of Quality
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and the Next Generation of Top-Rated TV
• What the IMDb Top 250 Tells Us About the Future of Television
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Are the Top 5 Highest-Rated TV Shows on IMDb of All Time?

The undisputed champion is Breaking Bad (2008–2013), which ran for 62 episodes across five seasons and earned its 9.5 rating from approximately 2.5 million voters. That combination of an extraordinarily high score and massive vote count is what makes it essentially untouchable.

Most shows that approach its rating do so with far fewer votes, making their positions more vulnerable to shifts over time. Planet Earth II claims the number two spot at 9.4 with around 234,000 ratings. David Attenborough’s nature documentary series proves that scripted drama doesn’t have a monopoly on audience devotion.

Band of Brothers, the 10-episode HBO miniseries about Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division during World War II, matches that 9.4 rating but with a significantly larger pool of roughly 588,000 voters, which arguably makes its ranking more statistically strong.

Rounding out the top five are Chernobyl (2019) at 9.3 with over one million ratings and Game of Thrones at 9.2 with approximately 2.5 million ratings.

The Chernobyl miniseries, just five episodes long, is remarkable for how quickly and decisively it cemented itself among the all-time greats.

Game of Thrones is the cautionary tale of the group — it was once rated as high as 9.4, according to Forbes reporting in 2019, before its widely criticized final seasons dragged the score down by two-tenths of a point.

Why Do Some Shows Drop in the Rankings Over Time?

game of Thrones is the most dramatic example of ratings erosion on IMDb. At its peak, it was a legitimate contender for the top spot on the entire list.

Then seasons seven and eight happened. The compressed storytelling, character decisions that felt unearned, and the rushed conclusion prompted a wave of lower scores that pulled the show’s cumulative average from 9.4 down to 9.2.

That might look like a small change on paper, but at the top of IMDb’s rankings, two-tenths of a point is the difference between first place and fifth. This phenomenon isn’t unique to Game of Thrones, but it’s most visible there because of the show’s enormous voter base.

When 2.5 million people have rated a show, even modest shifts in sentiment move the needle. Shorter series like Band of Brothers or Chernobyl are somewhat insulated from this effect — their complete runs aired over a limited window, and audiences who rated them generally did so having seen the whole thing.

There was no opportunity for a late-season collapse to sour the numbers. However, if a show’s fanbase is small but passionate, the opposite problem can occur.

A niche series might hold a 9.0 rating with 30,000 votes, then get recommended by a major publication or streamer, drawing in a broader audience that rates it more modestly. The influx of new voters can pull a beloved show down the list through no fault of its own.

IMDb’s weighted formula tries to account for this, but no algorithm perfectly captures the difference between a show that changed and an audience that changed.

Miniseries Punch Above Their Weight on the IMDb Top 250

Three of the top five highest-rated shows on IMDb are miniseries or limited series: Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, and Planet Earth II. That’s a striking overrepresentation for a format that produces far fewer episodes than traditional multi-season runs.

The pattern suggests something specific about how audiences rate television — a tight, self-contained story with a clear beginning and end tends to leave viewers more satisfied than a sprawling series that has to sustain quality over dozens or hundreds of episodes. Band of Brothers is the clearest case study.

Its 10 episodes cover the journey of Easy Company from training through the end of World War II, and every episode serves a defined narrative purpose. There’s no filler.

There’s no mid-season slump where writers were clearly stalling for time. Viewers who rate it on IMDb are rating a complete, cohesive experience, which naturally skews higher than a show where season three was great but season six was a mess.

Chernobyl follows the same logic on an even tighter scale. Five episodes covering the 1986 nuclear disaster and its aftermath. The show arrived, devastated its audience, and ended before anyone could accuse it of overstaying its welcome. Its one million ratings confirm it wasn’t just a critical darling — it reached a genuinely massive audience.

The lesson for the rankings is clear: brevity, when paired with quality, is rewarded by voters.

How Comedies, Animation, and Genre Shows Compete Against Prestige Drama

The IMDb Top 250 isn’t exclusively a prestige drama leaderboard, though it might look that way at the very top. The Office (US) holds the distinction of being the highest-rated live-action sitcom on the list, a fact that speaks to the show’s enduring cultural presence long after its 2013 finale.

Avatar: The Last Airbender ranks among the highest-rated animated series, competing directly against live-action heavyweights despite being a Nickelodeon cartoon aimed, at least nominally, at younger audiences. Rick and Morty sits at 9.0 with approximately 683,000 ratings, proving that adult animation can hold its own against the Band of Brothers and Chernobyls of the world.

Better Call Saul matches that 9.0 rating with around 798,000 votes, benefiting from both its own quality and its association with Breaking Bad’s legacy.

The trade-off for comedies and animated series is that they rarely crack the absolute top tier — the five highest-rated shows are all dramas, documentaries, or dramatic miniseries. Humor, it seems, is harder to rate universally than tragedy. True Detective presents an interesting hybrid case.

The anthology series sits at 8.8 with roughly 739,000 ratings, but that number masks a wild internal split. Its first season is widely regarded as one of the best single seasons of television ever produced, while later seasons received mixed-to-negative responses.

Unlike Game of Thrones, where the decline was gradual, True Detective’s quality varied dramatically from season to season, and the aggregate rating reflects that inconsistency.

The Limits of IMDb Ratings as a Measure of Quality

IMDb’s Top 250 is frequently cited as a definitive ranking, but it has real structural limitations worth understanding. The voting population skews heavily male, younger, and English-speaking, which means shows that resonate most strongly with those demographics get a built-in advantage.

The Wire, widely considered by television critics to be one of the greatest dramas ever made, consistently ranks in the top tier of IMDb’s list but has never approached Breaking Bad’s numbers — in part because its audience, while devoted, was never as massive.

The weighted formula that IMDb uses to calculate its Top 250 is intentionally opaque. The company confirms that it factors in both the number of ratings and some measure of voter credibility, but the exact mechanics aren’t public.

This means that unlike a straightforward average where every vote counts equally, IMDb is making editorial judgments baked into the algorithm itself. A show rated 9.0 by 800,000 voters might rank differently than one rated 9.0 by 100,000 voters, depending on who those voters are. There’s also the recency effect.

New shows benefit from the enthusiasm of their initial audience — people who were excited enough to watch and rate the show immediately. Over time, as more casual viewers catch up and weigh in, ratings often settle downward.

This is worth keeping in mind when evaluating newer entries on the list, which may not yet reflect their long-term consensus score.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and the Next Generation of Top-Rated TV

The most notable recent entry on IMDb’s Top 250 TV list is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the 2025 Game of Thrones prequel series.

It currently holds a 9.0 rating and sits at number 52 on the list, a strong debut that suggests the franchise still has significant audience goodwill despite the original show’s controversial ending.

Episode 5 of the series has drawn particular attention for challenging some of Game of Thrones’ own highest-rated individual episodes in terms of user scores.

Whether A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms can maintain that position or climb higher will depend on the same factors that govern every show on the list: sustained quality, growing vote counts, and the eventual verdict of viewers who binge it months or years after its initial run.

What the IMDb Top 250 Tells Us About the Future of Television

The current top of the IMDb rankings reflects a television landscape that peaked in a specific era — roughly 2001 to 2019, the stretch that produced Band of Brothers, The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Chernobyl. Whether the streaming age can produce shows that rival these ratings remains an open question.

The fragmentation of audiences across dozens of platforms means fewer shows achieve the cultural ubiquity that drives millions of people to rate them on a single site.

That said, the success of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms at number 52 and the durability of shows like Better Call Saul in the rankings suggest that great television still finds its audience. The IMDb Top 250 will continue evolving, but the shows at the very top have proven remarkably resistant to displacement.

Breaking Bad has held the number one position for years, and dethroning a 9.5 rated show with 2.5 million votes would require something genuinely extraordinary.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the number one highest-rated TV show on IMDb?

Breaking Bad holds the top spot with a 9.5 out of 10 rating based on approximately 2.5 million user votes. It has maintained this position for several years.

How many votes does a show need to qualify for the IMDb Top 250 TV list?

A show needs at least 25,000 votes to be eligible. IMDb also uses a weighted formula that considers voter credibility, not just the raw average score.

Why did Game of Thrones drop from 9.4 to 9.2 on IMDb?

The show’s final seasons, particularly season eight, were widely criticized by viewers. The influx of lower ratings from disappointed fans pulled the cumulative average down from its 2019 peak of 9.4 to its current 9.2.

What is the highest-rated comedy on IMDb’s Top 250 TV list?

The Office (US) is the highest-rated live-action sitcom on the list. Among animated comedies, Rick and Morty holds a strong 9.0 rating with approximately 683,000 votes.

Are miniseries eligible for the IMDb Top 250 TV list?

Yes, and they perform exceptionally well. Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, and Planet Earth II are all in the top five, suggesting that shorter, self-contained series tend to earn higher overall ratings than long-running shows.

What is the highest-rated new show on the IMDb Top 250?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the 2025 Game of Thrones prequel, currently holds a 9.0 rating and ranks number 52 on the list, making it one of the strongest recent debuts.

---

You Might Also Like

• What Shows Have the Highest Viewer Demand Globally
• Why Squid Game Is One of the Most Streamed TV Shows Ever
• Which TV Shows Are in Netflix’s Global Top 10 This Week

Browse more: Box Office | Entertainment | Film | Movie News | Movies

For more on Shows Highest Imdb, see the full breakdown above – the shows highest imdb details cover what most viewers want to know.

Whether you searched for shows highest imdb reviews, shows highest imdb streaming, or shows highest imdb cast, this guide consolidates the relevant shows highest imdb facts in one place.