'Game of Thrones' Breaks Series Ratings Records With "The Long Night" Episode

With Sunday's epic episode, the show has now reached unprecedented heights.

April 30, 2019

Image via Getty/Liam McBurney/PA Images

Through the duration of HBO's popular series, Game of Thrones has broken a host of records en route to becoming one of the most iconic shows in television history. But with last week's epic episode the show has now reached unprecedented heights.

On Sunday, it was reported that close to 12 million Thrones fans tuned in to watch the highly anticipated Battle of Winterfell, giving the show a season-high in same day viewers. At that time, this 12 million made the installment the second most-watched episode of the series followed by the Season 8 premiere on April 14. Yet as streaming numbers started to roll in, it became evident "The Long Night" would stand alone as the most popular episode of Game of Thrones thus far.

With more fans watching via streaming services, it was announced on Tuesday that "The Long Night" had accumulated 17.8 million viewers. The season premiere has been seen by 38 million viewers since its release just over two weeks ago.

Aiding in the episode's massive viewership was the buzz created by social media. According to Variety, the 67-minute battle scene resulted in more tweets than any episode of a scripted show in television history. Evidently 7.8 million tweets were sent out regarding the Battle of Winterfell, which broke the record of more than 5 million tweets, held by the show's final season premiere. Though this might be its peak, the epic reactions to the series don't seem to be slowing up. In 2019 alone over 52 million Game of Thrones tweets have been sent out, signifying the cultural response to the series.