TV series are responsible for the highest audiences on cable networks. The key influence of these series lie in their ability to attract followers and build consistent fanbases. The top rated series of all time consist of those series that have attracted the most viewers across different seasons and episodes.

One would expect that only series that have lasted several decades will make this list. Well, sometimes a ballistic product comes around and breaks into the group of exclusives.

Read on to find out which of them has made it into our list of top rated series of all time.

5. Seinfeld

Seinfeld is a sitcom that is still televised on many comedy channels today even though the actual series ended over 20 years ago. The comedy series ran for 9 seasons, with 180 different episodes revolved around four friends living in the same apartment building.

At the time of the last episode, Seinfeld had a global audience of 76 million viewers. One can only imagine what the audience would have been if the series was live today. With platforms like Blue Baikal that brings entertainment information to your doorstep, awareness has increased exponentially.

Seinfeld received so many awards and nominations, conquering a lot of milestones in the process. Here is a list of just a few of the awards:

Winner — Primetime Emmy Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1990)

Winner — Primetime Emmy Outstanding Editing for a Series (1992)

Winner — Primetime Emmy Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)

Winner — Golden Globe Best TV-Series — Comedy/Musical (1993)

Winner — Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1997)

Many more awards, nominations and accolades were received by Seinfeld, both on a group and individual level by the actors and producers.

4. Game Of Thrones

Talk about breaking into the exclusive circle, Game of Thrones (GoT) is a typical character with such a description. This series showed up and took over the air waves. The original series of Game of Thrones was released on 17 April 2011. Eight years later and the final series of the American fantasy drama attracted a global audience of 19.3 million viewers.

Game of Thrones ran between 2011 and 2019 with viewers having to wait between seasons. This created a lot of buzz for the series and by popular opinion, viewers seemed to be satisfied with what they were given. Apparently, the seasons and episodes were worth the wait.

The series has won so many awards so far, and still counting. Between 2011 and 2017, Game of Thrones repeatedly won the AFI Top 10 TV Programs of the Year. Some of the other awards that the series has claimed include:

Winner — ASTRA Awards Favourite Program — International Drama (2012, 2013, 2015)

Winner — British Academy Television Radio Times Audience Award (2013)

Winner — British Academy Television Special Award (2018)

So many more nominations and individual awards have also been claimed by the series and its team members over the years.

3. The Sopranos

An intriguing crime drama with an Italian-American undertone that will keep you entertained and at the edge of your seat. This series revolves around a New Jersey-based mobster who tries to balance his personality as a crime lord with family life.

This series premiered in January 1999 and featured 86 episodes, lasting until June 2007. Apart from the main character, Tony Soprano, the series was set around his family members, mafia colleagues and rivals in prominent roles.

The Sopranos received so many awards, including the following:

Winner — Television Critics Association Award Outstanding New Program of the Year (1999).

Winner — Television Critics Association Award Outstanding Achievement in Drama (1999, 2001, 2004, 2007).

Winner — Television Critics Association Award Program of the Year (1999, 2001).

Winner — Television Critics Association Award Heritage Award.

Several other awards and nominations were received by The Sopranos, both as a series and by individual participants.

2. Breaking Bad

This is another crime series centered around an unlikely character who gets involved with the local methamphetamine drug trade. It ran between January 2008 to September 2013, a period that consisted of five seasons.

Breaking bad is the story of a high school chemistry teacher, Walter White who faced being diagnosed with stage-3 lung cancer. Struggling to make ends meet, and with his impending death sentence, White decided to pursue a life of crime by selling crystallized methamphetamine in order to raise money. He did this with the aid of an old student of his, Jesse Pinkman.

The series was nominated so many times for awards in various categories. It won many of the nominations, some of which include the following:

Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Drama Series (2013, 2014).

Golden Globe Awards Best Television Series — Drama (2014).

Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2014).

Satellite Awards Best Television Series — Drama (2009).

1. Friends

Any regular comedy series follower could easily think that Friends is a current series. This is because of the continuous televising of this classic comedy across top comedy channels, even till date.

This sitcom started airing in September 1994, and ran for ten seasons. The final episode of Friends was aired in May 2004. The show centers around the story of six friends who live in New York City that go about their everyday lives with many humorous ups and downs.

In the United States alone, Friends has over 52 million viewers and received many awards that qualifies it as one of the most outstanding series of our time. Some of the awards received by Friends over the years include the following:

Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Comedy Series (2001).

The People’s Choice Awards Favorite New Television Comedy Series (1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004).

The Choice Awards Choice TV Series — Comedy (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004).

Many other awards were won by Friends both on an individual and team basis. Even more recently, the series received the Choice Throwback TV Show award (2018 and 2019).

Conclusion

TV Series are responsible for a huge part of the total television audience. The competition between top series has become so fierce due to the improved level of production that we see today.

Series like Lost, Chernobyl and The Simpsons could easily compete among the top rated series of all time. Apart from improved technologies, the amount of information available to viewers puts a huge demand on the creators of TV series today.

With platforms like Blue Baikal, which makes it possible for viewers to engage in active reviews, the creators of TV series are taking notice. Also, viewers are exposed to TV series and shows that they may never have come across, due to the international participants. This raises the competition, even for the current top rated series of all time. How long they can retain this status remains to be seen.