A Feisty New Romance Series Is Taking Over Netflix's Tops Charts

Feisty romance and streaming platforms go together like true crime and ... er, streaming platforms. Over on Netflix, Sofia Carson can't miss when it comes to romantic movies, having dominated the streamer's charts with both 2025's "The Life List" and 2022's "Purple Hearts." Meanwhile, Hulu has seen success with its fantasy romance series "The Legend of the Blue Sea." But the reigning champion of feisty romantic fare is currently Prime Video, having seemingly perfected the trashy romantic streaming movie with "My Fault: London," the English-language remake of a Spanish romantic drama.

With that film, the all-powerful algorithm spoke through the Prime Video execs to green-light the ultimate, viewing metric-guided romantic drama. Now, however, there's competition in the form of Netflix's "The Royals." In fairness, "The Royals" isn't really direct competition to Prime Video's romantic drama. For one thing, it's a series rather than a movie, and for another, it comes from India, not the U.K. But like "My Fault: London," it's also full of the kind of silly romantic shenanigans that make for streaming success.

The series follows Prince Aviraaj Singh (Ishaan Khatter), who after meeting self-made CEO Sophia Shekhar (Bhumi Pednekar), is swept up in a whirlwind of romance. The pair join forces to transform a struggling hotel into a luxury bed & breakfast, and there's plenty of sexual tension between them as they clash over their differing views. As you might expect, such a thing has proven an inordinate success almost immediately, with "The Royals" dominating the Netflix charts worldwide.

"The Royals" premiered on Netflix May 9, 2025, and according to streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol, has become a worldwide hit. Since this is a Netflix original, it has the benefit of being released in all the streamer's markets, which means it has the potential of becoming a global sensation. So far "The Royals" is off to a good start in that regard. The series charted in 59 countries the day after it hit Netflix, even reaching number one in nine of them.

Things just got better from there, with "The Royals" hitting number one in a total of 15 countries on May 11, 2025, before reaching the top spot in 25 countries the following day, including its native India. At the time of writing, the series is charting in 85 countries, and has become the number one most-watched show on Netflix in the world.

Not that "The Royals" necessarily needs the United States to secure its standing as a Netflix hit, but stateside the show is number four on the most-watched series charts. Considering it debuted at number eight on May 10, then jumped to number five the following day, the show is very much on an upward trajectory, suggesting we just might see it hit number one in the U.S. as the week plays out.

"The Royals" isn't trying to reinvent the romance genre, but if you like soap opera tropes and simmering sexual tension between two attractive people then you're sure to love this series, which happens to be trending on Netflix alongside 2025's most romantic horror movie, just in case you like your romance a little more on the terror-infused side.

If you're not really all that crazy about the Netflix brand of romance, then the terror will likely come from giving "The Royals" a watch. The show currently bears a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn't quite as bad as Italian romance "The Tearsmith," which dominated Netflix last year with a dismal 0% RT score that has now risen to 17%. But 43% isn't exactly a triumph. It actually puts it in the same range as "The Life List," which has a 46% RT score.

As that rating might suggest, critics were underwhelmed with "The Royals." Udita Jhunjhunwala of Scroll.in wrote, "The 'Royal falls for commoner' trope is not new. In the Netflix show 'The Royals,' creators Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy take this idea and hand it over to writers who squeeze every drop out of the cliche." Not what you'd hope for, then, really. Abhimanyu Mathur of the Hindustan Times was slightly more impressed, admitting that "The Royals" is "not perfect by any means" but remains a "fun ride." If anything, "The Royals" seems like a bit of a mixed bag, which paradoxically seems to be exactly the thing required to become a streaming hit. In other words, we're definitely going to see a season 2 of "The Royals" whether we like it or not.