South Korean hit romance drama series "Queen of Tears," riding high on the strong reception from its international fanbase, is continuing its strong streaming performance, according to entertainment giant CJ ENM on Thursday.
"Queen of Tears" claimed the second spot in Netflix's non-English-language TV list during the last week of April, rising one position from the previous week. The rankings are calculated by dividing the total hours viewed by the total runtime.
It was the drama's eighth straight week in the top 10 for the category.
In addition to its popularity on the streaming platform, the series also set a record on television. The final episode of "Queen of Tears" became the most-watched episode ever aired by tvN, the series' broadcaster, surpassing the viewership of episodes from tvN's other hit series such as "Crash Landing on You" (2020) and "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" (2017).
According to tvN, the final episode of "Queen of Tears" logged an average viewership rating of 28.4 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area and 24.9 percent nationwide.
"Since (the drama series') release on March 9, the accumulated viewing time for the show (on Netflix) has reached 373.2 million hours in total, bringing it close to surpassing the milestone of 400 million hours (in accumulated viewing time). Despite the drama series concluding its broadcast (on Korean television channels), there is still considerable expectation for the continued viewing (of 'Queen of Tears') on both domestic and international streaming platforms." said an official from CJ ENM via a press release.
"Queen of Tears," won praise from fans for its exploration of themes such as love and loss, as well as the sincere performances delivered by its actors.
"Queen of Tears" recorded 94 percent and 8.4 out of 10 in viewership ratings in the global online review platforms Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb, respectively, as of Thursday.
Additionally, in Filmarks, the largest review site in Japan, "Queen of Tears" logged 4.5 out of 5 in viewership ratings.
Penned by star screenwriter Park Ji-eun, whose previous works such as "'Crash Landing on You" and "My Love From the Star" have earned her global recognition, the 16-part drama series stars Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won as a married couple who lost their spark and are heading for a divorce.
All 16 episodes of "Queen of Tears" depicting the couple's journey to rekindling their old flames are now available for streaming on Netflix and Tving.
