We welcomed 2020 still swooning over Yoon Se-ri crash landing on Captain Ri, but it was just the beginning of a roller-coaster ride. This year, more than ever, what we watched has been a barometer of the full spectrum of moods and emotions we’ve experienced – from 😳 to 🙃, a solid amount of 😬, a generous dose of 😍, not forgetting 😭, 🤯 and this.
In a year that has kept us indoors and on the couch more than ever, we’ve turned to Netflix movies and shows to transport us to a world of emotions. And if you’re still looking for the best movies on Netflix, or still undecided on what Netflix shows you have to watch next, then here goes our list.
Here’s a look at Singapore’s viewing trends on Netflix in 2020, the ‘Year of Many Moods’.
The Best Netflix Series for Our Emotions
We gasped, we cried, we lived for all the drama: Enola’s wit and intellect made Enola Holmes the most popular drama title in Singapore. The charming Lucifer had us rooting for the devil, and we also cheered Beth Harmon on her journey to become a chess grandmaster in The Queen’s Gambit. Other popular dramas on Netflix Singapore include The Devil All the Time, The World of the Married, The 15:17 to Paris, Uncut Gems and The Half Of It. Drama viewing was up by nearly 70%.
We dialed up the drama with our love for K-dramas: Lee Min-Ho’s long-awaited comeback, The King: Eternal Monarch, reigns supreme as the most popular K-drama in Singapore this year. We slayed zombies through Joseon in Kingdom: Season 2, and learned more about mental health through It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, which was the most enduring title of 2020 on Netflix Singapore by staying in the Top 10 for 103 days. We also capped the year debating over #TeamJiPyeong or #TeamDoSan in Start-Up. Other popular k-dramas include The World of the Married, Mystic Pop-up Bar, Was it Love?, Record of Youth, Extracurricular, Itaewon Class, and Hi Bye, Mama! Compared to 2019, K-drama viewing was up by almost 200% in 2020.
Netflix Movies and All the Feels
We fell in love… hard: We felt all the feelings with the Golden Globe nominee Crazy Rich Asians, making it the most popular romantic title on Netflix Singapore this year. Sequels ruled our hearts as we enjoyed The Kissing Booth 2, The Princess Switch: Switched Again and To All The Boys P.S. I Still Love You. We stayed up all night thinking about the intense love triangle in Start-Up. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, Love, Guaranteed, Was it Love?, Operation Christmas Drop and My Holo Love were other popular Netflix movies that kept us in love. Romance viewing on Netflix Singapore in 2020 increased by more than 200% compared to 2019.
Netflix Shows and All the Delights
We laughed: Emily and Mindy had us laughing all the way to beautiful Paris with Emily in Paris, this year’s most popular comedy in Singapore. We also rolled on the floor laughing with local favourites Ah Boys to Men 1 and 2 alongside Holidate, Space Force, Ocean’s 8, Johnny English Strikes Again, Never Have I Ever, Sex Education 2 and Night School. Comedy went up by 30% from 2019.
We were scared: Asian horror had us sleeping with the lights on with Korean zombies in #Alive. A walk down local memory lane proved equally scary with The Maid, The Ghosts Must Be Crazy and Where Got Ghost? We even slashed and stabbed our way through gory titles like The Babysitter: Killer Queen, Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island, Dracula and The First Purge. The Haunting of Bly Manor proved to be perfectly splendid with horror viewing up by almost 70%.
The Best Netflix Series that Kept Us on the Edge of Our Couch
We Netflix and Thrilled: Our thrillers arrived from all over the world and it’s quite impossible to choose just one among the best Netflix series. We headed to modern and dystopic Spain with Money Heist: Part 4 and The Platform, respectively. Over in South Korea, we battled zombies with Ju Ji-Hoon’s Crown Prince in Kingdom: Season 2 and screamed in terror alongside Park Shin-Hye in The Call. American thrillers like Spenser Confidential and Dangerous Lies also had us on the edge of our seats. Thriller viewing went up by nearly 80% as compared to 2019.
We kicked a**: We loved the adrenaline rush from the most popular action title on Netflix Singapore, Extraction. We endured the test of time with the immortal crew from The Old Guard, while also enjoying the intense scenes in Project Power, The Meg and Rampage. We were also excited to see the rise of a new generation of Angels in Charlie’s Angels and the time traveling adventures of The Umbrella Academy. We reconnected with blockbusters like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Action viewing went up by more than 50%.
We loved being kids: We soared for the stars, sang along and rocketed to the moon with Fei-Fei in Over the Moon. Our love for a war between pigs and birds was cemented with The Angry Birds Movie 2. We also enjoyed The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, The Willoughbys, The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two, The Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting, Pets United, Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous and Rio. With updated Parental Control features that rolled out this year, Netflix became the perfect destination for kids and family entertainment in Singapore, and the viewing went up by nearly 50%.
Singaporean stories ruled our screens: We felt proud and celebrated when many many classic Singapore films and series dropped on Netflix. We couldn’t get enough of the Men in Green with Ah Boys to Men 1 and 2, and Army Daze. Our beloved contractor with the yellow boots, Best of Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, horror classics The Ghosts Must be Crazy and Where Got Ghost? kept us entertained. Other popular titles include In the Room, Rubbers, The Best Bet and Best of The Noose. We continue to enjoy Best of Incredible Tales with more recommendations from the ever-youthful Utt.
We enjoyed a variety of other titles across multiple genres: We really wanted to catch’em all with Ash Ketchum in Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution making it the most popular anime title in Singapore. We also felt nostalgic with the return of the Studio Ghibli classics Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro. We battled the Olympian gods in Blood of Zeus, and lived like a cat in A Whisker Away. We were glued to our screens to uncover the mystery behind the real-life case of American Murder: The Family Next Door, and waved our lightsticks for Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo and Rose in BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky. And how can we ever forget the thrill of seeing the G.O.A.T. basketball icon, Michael Jordan, in action in The Last Dance?
The Best Shows on Netflix
Here are the most popular titles of 2020 on Netflix Singapore by genre:
- Drama: Enola Holmes
- K-Drama: The King: Eternal Monarch
- Comedy: Emily in Paris
- Romance: Crazy Rich Asians
- Kids & Family: The Angry Birds Movie 2
- Action: Extraction
- Thriller: Money Heist: Part 4
- Horror: #Alive
- Documentary: BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky
- Anime: Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution
Now that you have an idea of what Singaporeans have been watching on Netflix this year, there’s less need for scrolling through all those titles. Go ahead and pick from one of these best movies on Netflix and add them to your playlist. And if you haven’t watched these best Netflix series just yet, why not grab a bag of popcorn and get to it!
