'House of the Dragon', 'The Rings of Power' are the most-pirated TV shows of 2022

'House of the Dragon' topped the list of most-pirated TV show of 2022 and 'The Rings of Power' was a close second
Stills from 'House of the Dragon' and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' (HBO/Amazon Prime Video)
Stills from 'House of the Dragon' and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' (HBO/Amazon Prime Video)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 2022 gave some of the best TV shows that enthralled viewers with epic storytelling and impeccable performances. ‘House of the Dragon’, ‘Better Call Saul’, ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, and ‘Stranger Things’ turned out to be some of the biggest shows of the year as they kept the viewers at the edge of their seats throughout their run. However, it’s not easy to watch these shows LIVE for some people because of the fact that streaming platforms increase the prices of their services every fear. So, it doesn’t come as a shock that some viewers opt to pirate the biggest shows of the year rather than give their hard-earned money to another streaming site. A website called ‘TorrentFreak’ has come forward with a list of TV shows that were pirated the most in 2022 and the top entries have once again started the debate of which show is better.

For many years, it was ‘Game of Thrones’ that dominated the list of the most-pirated TV shows and had no competition at all. But, in 2020, the Disney+ series ‘The Mandalorian’ dethroned the beloved HBO show and claimed the #1 spot. Meanwhile, in 2021, Disney+ once again claimed the throne with ‘WandaVision’. Did the aforementioned streaming service was able to repeat what HBO did with ‘Game of Thrones’ and claim the numero uno position for three years in a row? Or a new show has made a bombastic entry to the list? Let’s find out.

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Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen in 'House of the Dragon's recent episode (IMDb)
Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen in 'House of the Dragon's recent episode (IMDb)

Sadly, Disney+ has lost the #1 position on the list as HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ topped the list of most-pirated TV shows of 2022. The HBO series was undoubtedly one of the biggest shows of the year and it didn’t disappoint. Season 1 of the series broke several viewership records for the network and those who weren’t able to see them live, opted to download the episodes through several Torrent websites. On the other hand, its rival ‘The Rings of Power’ secured the second spot on the list and was the second-most pirated TV show of 2022. The Prime Video series primarily focuses on the second-age of middle-earth and sees Sauron coming back to claim the aforementioned region.

Since the beginning, both shows have been pitted against each other in order to know which show is better. But it’s safe to say that both shows did what they expected and enthralled fans with excellent content.

A still from 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' (Amazon Studios)
A still from 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' (Amazon Studios)

Even though Disney+ was unable to keep the crown this time, the list was dominated by the titles released on the Disney+ streaming service. Shows like ‘Moon Knight’, ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’, ‘The Book of Boba Fett’, ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’, and ‘Andor’ were featured on the list, making viewers realize what a great year Disney had on the Television front.

Without any guesses, the only Netflix series to feature on the list is ‘Stranger Things’. The super-sized Season 4 of the series turned out to be the second-biggest series of all time for Netflix and received universal acclaim for its superb storytelling. Given the fact that so many people have Netflix subscriptions, it is not surprising that people chose to see the series on the streaming platform rather than via other websites.

Diego Luna in a still from 'Andor' (Disney+)
Diego Luna in a still from 'Andor' (Disney+)

Here are the top 10 most-pirated TV shows of 2022:

1)    ‘House of the Dragon’ (HBO)
2)    ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ (Prime Video)
3)    ‘The Boys’ Season 3 (Prime Video)
4)    ‘Moon Knight’ (Disney+)
5)    ‘Halo’ (Paramount+)
6)    ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ (Disney+)
7)    ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (Disney+)
8)    ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 (Netflix)
9)    ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ (Disney+)
10)   ‘Andor’ (Disney+)

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