You might think scoring a No. 1 rank in Netflix’s top 10 most-watched list is something of a guarantee of quality — but that’s certainly not the case. I’ve been tracking the Netflix charts daily for the last four years, and have seen plenty of skippable flicks climb to the summit.
Over the past four years, more than 130 movies have managed to score a Netflix No. 1 (per Netflix’s own tracking), and below I’m picking out the real gems in that almost overwhelming amount of movies. If you missed any of these No. 1 films, now is the time to circle back.
Before diving into my picks, please note this article is based on the Netflix top 10 charts in the U.S. between July 2021 and March 2025, and some excellent No. 1 movies have since left the streaming service (such as “Prisoners” and “Bullet Train”) and therefore haven’t been included.
Now, let’s jump into the best Netflix No. 1 movies you can watch now.
'The Guilty'
“The Guilty” is a remake of a 2018 Danish movie, and while some critics argued the original remained superior, it’s still a very solid effort and captures the general spirit of its predecessor.
Its biggest strength is the highly committed performance of Jake Gyllenhaal. The lean 90-minute runtime is also a boon. “The Guilty” has enough momentum to see you through to the credit but doesn’t stick around longer than it needs to.
Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) is a 911 dispatcher awaiting a court hearing following an on-duty incident several months prior. Picking up a call from a woman named Emily (Riley Keough), he finds himself thrown into a dangerous situation with multiple lives at stake. Subsequently, Joe is forced to face his fears and the consequences of his actions.
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'The Power of the Dog'
In hindsight, Netflix can consider itself unlucky that “The Power of the Dog” didn’t secure the streamer its first Best Picture win at the 94th Academy Awards. The psychological drama was perhaps hurt by its somber tone, and serious subject matter, losing out to the feel-good “CODA” at a time when many people were craving comfort watches.
Nevertheless, a few years on, "The Power of the Dog” has proven to have much stronger staying power than the movie it lost the Oscar to.
Directed by Jane Campion (who won Best Director for her work), the Western stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. It centers on a domineering rancher (Cumberbatch), who reacts aggressively to his brother’s new bride (Plemons and Dunst, respectively) and adopted son (Smit-McPhee). But over time, his hostile approach begins to soften as he grows closer to the young boy.
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'Don’t Look Up'
“Don’t Look Up” packs one of the most star-studded casts in any movie ever. It includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Chris Evans, Meryl Streep and more. Writer/director Adam McKay must have utterly exhausted his A-lister contact book for this satirical comedy.
The movie doesn’t quite live up to the call list, but it’s still a pretty enjoyable watch. A not-so-subtle allegory for our society’s flippant dismissal of climate issues, “Don’t Look Up” sees two astronomers (DiCaprio and Lawrence) embark on a media tour to warn the world that an approaching comet is going to destroy the planet in just a matter of months.
Rather than being listened to, they are met with derision and apathy, with even the U.S. government refusing to take their warnings seriously.
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'The Tinder Swindler'
Netflix subscribers love true crime, and in February 2022 seemingly all anybody could talk about was “The Tinder Swindler.” And for good reason, this documentary is pretty shocking, and it just might put you off online dating for good.
It recounts the true story of Simon Leviev, an Israeli man who pretended to be the son of a diamond mogul on various online dating apps. But his intentions were a lot more sinister than just scoring a first date under false pretenses.
Simon used his fake profile to trick multiple people into falling in love with his bogus persona and then swindling them out of eyewatering sums of money. Some of his victims lost everything and were also left grieving what they thought was a loving relationship with a man who never actually existed.
Eventually, several women band together to stop the scam artist for good. “The Tinder Swindler” is a fascinating reminder that you never quite know who you’re speaking to online.
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'The Good Nurse'
“The Good Nurse” is an engaging but very harrowing medical drama. Starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, it’s based on the real-life crimes of Charles Cullen. The true crime nature of this movie makes it all the more difficult to stomach and the leading performances bring the story to life in a way that makes each emotional beat really land.
Set in the early 2000s, Amy Loughren (Chastain) is a dedicated nurse working in an intensive care unit at a New Jersey hospital. Attempting to keep her serious heart condition secret, she forms a close bond with an experienced peer, Charles Cullen (Redmayne).
As suspicion starts to build around Charles and his potential hand in several strange patient deaths, Amy finds herself torn between her close friend and what the evidence suggests.
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'Enola Holmes 2'
Netflix’s “Enola Holmes” was a big hit back in 2020, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the follow-up rocket straight to the No. 1 spot when it debuted in November 2022. Topping the charts in almost 100 countries, “Enola Holmes 2” was well-received by both viewers and critics and with a third movie in development, it won’t mark the last we’ve seen of Sherlock Holmes’ teenage sister either.
Following the first movie’s events, Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) is now a detective-for-hire and finds herself in hot water when her first official case sprawls out into something much bigger than expected. It starts as a missing person's investigation but eventually becomes complex enough that she’ll need some help, perhaps even from her brother (Henry Cavill).
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'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'
Speaking of Netflix sequels, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is another winner. While it can’t quite match the freshness of the original “Knives Out,” it’s a worthy successor, and once again sees Daniel Craig in top form as eccentric detective Benoit Blanc.
A third “Knives Out” movie is set to land on Netflix later this year, so now is a great time to watch (or rewatch) the entire franchise to get yourself even more excited for “Wake Up Dead Man” ahead of its debut.
Back on “Glass Onion,” the 2022 mystery movie sees Blanc invited to the private Greek island of a wealthy tech tycoon (Edward Norton). Once settled in the tropical paradise setting, Blanc is introduced to the mogul’s closest friends, and not before long, the sun-soaked party is flipped on its head by a murder. Cue plenty of twists and turns.
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'They Cloned Tyrone'
“They Cloned Tyrone” is an ambitious blend of sci-fi, comedy and mystery, and with so many elements it could have fallen flat. Fortunately, director Juel Taylor managed to bring the whole project together, and the final result is something that feels unique, and also seriously entertaining.
Plus, its central trio of John Boyega, Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx have great chemistry, bouncing off each other with comedic energy that makes the movie a real treat.
The movie opens with Fontaine, a small-town drug dealer, being shot dead by a rival. To his confusion, he wakes up the next morning in bed, seemingly unharmed. Teaming with Slick Charles (Foxx) and Yo-You (Parris), this unlikely trio stumbles upon a top-secret government cloning program and resolves to fight back for the sake of their neighborhood.
“They Cloned Tryone” only enjoyed a brief moment in the spotlight, but really deserves to be remembered even now.
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'No Hard Feelings'
It’s not just Netflix original movies that have claimed the No.1 spot in recent years. “No Hard Feelings” is technically a library title (aka a movie Netflix has licensed from a third party, Sony Pictures in this case), but its throwback charms were enough for the raunchy comedy to climb to the top of the most-watched list when it was added to the Netflix in the fall of 2023.
“No Hard Feelings” feels a lot like the types of comedies that dominated in the early 2000s, and that’s certainly a compliment. In the farcical flick, Jennifer Lawrence plays Maddie Barker, a desperate woman about to lose her home in Montauk, New York. To make enough to pay off her property tax she agrees to date the awkward teenage son of a wealthy couple, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman). Very funny and with a sweetheart by your side, this is an easy watch.
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'Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse'
I rank 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” as one of the best superhero movies ever made, and so it was a wonderful treat when its sequel managed to pick up the baton and sprint into new territory with it.
Packing everything you could want from a Spidey movie, “Across the Spider-Verse” has a thrilling story, loads of loveable characters and jaw-droppingly beautiful animation. It’s the complete Spider-Man package.
This sequel sees Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) thrown into the Multiverse after a vengeful new villain emerges. Meeting new alternative-dimension heroes, and reuniting with some old friends including Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Miles eventually comes into conflict with his allies when they disagree on how to fix the increasingly dangerous situation.
If you’re a Spider-Man fan you’ve likely seen this one, but with the follow-up currently stuck in what seems like production purgatory, now is a great time for a rewatch.
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'The Killer'
As a huge fanboy of director David Fincher, “The Killer” was my most anticipated movie of 2023, and it most definitely didn’t disappoint me.
Michael Fassbender proves to be the perfect leading man for a Fincher-helmed thriller, and the notoriously meticulous director doesn’t drop the ball when it comes to cinematic style either. While “The Killer’ is a little weaker in the narrative department than I'd like, it’s very well-paced, compelling and just so darn cool.
“The Killer” begins with Fassbender’s nameless hitman explaining his carefully considered methods of murder, but much to his surprise his latest assignment goes wrong. In an industry where any mistake is considered fatal, his employers don’t tolerate failure, and harm the one thing the killer cares most about spurring him on to carry out a mission of revenge.
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'Hit Man'
“Hit Man” was one of the biggest Netflix movies of 2024 and a real highlight of what became known as the “Summer of Glenn Powell.” From director Richard Linklater, it’s a brilliantly entertaining crime comedy and sees the aforementioned Powell giving one of his very best performances. Plus, his chemistry with co-star Adria Arjona is completely swoon-worthy.
Gary Johnson (Powell) is a college professor by day, and a fake contract killer by night. Working as part of a police sting operation, Johnson’s task is to pose as an assassin, but he starts to embody the role for real when he begins to fall in love with a desperate woman (Arjona) looking to flee her abusive husband. Smart and sexy, “Hit Man’ is a total blast.
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'Rebel Ridge'
Netflix subscribers love thriller movies (as does pretty much the entire Tom’s Guide staff) so it wasn’t a great surprise to see “Rebel Ridge” rocket straight to the No. 1 spot. The flick even held onto the position for almost an entire month, which is quite an achievement. It’s also a testament to its strong overall quality, and it’s particularly impressive word-of-mouth.
Aaron Pierre plays Terry Richmond, a former Marine, who is cycling into the small town of Shelby Springs to pay his cousin's bail. Unlawfully stopped by the town’s corrupt police force, these crooked cops take his money and leave him with little choice but to confront the town’s egotistical sheriff, Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). Let’s just say they don’t see eye-to-eye and Terry is forced to embark on a one-man mission to reclaim his stolen cash.
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'Don’t Move'
Just as “Rebel Ridge” loosened its grip on the Netflix No. 1 spot in the fall of 2024, along came “Don’t Move” to give the streaming service another jolt of adrenaline (see what I mean about Netflix viewers loving thriller movies?).
“Don’t Move” is a highly compelling thriller starring Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock that sees a grieving woman forced to fight for her life when a sadistic killer injects her with a paralytic agent that slowly renders her completely immobile.
Of course, the crux of the movie is the dilemma of escaping a psychopathic murderer when you can't move a muscle. And “Don’t Move” gets pretty great mileage from this intriguing setup. Granted, it does play a little fast and loose with how much movement protagonist Iris can muster, but if you can forgive some convenient plotting, you’ll find a tense little thriller movie.
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'Carry-On'
OK, so we’re a little out of season for this one, as a Christmas movie “Carry-On” doesn’t make for perfect spring viewing, but it’s still such an enjoyable action-thriller that I had to include it on this list. Even if you’d prefer to add to your watchlist, and save a viewing until the holidays, just make sure you don’t skip over this entertaining festive flick.
In “Carry-On,” Taron Egerton plays Ethan, a young TSA officer working the dreaded Christmas Eve shift at Los Angeles International Airport. The hordes of impatient passengers are already making the shift a nightmare but Ethan's day gets a lot more complicated when he's blackmailed into allowing a dangerous package into a sold-out fight by a mysterious passenger (Jason Bateman).
A seasonal movie in the vein of “Die Hard,” this one is enjoyable regardless of the time of year.
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