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Fans ofSolo Levelingare still riding high after its impressive performance in anime award shows and its record-breaking Season 2, which crashed streaming services multiple times with episode drops.Solo Levelingis seemingly conquering streaming platforms with its rapid rise, even managing to overtakeOne Pieceon Crunchyroll to become the platform’s most-rated anime series of all time.
However, a first-of-its-kind multi-platform Nielsen ratings were released in May that casts a shadow of doubt onSolo Leveling’ssupposed dominance over the anime scene. In a surprising twist, the paranormal action seriesDandadanbecame one of the top 100 shows in 2024-2025 for Adults 18-49, an honor thatSolo Levelingwas seemingly unable to replicate.
The Nielsen Ratings
Dandadan’s Achievement
While the Nielsen ratings have traditionally only covered network television, the September 2024 to April 2025 rating list includes, for the first time, the integration of streaming platforms into the same numbers. Unsurprisingly, in this environment of comparing all types of shows,anime series appear to be more nichein the grand scheme of things. No anime shows made the general top 100 most-watched shows in the 35-day period.
However,Dandadanmanaged to break into the Adults 18-49 Top 100. According toVariety’s reporting,Dandadanattracted 2.6 million viewers within a 35-day timeframe, ranking it among the top 60 of the 100 most-watched shows in the United States. This is an impressive feat for an anime show, especially given that no other anime shows managed to crack the top 100 in the same way. However, these figures and this achievement by this popular action series might not be the whole story. It’s possibleSolo Levelingis still a more popular show, given the methodology of the Nielsen Ratings.
Criticism of Nielsen Ratings
Why Solo Leveling May Still Be More Popular
Despite Nielsen ratings finally including streaming numbers in their data, notable absences have been pointed out by people online. White Box’s Anime By the NumbersdisputesDandadan’shigh placement, contending that Nielsen still has a substantial blind spot for anime.
“But according to our analysis here at White Box over the past year, this doesn’t make much sense. Yes, this number is pretty similar to our best estimates of the unique U.S. Dan Da Dan piracy viewership in December 2024, to say nothing of the substantial Crunchyroll and Netflix legal views, or the additional January binge-watchers. But even so, Dan Da Dan was absolutely not the most-watched anime in the U.S. in this time period–not even close.” -An Anime By the Numbers analysisdisputingconclusions of Dandadan’s popularity from the Nielsen Ratings.
According to an analysis by Anime By the Numbers, despite incorporating streaming viewers into their data, Nielsen is missing a substantial portion of viewership from individuals who choose to watch on Crunchyroll and those who watch shows through piracy. These exclusions are particularly hard on shows likeSolo Leveling,which is a Crunchyroll-partnered show and is where an overwhelming number of fans are likely watching it from. Piracy is also still a popular form of watching anime series, which Anime By the Numbers estimates is more than twice as likely to occur as with non-anime television in the United States.
WhileDandadanfans can celebrate this victoryover the breakout success ofSolo Levelingin the Nielsen ratings, they might have to do so with an asterisk over this achievement. If the Nielsen ratings are underrepresenting anime shows in the numbers, as some online speculators suggest, then the ratings will likely change if their data collection continues to improve. Still, the respected name of Nielsen will likely be a cause for celebration for some, as anime shows start to become serious contenders to mainstream network television. This is likely to become more normal as shows likeSolo LevelingandDandadancontinue to garner a large number of viewersin the future.
Solo Leveling
Cast
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong’s popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
