Best Stranger Things seasons

169 duels later, Season 3 remains #1 in the Stranger Things ranking, with Season 4 close behind at 1284 ELO points.

Season 3 wins 65% of its duels and holds the top spot with 1298 points, edging out Season 4 by 14 points. The sharpest divide in the ranking separates Season 4 from Season 1, with a gap of 147 ELO points placing the debut season in third position. Season 2 sits at the bottom with 1081 points, suggesting the community considers it the weakest installment. The narrow margin between the top two reflects a split fanbase: some prefer the summer setting and Mall of Starcourt atmosphere of Season 3, while others favor the darker scope and extended runtime of Season 4. Season 1, despite its cultural impact and critical acclaim when it launched the series, trails both later seasons in this community vote.

This ranking draws on 169 duels submitted by 35 players who compared all 4 seasons of Stranger Things in head-to-head matchups. The data was updated on 12 October 2026. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your own votes and influence the ranking by choosing your favorite season in direct duels. Each vote shifts the ELO scores and reshapes the order.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →