The top 10 most-watched games on Twitch all-time, ranked

A slew of contenders have challenged Twitch for the right to be the premier home of streaming, but none have slain the Amazon-owned giant just yet. Several games have earned incredible viewership numbers on the platform, up in the billions of hours watched, thanks to a healthy supply of streamers big and small streaming these titles consistently over the years.

But which games are the most popular? We looked at SullyGnome, a well-known Twitch analytics site, and added up the number of hours watched for some of the biggest games on the platform, dating back to 2016.

Here are the most-watched games streamed all-time on Twitch, as of October 2022.

Ranked list of the top 10 most-watched games on Twitch ever

10) – World of Warcraft (2.04 billion hours watched)

The titanic MMORPG from Blizzard has experienced a resurgence on Twitch in recent years. This can be attributed to a number of factors including the launch of WoW Classic, the release of several well-received expansions, and the rise in popularity of Race to World First events put on by some of the game’s most well-known guilds. However, WoW is at risk of losing its top 10 spot with Apex Legends continuing to rise at the number 11 spot.

9) – Minecraft (2.19 billion hours watched)

From 2016 through 2019, Minecraft wasn’t quite the megahit on Twitch as it was on YouTube, with less than 100 million hours watched per year during that four-year period. But in 2020, Minecraft on Twitch exploded like a stack of TNT blocks, with 510 million hours watched, only to be outdone by 863 million hours in 2021. This was mainly due to a period during these two years when big streamers were hosting servers populated by other big streaming names.

8) – Hearthstone (2.22 billion hours watched)

Well, look who’s still hanging on, for now. Hearthstone is the only name on the top 10 list that’s been steadily declining since 2016, with the casual audience losing interest and some of the game’s big names moving away. It is by far the least viewed game in 2022 so far of the top 10 games on this list, with only 166 million hours watched with only a week left in October.

7) – VALORANT (2.74 billion hours watched)

All the other names on the top 10 have been streamed on Twitch since at least 2017, which makes VALORANT‘s all-time numbers since only 2020 even more impressive. The tactical shooter from Riot relied heavily on its “watch-to-gain-access” beta and has started a thriving and still growing esports scene. In 2022 it passed Hearthstone, and could even pass the Call of Duty franchise if Modern Warfare II doesn’t blow up. It’s the only game on this list with more hours watched in 2022 (with two months to go) than in all of 2021.

6) – Call of Duty (2.82 billion hours watched)

For such a popular franchise, the Call of Duty name wasn’t too much of a heavy hitter from 2016 through 2019, much like Minecraft. But CoD also experienced a huge viewership growth in 2020, due to the meteoric rise of the standalone Warzone title. With Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 set to release soon, the series could see another boost that might save it from being overtaken by VALORANT.

5) – Dota 2 (3.39 billion hours watched)

Dota 2 is a pillar of consistency on the Twitch platform, averaging just over 500 million hours watched since 2016 and never straying too far from that figure over any given year. The yearly Dota 2 International is still one of the most highly watched esports events of the year, featuring easily the largest prize pool as well.

4) – CS:GO (3.83 billion hours watched)

From 2016 through 2019, CS:GO kept pace with its Valve counterpart in Dota 2. But like several other titles, CS:GO experienced significant growth in 2020, hitting over 700 million hours watched after averaging less than 500 million hours watched across the past four years. Even with the game’s massive esports scene moving online, viewership still showed up in numbers, and the game has sustained those numbers to this point.

3) – GTA V (4.72 billion hours watched)

Since 2019, GTA V (or more accurately, GTA Online) has produced some of the biggest viewership numbers on Twitch. Rockstar has consistently added new stories and business content to its online service. But a huge reason for the game’s success on Twitch is the emergence of RP servers featuring some of the biggest creators on the platform. It holds the record for the largest single year of viewership, with 1.875 billion hours viewed in 2021.

2) – Fortnite (5.05 billion hours watched)

In 2018, Fortnite rocketed to the top portion of the all-time viewership charts, and won’t come down for a while. The “Fortnite Boom” of 2018 attracted a huge amount of Twitch stars and created a few more. Even with the numbers slightly dipping over the past couple of years, Fortnite is still a consensus top-three game in viewership, and in the midst of a potential revival with the launch of the Zero Build mode. But it’s not No. 1, and honestly, it’s not even close to that mark.

1) – League of Legends (8.72 billion hours watched)

League of Legends reigns supreme on Twitch. It’s unlikely anyone will ever catch it. From 2016 through 2019, League averaged 1 billion hours watched per year, and that number increased to 1.5 billion in 2020 and then 1.7 billion in 2021. There have only been two years since 2016 where League was not the most viewed game on Twitch: Fortnite in 2018 and GTA5 in 2021. All hail the king.