We are heading toward 2026, and end-of-year recaps abound. I previously wrote up a list of the highest critic-scored shows of 2025, which were all 100%. But it is far easier to get dozens of critics to agree on whether something is good or bad compared to thousands of actual viewers. So this list of the highest audience-scored shows on Rotten Tomatoes for 2025 looks almost completely different, with a few exceptions.
Here’s the full list of shows, some of which I’m betting you have never even heard of, but that means they’re probably the ones you should try out. If you have HBO Max and Netflix, that’s eight shows on this list by themselves.
1) Asura (Netflix) – 94% audience score
2) The Rehearsal season 2 (HBO Max) – 93% audience score
3) Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV) – 92% audience score
4) Common Side Effects (HBO Max) – 91% audience score
5) Heated Rivalry (HBO Max) – 91% audience score
6) King of the Hill season 14 (Hulu) – 90% audience score
7) Boots (Netflix) – 90% audience score
8) Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 (Disney Plus) – 90% audience score
9) Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix) – 87% audience score
10) The Pitt (HBO Max) – 86% audience score
Bonus: Last Samurai Standing (Netflix)/Chief of War (Apple TV)/Toxic Town (Netflix)/Grosse Point Garden Society (Apple TV) – 85% audience score
The overlap here with the critics’ 100% list is Toxic Town, Asura, Last Samurai Standing and Percy Jackson season 2. The rest of these are all different, albeit in most of these cases, the critic score is still higher than the audience score. Fans are more judgmental in most cases.
It’s interesting to see what highly praised, very popular shows are scored relatively low by fans. The 100% rated The Chair Company is nowhere near this list, with a 68% audience score, which is identical to the 68% score given to Pluribus, counter to the 98% critic score. I’d say the most popular show on here out of everything is clearly The Pitt, which has huge viewership, is pushing for Emmys and something that HBO Max wants to pump out every year without fail. Season 2 is coming in January, almost exactly a year after season 1. And that will likely continue for the indefinite future.
Personally, I’m still pretty behind on most of these. I’ve seen The Rehearsal season 2, The Pitt, Toxic Town, Boots and Common Side Effects. I’ve tried to watch Last Samurai Standing twice, but for reasons I cannot explain, I simply cannot get into it, even though it seems like it would be right up my alley. But that will likely not be the case for you. I think I’m going to check out Asura next, which appears to have the highest critic/audience score of the whole year. If I missed anything here, let me know.
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