Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent (wk30)

Written by Ernesto on July 29, 2008 

TV shows are by far the most wanted files via BitTorrent, and according to some, it’s fast becoming the modern day TiVo. But what are all those people downloading?

top gearThe data is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

At the end of the year we will publish a list of most downloaded TV-shows for the entire year, like we did last December.

TV-shows such as “Lost” and “Heroes” can get up to 10 million downloads per episode, in only a week.

Top Downloads June 20 – July 27


Ranking (last week) TV-show
1 (1) Top Gear
2 (3) Stargate Atlantis
3 (2) Weeds
4 (4) Generation Kill
5 (5) The Daily Show
6 (new) Penn and Teller Bullshit
7 (8) In Plain Sight
8 (10) Burn Notice
9 (6) Psych
10 (9) The Colbert Report

Previously: UK Government Opens Filesharing Consultation

Next: Two OiNK Uploaders Go Free

45 Responses

1 Jul 29, 2008 at 15:15 by Mikle

Stargate Atlantis <3 :D

2 Jul 29, 2008 at 15:31 by StRyKaH

It’s a shame Doctor Who isn’t on there, guess that’s because it’s not an american show.

3 Jul 29, 2008 at 15:48 by Crandom

This week’s Top Gear was (awesome)^2. Don’t mention the war….

4 Jul 29, 2008 at 15:52 by Killer Tree

Poor Colbert…
On a side note, does anyone else find it amusing that there are far more quality viewing hours on the Top 10 TV list then the Top 10 DVD list?
TV quality > Movies?

5 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:20 by meh

Penn and Teller Bullshit WTF!

6 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:20 by meh

* I meant FTW, not WTF :P

7 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:33 by Anonymouse

^ Bestest acronym fail ever.

8 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:43 by none

” 2 Jul 29, 2008 at 15:31 by StRyKaH

It’s a shame Doctor Who isn’t on there, guess that’s because it’s not an american show.”

thats a stupid ass comment considering that the number one show is British. Its just that no one cares about Dr. Who because it sucks balls, like you.

9 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:43 by Shengis

“It’s a shame Doctor Who isn’t on there, guess that’s because it’s not an american show.”

Or more likely because it’s not a running series ;-)

10 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:45 by question

where did the top dvdrips disappear?

11 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:49 by aaaa

“thats a stupid ass comment considering that the number one show is British. Its just that no one cares about Dr. Who because it sucks balls, like you.”

or because, like many other shows, Dr. Who is done for this season and will get in new episodes in the next few months i guess.

12 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:49 by flagg1209

@4 I guess you are right, Movies suck at the moment, but there is some real quality TV out there (if you ignore all the crappy ‘reality’ TV shows).

13 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:50 by Anonymous

@10

http://torrentfreak.com/most-popular-dvdrips-on-bittorrent-080728/

14 Jul 29, 2008 at 16:50 by none

half the cast of Dr. Who has been on top gear saying that they left the show because it sucked balls. so that is what im sticking with.

15 Jul 29, 2008 at 17:10 by Anonymous

“On a side note, does anyone else find it amusing that there are far more quality viewing hours on the Top 10 TV list then the Top 10 DVD list?
TV quality > Movies?”

Why look at the most popular TV shows and movies to find quality? Why not look at them in general? There are plenty of movies that are amazing and aren’t the same studio stuff that most people watch.

16 Jul 29, 2008 at 17:23 by #YLS#

@11 – none

“half the cast of Dr. Who has been on top gear saying that they left the show because it sucked balls. so that is what im sticking with.”

??? who in Doctor Who has gone on Top Gear and said that? Just because you don’t enjoy it doesn’t mean we want to hear you rant…

Doctor Who isn’t on the list because it’s finished for the year and will only be doing a few specials next year and will then be back for a 5th Season.

p.s. Top Gear has finished now aswell so it probably won’t be back on the list next week, but it has been a very good series! – minus the stunt guy he was crap, lol

17 Jul 29, 2008 at 17:47 by enter8

What I want to know is…

If Bullshit is the 6th most pirated TV show… why the hell is it taking 2-3 days to get capped?

18 Jul 29, 2008 at 18:16 by rasha

i just recently got into Weeds and omg i love it.
I watched every episode in 3 days.
Its pretty addicting

19 Jul 29, 2008 at 19:34 by Anonymous

If this list came out tomorrow, I guess eureka would be pretty high up the list.

20 Jul 30, 2008 at 01:34 by lololol

@ 14

i think ive watched every single top gear episode apart from one or two. Any cast members from dr who have never said ‘i left it because it sucked balls’

Although i dont disagree, that program is awful. David tennant is pretty cool though.

21 Jul 30, 2008 at 01:49 by Anonymous

One suggestion i have is maybe list the # of downloads in the week to give us some perspective as to a particular shows performance from week to week.

22 Jul 30, 2008 at 04:07 by master811

The reason Top Gear is top is because it ISN’T an American show. Therefore far more people can’t watch it on TV (compared to other US shows) or aren’t able to and so they have to download it. Doctor Who would be on there for the same reason (but isn’t as its not running at the moment).

23 Jul 30, 2008 at 06:29 by Anonymous

@22 you mean, far more US people can’t watch it on TV. US is not the only country you know

24 Jul 30, 2008 at 08:26 by Anonymous

Actually Top Gear is on Discovery Channel, and PBS, check with your local station if they have Top Gear in your area.

I personally enjoy the old format. 1989 was a good year.

25 Jul 30, 2008 at 08:27 by Anonymous

oh yeah, Dr. Who also runs in the US :)

26 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:10 by master811

@23, yeah that’s what I meant

@24, Top Gear is shown in the US of course, but often a few years later (and it’s normally cut down/edited from the UK version as it’s a full 1hr rather than the 40mins like most US shows).

27 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:33 by zeeol

Could someone please post the list on here? I can’t access torrentfreak from work.

Without the Lost/Office/Scrubs combo I haven’t been getting as much TV lately, but I’ve recently got into Dexter and of course there’s always Weeds (which hasn’t been as good this season, but it is starting to pick up. Needs more Doug Wilson.)
http://zeeol.com/Blog

28 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:48 by M

The Top Gear on BBC America (and other US networks) is not the current season. It is also edited to fit the US time frame.

29 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:49 by Anonymous

generation kill! WOOT waste some insurgents

30 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:51 by M

Oops. Sorry 23, I did not see that there was a second page of comments and did not realize you had already made my points.

31 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:52 by Stargate

Bah Stargate :D

http://www.wiinjamod.com

32 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:57 by Anonymous

Actually, most episodes are reruns of seasons past of Top Gear – reason we download it now is for the newer seasons. Im worried about the new US version though with Adam Corrolla. Be funny if the UK started downloading our version.

33 Jul 30, 2008 at 19:06 by 33

Dr Who is in the US, but its a season or three behind, iirc.

What’s interesting is that these are cable programs in the US. Not a single major network listed (cbs, fox, cw, nbc, abc).

34 Jul 30, 2008 at 19:42 by Drakenking

I get my Doctor Who from Newgroups

35 Jul 30, 2008 at 20:14 by Misanthrope

Weeds is amazing. I wish there were 10 seasons.

36 Jul 30, 2008 at 22:30 by werwerwerwerwerwerwerwer

top gear rocks

37 Jul 31, 2008 at 01:21 by Shengis

“32 Jul 30, 2008 at 18:57 by Anonymous

Actually, most episodes are reruns of seasons past of Top Gear – reason we download it now is for the newer seasons. Im worried about the new US version though with Adam Corrolla. Be funny if the UK started downloading our version.

Cool, i’ll watch out for that one. Bet it totally fails without Jezza though lol.

38 Jul 31, 2008 at 01:59 by Scared

Well I know most of the population of Australia would torrent it since they don’t show the bloody show until months (maybe even years) after being shown in the US and even then its on at a shitty time because we think that “Battle of the choirs” is much better television =/

39 Jul 31, 2008 at 02:00 by Scared

I wish there was a way to edit a comment….I was referring to Stargate Atlantis is my above comment. I don’t even think we have seen the end of SG1 down here, I’m not even sure if we started the 8th season….

40 Jul 31, 2008 at 03:34 by Bob

Doctor Who finished a couple of weeks ago.. if you look at previous polls it was in the top three.

41 Jul 31, 2008 at 18:10 by ~Ko!e~

I’m turned off by the tele excluding sum of the prev mentioned shows/tele movies… “Reality” just proves what I always thought: there’s a lot of brainless peple walking the earth.

Weeds and Tudors…yeah Tudors…BRB

42 Aug 01, 2008 at 13:12 by parkside701

really surprised that Burn Notice is only ranked 8th. I would’ve put it in the top 10

43 Aug 02, 2008 at 20:34 by Oscaron

Daily Show, In Plain Sight, Burn Notice, Psych and Colbert Report are all available for free on Hulu now.

44 Aug 02, 2008 at 20:35 by Oscaron

@42 Um…8th IS in the top 10.

45 Aug 03, 2008 at 14:27 by Meocross

*Poke* you are forgetting some anime TorrentFreak Admins :3

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