May Mayhem Tournament: Round 1 Voting for Top-Trending Shows of 2026 So Far

The Ratings Junkie

Welcome to The TV Ratings Guide's inaugural May Mayhem Tournament! This tournament includes 32 shows that reached #1 on our What's Trending chart for the respective streaming service between January 4 and May 2, 2026. Shows are weighted based on how many days they ranked at #1, as well as the market shares for the streaming services. A total of 107 shows have spent at least one day ranking at #1 its service's What's Trending chart, with the top-weighted 32 making the May Mayhem Tournament.

Below you can find the full bracket, broken up into four groups, followed by polls where you can vote on which show should proceed to the next round. Round 1 voting will close on Saturday, May 8. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Group A Bracket

Group A sees the overall 1 seed Bridgerton, which topped Netflix's What's Trending chart for 15 days, face off against Prime Video's Beast Games (6 days at #1). The winner will face the winner of Love Story and Tell Me Lies, both of which spent 15 days at #1 on Hulu's What's Trending chart.

Group A's 2/7 matchup is a Prime Video vs. Prime Video matchup between Invincible (19 days at #1) and 56 Days (8 days at #1). Prime Video's Scarpetta (13 days at #1) will face off against Netflix's Beauty In Black (4 days at #1) in the 3/6 matchup. Of the seven Prime Video shows to make May Mayhem, four will compete in Group A.

Group B

Despite a far smaller market share than some of its competitors, Paramount+ managed to sneak in a 1 seed due to South Park spending 66 days atop the Paramount+ What's Trending chart. First airing on Comedy Central, it is the only cable series to make May Mayhem and one of three to air on linear television. It will face off against Apple TV's Shrinking, which dominated Apple TV's What's Trending chart for 62 days. Due to Apple TV's much smaller market share, Shrinking still just barely made it to May Mayhem. The winner of this matchup will go up against the winner of the Disney+-leading Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Land (22 days at #1) and Netflix's Running Point (5 days at #1).

Netflix's Trust Me: The False Prophet scored a 2 seed after spending 9 days at #1, and will compete against Ted, which managed 18 days atop Peacock's What's Trending chart. Ted is one of two May Mayhem bids for Peacock, despite 20 shows reaching #1 for at least one day on the streaming service's chart. Group B's 3/6 matchup sees the Hulu-leading High Potential (19 days at #1) face off against Netflix's The Dinosaurs (4 days at #1). High Potential is one of two broadcast television series to make May Mayhem.

Group C

Group C's 1 seed is Netflix's WWE Raw, which spent 12 days at #1 on Netflix's What's Trending chart spread out across the year. It faces off against Paradise, which spent 9 days at #1 on Hulu. The winner will face the winner of Peacock's The Traitors (leading Peacock with 27 days at #1) and Netflix's Virgin River (5 days at #1).

HBO Max has two bids in May Mayhem in The Pitt (66 days at #1) and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (25 days at #1). They will play each other in a 2/7 matchup in the first round. The winner will take on that of the 3/6 matchup between Netflix's Katt Williams: The Last Report (6 days at #1) and Disney+'s Wonder Man (17 days at #1).

Group D

Two Prime Video shows will go up against each other in 1 seed Fallout (Prime Video-leading 21 days at #1) and 8 seed Young Sherlock (7 days at #1). The winner will play the winner of The Rookie (18 days at #1 on Hulu) and Landman (27 days at #1 on Paramount+). The Rookie is one of two broadcast TV shows to make May Mayhem, while Landman is one of two Paramount+ programs to make the tournament.

Prime Video's The Boys (20 days at #1) will face off against Disney+'s Percy Jackson & The Olympians (14 days at #1) in the 2/7 matchup, while Netflix's Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model (6 days at #1) will play Hulu's Handmaid's Tale spinoff The Testaments (14 days at #1). Four separate streaming services are represented in these two matchups, bringing the total number of bids to nine for Netflix, seven for Prime Video, six for Hulu, and three for Disney+. This is in addition to two bids each for Paramount+, Peacock, and HBO Max, and one bid for Apple TV.