In 2022, esports has continued to gain popularity, numerous discipline achievements prove it. For example, LoL and Valorant World Championships have set records for Peak Viewers, and major CS:GO and ML:BB tournaments have been quite close to that.
In this new article, Esports Charts tells you which matches entered the top most popular matches of the year, and which were the leaders by viewership statistics in the biggest disciplines.
The Worlds 2022 Grand Finals between T1 and DRX became the most popular match of 2022, both by Peak Viewers and Hours Watched, by a wide margin. The battle was watched by more than 5.1 million viewers concurrently (the best result among PC/console games) and accumulated more than 21.2 million Hours Watched. At the same time, the semi-final of the same tournament between T1 and JD Gaming amassed 7.1 million Hours Watched (3rd place) and drew more than 2.2 million Peak Viewers (5th place).
Another match that made it to the Top 5 by each metric was the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2022 Grand Final between RRQ Hoshi and RSG PH. It accumulated more than 6.6 million Hours Watched and attracted 2.8 million Peak Viewers, ranking fifth and third by respective metrics.
The second most watched match of the year, with almost 7.2 million Hours Watched, is the Mid-Season Invitational 2022 Grand Final between T1 and Royal Never Give Up. Notably, the match also attracted 2.2 million Peak Viewers, which was the highest number in the MSI series. The Worlds 2022 quarterfinal between EDward Gaming and DRX accumulated 6.7 million Hours Watched and takes fourth place by this metric.
The second place by Peak Viewers is held by the MPL ID Season 9 Group Stage match between EVOS Legends and RRQ Hoshi, which attracted over 2.8 million Peak Viewers. We should note that this has become a new record in the series. On the fourth position by this metric is the MPL ID Season 10 Grand Final between ONIC and RRQ Hoshi. It was watched by almost 2.4 million Peak Viewers.
Among the matches played over the year in “Battle Royal”, the most popular by every metric is the first round of the Free Fire World Series 2022 Sentosa. It accumulated almost 1.22 million Hours Watched and attracted nearly 1.48 million Peak Viewers.
We have also prepared the list of the top matches of the year in the biggest esports disciplines, taking one of the most popular matches from each game. The Top 2 by each of the metrics includes the LoL and ML:BB matches described above.
In third place by Hours Watched and fifth by Peak Viewers is the VALORANT Champions 2022 Grand Final between OpTic Gaming and LOUD. Viewers spent more than 6.4 million hours in total watching this encounter, the Peak Viewers number of that event was 1.51 million. It should be noted that the tournament has set a discipline record for each of those metrics.
The IEM Cologne 2022 Grand Final between FaZe Clan and NAVI ranks fourth in the Top most watched matches, accumulating over 5.5 million Hours Watched. The match is not among the Top 5 by Peak Viewers, but the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Grand Final, where the same teams played, got there. The decisive CS:GO major is in third place with 2.1 million concurrent viewers, the second-highest result in the history of the discipline.
Fifth place by Hours Watched and fourth by Peak Viewers is taken by The International 2022 Grand Final between Team Secret and Tundra Esports. The match accumulated more than 5.4 million Hours Watched and attracted more than 1.7 million Peak Viewers. Despite the great excitement surrounding the final, TI11 showed not the greatest statistics in the series.
