--- title: 'Game of Thrones' Tops Most Pirated Shows of 2016 description: Despite earlier reports "The Grand Tour" was the most pirated show of 2016, new data suggests it's still all about HBO's "Game of Thrones." canonical: https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-28T17:28:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:36.734Z og:title: 'Game of Thrones' Tops Most Pirated Shows of 2016 og:description: Guess everyone wanted to know what was happening with Jon Snow og:url: https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41fcdefae044c9ad/6988915dcd1bbafda9700810/jon-snow-kit-harrington-hbo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: jon-snow-kit-harington-hbo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Game of Thrones' Tops Most Pirated Shows of 2016 twitter:description: Guess everyone wanted to know what was happening with Jon Snow twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41fcdefae044c9ad/6988915dcd1bbafda9700810/jon-snow-kit-harrington-hbo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Game of Thrones_ Tops the Most Illegally Downloaded Shows of 2016 ## Video: Game of Thrones Season 6 Deleted Scene [Watch (HLS stream): Game of Thrones Season 6 Deleted Scene](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jGhGXrb5.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2016-11-11. Game of Thrones Season 6 Deleted Scene_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 28, 2016 5:28 PM UTC  A still image of Kit Harington as Jon Snow on Game of Thrones. A still image of Kit Harington as Jon Snow on Game of Thrones.HBO by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 28, 2016 5:28 PM UTC Back in 2015, [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4429346/game-of-thrones-season-7-cast-news/?iid=sr-link2) ended its fifth season on a jaw-dropping cliffhanger: Jon Snow was killed at the hands of his own Night’s Watch brethren. Then rumors started that [Kit Harington](http://time.com/4386352/game-of-thrones-kit-harington/?iid=sr-link4), who plays Snow in the HBO series, was still loitering around set. Was he just hanging out with his friends? Or was Jon Snow not [actually dead](http://time.com/3924852/every-game-of-thrones-death/?iid=sr-link5)? To find out, millions of people tuned in to the premiere of the show’s [sixth season](http://time.com/4354065/game-of-thrones-episode-7-photos/?iid=sr-link4) on HBO this past April—and if they didn’t have access to [HBO](http://time.com/3510434/hbo-online-streaming/?iid=sr-link10) (or their parents’ [HBO GO](http://time.com/51346/hbo-go-crashes-game-of-thrones-season-4-premiere/?iid=sr-link1) account), they downloaded the show from torrent sites. At least that’s what we can gather from [_TorrentFreak_](https://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-most-torrented-tv-show-of-2016-161226/)_,_ an online publication that calculates (among other things) the number of times shows are illegally downloaded. And for the fifth year in a row, [_Game of Thrones_ ](http://time.com/4499327/game-of-thrones-cast-2016-emmys/?iid=sr-link8)topped the list of most pirated shows. _TorrentFreak_ reported _The Walking Dead_, which also ended on an intense cliffhanger, came in second place, followed by HBO’s latest hit, _Westworld._ Rounding out the top ten were _The Flash, Arrow, The Big Bang Theory, Vikings, Lucifer,_ _Suits_ and Amazon’s show about British car enthusiasts, _The Grand Tour_. Interestingly, an earlier report suggested _The_ _Grand Tour_ was the [most illegally downloaded show ever](http://fortune.com/2016/12/12/amazon-grand-tour-pirated/). But Muso, the anti-piracy firm who calculated that particular data, is now saying the show might only be the most pirated in the UK, according to [Digital Spy](http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/game-of-thrones/news/a817785/game-of-thrones-most-illegally-downloaded-show-2016/). \[H/T [Mashable](http://mashable.com/2016/12/28/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/?utm%5Fcid=hp-n-1#sqW2hQPo2Oq2)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/"},"headline":"Game of Thrones Tops the Most Illegally Downloaded Shows of 2016","datePublished":"2016-12-28T17:28:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:36.734Z","description":"Apparently, everyone needed to know what was happening to Jon Snow","url":"https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","HBO","game of thrones","George RR Martin","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41fcdefae044c9ad/6988915dcd1bbafda9700810/jon-snow-kit-harrington-hbo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41fcdefae044c9ad/6988915dcd1bbafda9700810/jon-snow-kit-harrington-hbo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"jon-snow-kit-harington-hbo","caption":"A still image of Kit Harington as Jon Snow on Game of Thrones.","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/","name":"Game of Thrones Tops the Most Illegally Downloaded Shows of 2016"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Game of Thrones Season 6 Deleted Scene","description":"Game of Thrones Season 6 Deleted Scene","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jGhGXrb5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-11T15:56:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jGhGXrb5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/","duration":"PT1M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4618954/game-of-thrones-pirated-2016/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```