Game Of Thrones Tops ‘Most Pirated Of 2014′ List

Game of Thrones is known to be a runaway hit, but it turns out to also be the most pirated television show of the year, according to estimates. It’s closely followed by The Walking Dead, then Big Bang Theory.

Each year, TorrentFreak compiles a list of the most-torrented files shows. It seems that Game of Thrones has already topped the list for two consecutive years, and broke a record this year with over a quarter of a million people sharing a single file at once. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the show is at the top of the list again.

Game of Thrones, which is slated to return with its new season April 5, has consistently kept fans enthralled. The upcoming fifth season has been of concern to many fans, though, as creator George R. R. Martin will not be directly involved with the show this season, as he has been previously. Instead, he’s taking time off to finish the next book in the series, to alleviate another fan fear: the notion that the television series is going to catch up with the books, and either pass them or end prematurely.

According to Cinema Blend, Game of Thrones is the most popular HBO series ever, having beaten out The Sopranos for the title during the fourth season, when it hit an average 18.4 million viewers per episode. It’s only a slight win — the Sopranos was averaging 18.2 million — but being the top-rated show by 200k viewers is still quite the title.

Whether or not ‘most-pirated’ is a title to take pride in is something more of a question, since those are views that HBO and the cast and crew aren’t getting paid for, but it still adds up in terms of total number of viewers — making Game Of Thrones even further ahead of the competition.

[Photo: Gage Skidmore]

Game Of Thrones Tops ‘Most Pirated Of 2014′ List