The Big Bang Theory’s Most-Watched Episodes From Every Season, Ranked

Well, it's no secret that even if we love a certain show too much, there are always episodes that we either skip every time during yet another binge, or watch 10 times in a row while lip-syncing to the characters. But it was the suspense built up before the episode first aired that helped them garner so much fan love.

Season 1

The first ever episode of the show is surely the one which gathered as many viewers as possible. The show had no fans whatsoever back at the time, so it was the curiosity of people that gave the Pilot 9.5 million viewers… and maybe the cult classic status of the show has fans returning to the good old days sometimes.

Season 2

Episode 15 of the second season was a huge ratings hit, and there's no mystery as to why. It was the episode when Leonard's mother made him and Penny suffer from over-analysis and brought them closer together. The episode where they almost got hooked up was the most watched episode of season 2.

Season 3

The most-watched episode of the season had nothing to do with serious drama or resolving a cliffhanger. Instead, it was probably one of the silliest ever. Episode 17 follows Raj, Leonard, Howard and Sheldon as they try to decide who gets to keep the prop ring from the Lord of the Rings movies. And it was hilarious enough to get 16.3 million viewers to tune in.

Season 4

The first episodes of a new season are always some of the best in terms of viewership. In the season 3 finale, Penny followed Sheldon on his first real date. This hilarious setup ensured that the next episode would be a hit, and 14 million viewers clearly agreed.

Season 5

Episode 15 of the season had 16.5 million viewers, and the reason for that was the brief "breakup" of Sheldon and Leonard. Giving Sheldon some time to be a lone hero of the show, which surprisingly worked out pretty well.

Season 6

Episode13, which drew 20 million viewers and became the show's second most-watched episode, proves once again that relationship drama is not the first thing fans are interested in.

Instead, the audience loves the little humorous details, like this time when the girl gang spent two days reading and analyzing comic books to better understand what their boyfriends were talking about all the time.

Season 7

An astounding 20.4 million viewers tuned in to watch season 7, episode 2, which featured a classic battle of wills between Sheldon and Leonard when Sheldon realized that his roommate had returned early but never told him. Instead, he wanted to spend some time with Penny first. This hit Sheldon really hard, but was still comedically effective.

Season 8

Episode 2 of this season focused on two of the show's more unusual pairings. While Howard was under Sheldon's strict teacher's eye, Penny was busy arguing with Bernadette. And it worked perfectly, proving once again that you can mix up the ensemble of characters in any way you want and the chemistry will still be there.

Season 9

Once again, the first episode of the season attracted more fans than the rest. Well, 18.2 million viewers just wanted to find out if Penny and Leonard would be able to fix their relationship and get married after Leonard's cheating was revealed. This was probably one of the most dramatic storylines in the whole show.

Season 10

Episode 12 of the season attracted the most attention because of the change in the shooting style. The writers decided to divide the heroes into different parallel "universes" and made us emotionally be with them in totally different realities. This helped the episode get a respectable 16.8 million views.

Season 11

The first episode of the season was indeed full of events. Sheldon proposes to Amy, Howard and Bernadette find out they are having another baby. But while that all sounds pretty heavy, the sitcom kept things light in an episode that drew 17.7 million viewers.

Season 12

This season breaks the tradition of the first episodes being the most watched. But that's understandable. Season 12 was the last, so everyone's attention is naturally on the end of the show. Episodes 23 and 24 each drew 18.5 million viewers as fans tuned in to see Sheldon, Leonard, Amy, Bernadette, Raj, Penny and Howard hang out together one last time.