Solo Leveling Is the First Anime to Reach 1 Million User Ratings on Crunchyroll

In just over two years, Solo Leveling has rewritten the record books. The adaptation of Chugong’s Korean webtoon became the first anime to cross 1 million user ratings on Crunchyroll on May 27, 2026, reaching the milestone with a 4.9-star average score intact . No other series on the platform—not even multi-decade giants like One Piece—has come close.

A-1 Pictures’ adaptation first aired in January 2024 and immediately topped Crunchyroll’s charts. Two seasons and 25 episodes later, it has outpaced every rival in both ratings volume and total viewership . The 1-million-rating mark is the culmination of a record-breaking run that has fundamentally shifted expectations for non-Japanese IP in the anime industry.

How Solo Leveling Pulls Ahead of the Competition

Crunchyroll’s user rating system offers one of the few transparent popularity metrics across the platform. Solo Leveling not only leads in total ratings but does so with a near-perfect score that matches or exceeds its closest competitors .

• One Piece: approximately 750,000 ratings
• Demon Slayer: approximately 700,000 ratings
• Jujutsu Kaisen: approximately 625,000 ratings based on late-2025 platform snapshots

Solo Leveling cleared 900,000 ratings in November 2025, the first anime ever to do so, and crossed 950,000 by March 2026 . At every threshold, it widened its lead over the second-place title.

The Record-Breaking Timeline

The million-rating achievement didn’t appear overnight. It was the predictable result of momentum that had been building since the series debut.

• March 2025: Solo Leveling overtook One Piece and Demon Slayer to become the most-rated anime on Crunchyroll, surpassing 614,000 ratings .
• Late March 2025: Crunchyroll confirmed it as the first anime to cross 700,000 ratings, carrying a gap of about 95,000 ratings over the runner-up .
• June 2025: Sony’s Business Segment Presentation confirmed Solo Leveling ranked #1 in Crunchyroll’s all-time view count as of March 2025 .
• November 2025: It became the first anime to hit 900,000 ratings .
• March 2026: Approached 1 million ratings at 950,000 .
• May 27, 2026: Surpassed 1 million ratings .

Awards Performance at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards

At the 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards on May 23, 2026, Solo Leveling Season 2 - Arise from the Shadow won Best Action and Best Animation . While My Hero Academia Final Season took the top Anime of the Year honor, Solo Leveling remained competitive in production craft categories, building on its nine-award sweep the previous year .

Why the 1-Million-Rating Mark Matters for Season 3

The million-rating milestone wasn’t driven by a new season’s launch. It arrived months after Season 2 concluded in March 2025, demonstrating that the fanbase continues to engage and rate the series long after the initial broadcast window closes . This pattern of sustained audience activity strengthens the already strong business case for greenlighting Season 3. A franchise that grows its user ratings without new episodes is a rare asset for any streaming platform .

What Solo Leveling’s Success Means for Korean Webtoon Adaptations

Solo Leveling is the first manhwa-based anime to win Anime of the Year, which it did at the 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2025 . Combined with the all-time viewership and rating records on the world’s largest anime streaming service, the series proves that Korean webtoon IP can not only compete with established Japanese manga franchises but outperform them .

The commercial implications extend beyond one franchise. Industry reporting has already pointed to an acceleration of Korean IP anime adaptations as studios and investors recalibrate their expectations . A-1 Pictures and Crunchyroll’s parent Sony demonstrated that a well-produced manhwa adaptation can achieve global cultural dominance in a fraction of the time it takes legacy shōnen titles to accumulate their audiences .