Zhang Linghe and Tian Xiwei's costume romance Pursuit of Jade has finished first in Storm Media's ranking of 2026 Chinese dramas by play index, peaking at 90.28. Tan Songyun and Liu Xueyi's Against the Current came second at 89.51, and the crime sequel Crime Crackdown 2 placed third at 88.28.
The top 10 orders this year's mainland Chinese series by the highest play index each one reached, a popularity score for how a show is performing. The field is tight: just 3.43 points separate first place from 10th, and only the top two cleared 89. Several heavily promoted titles, including Jing Boran's office romance The Early Spring and Dilraba Dilmurat's fantasy epic Love Beyond the Grave, landed in the middle or lower half of the list.
Two Costume Romances Pull Clear At The Top
Pursuit of Jade built buzz quickly after its premiere and posted standout streaming numbers, with the two leads' characters and their love story driving much of the attention. Tian Xiwei plays Fan Changyu, a butcher's daughter, and Zhang Linghe plays Xie Zheng, a marquis in disgrace whose true identity is a mystery. They meet by chance in a snowstorm, each with an agenda of their own, and agree to a sham marriage that slowly becomes the real thing.
Fan simply wants to escape the hardship that followed her parents' deaths and support her household on her own as its head. Xie, living under a false name, is chasing the truth behind a blood feud that dates back 17 years. When war breaks out, the woman who once wielded a pig butcher's cleaver heads for the front in search of her family, the man she loves and the truth, while Xie reclaims his title, defending both his country and her as he digs into old secrets. Their paths cross again on the battlefield, where the romance and the fate of the nation come to a head together.
Against the Current has been gaining momentum in recent weeks on the strength of its cast, its story of intrigue inside a powerful household and a heroine who fights her way back from ruin. Li Meng and Zheng Hehuizi also appear in a lineup that has drawn close attention.
Tan Songyun plays Shen Jialan, who is engaged to Lin Jinqi, the eldest grandson of the Lin family, played by Liu Xueyi. Then the political winds at court shift and the entire Shen family is wiped out. To protect themselves, the Lins break the engagement and arrange a marriage with the Zhao family, newly risen in the emperor's favor. Jialan survives, takes the name Xu Lanxiang and slips into the Lin household as a lowly third-class maid. Refusing to accept her lot, she rebuilds her position from the bottom, gradually wins Lin Jinqi's heart and the trust of the whole family, and sets out to reclaim a fate that others had decided for her.
Crime Series Hold Their Own Among Romances
Crime Crackdown 2 is the second installment of a crime franchise, but rather than pick up where the first season left off, it starts over with new characters and a new story. Huang Jingyu plays police officer Qin Feng, and Wang Chuanjun plays Liu Tianye, who rises step by step to the center of the criminal underworld in the city of Hanzhou. Once as close as brothers, the two end up on opposite sides of the law, and that broken bond anchors the drama.
As the cases widen, the struggle among police, gangsters and competing interest groups grows more tangled, with plotlines involving cross-border smuggling, financial money laundering and virtual currency. On Douban, mainland China's best-known film and television review site, where users rate titles out of 10, the first season scored 7.0 and the sequel 6.9. That near-identical reception helped the new season keep its audience.
Born with Luck, seventh at 87.06, opened with a strong 8.2 on Douban. Where most police dramas rely on brilliant deduction and a brooding atmosphere, this one leans heavily on comedy. Wang Xiao plays Zhang Yi'ang, who has spent years away from frontline detective work until provincial authorities receive an anonymous letter and send him to Sanjiangkou to investigate. He quickly zeroes in on local tycoon Zhou Rong and his gang, but a crew of bumbling crooks keeps causing mishaps, and their scheming against one another sets off a chain of surprises that ends up handing the police a breakthrough.
The series is adapted from a novel of the same name by Zijin Chen, whose books also became the closely watched dramas The Long Night and The Bad Kids. This time the tone is lighter, folding crime and detection into comedy, and the performances of Wang Xiao and Wang Chuanjun have become a focus of viewer discussion. Tian Xiwei, who also leads the No. 1 drama, co-stars.
Workplace Love Stories Land Fourth And Fifth
Shine on Me, fourth at 88.06, arrived with high expectations because it is adapted from a novel by Gu Man, whose earlier books became the popular dramas My Sunshine and You Are My Glory. Its buzz did not quite match those hits, but the show stayed in the conversation and made the top half of the ranking.
Zhao Jinmai plays Nie Xiguang, who had a crush in college on Zhuang Xu, a standout student at the business school. After graduating she starts at the bottom of a solar power company her family has invested in, where she meets Lin Yusen, played by Song Weilong, a vice general manager brought in from outside. Beyond the romance, the series follows her growth from office newcomer, with friendship and career storylines moving forward alongside the love story.
The Early Spring, starring Jing Boran and Sun Qian, came fifth at 87.95. It was one of the few romances this year to generate real buzz. Not every fan of the source novel was convinced before it launched, but its polished production, office setting and slow-burn love story steadily built word of mouth and turned it into a surprise hit.
Shang Zhitao, a graduate with an unremarkable academic record, unexpectedly lands a job at a world-class advertising agency. On her first day, her sharp-tongued boss Luan Nian tries to talk her into quitting. She refuses, keeps improving under mounting pressure and becomes someone who can handle the work on her own. Their clashes give way to mutual attraction, and as the relationship shifts, the show leans into familiar beats such as a powerful man setting aside his pride to win the woman back.
The Lead Takes Qinqiang Opera To Sixth
The Lead, produced by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, placed sixth at 87.68. Adapted from a novel that won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, one of China's top literary honors, it sets aside the usual idol romance and takes place on the stage of Qinqiang, a traditional opera form from northwest China. The drama follows Yi Qin'e, played by Liu Haocun, across decades of her artistic life as an ordinary girl works her way to center stage.
Yi starts out as a shepherd girl in the countryside, joins an opera troupe and grows through one test after another, on stage and off, until she becomes a celebrated Qinqiang star. Through the troupe's members and the events around them, the show also portrays how lives played out across different eras. Zhang Jiayi, Qin Hailu, Dou Xiao, known in English as Shawn Dou, Zhai Zilu and Wang Likun lead an ensemble whose acting has become a hallmark of the series. Its subject is far from today's hottest idol formula, yet ratings and reviews climbed steadily after it aired, making it one of the year's most closely followed period dramas.
Period Epics Round Out The Bottom Three
Love Beyond the Grave, starring Dilraba Dilmurat and Chen Feiyu, ranks eighth at 86.93. Its star pairing and big-budget costume billing raised expectations, but overall reviews fell short of them once it aired, and the leads' romance became the main talking point. Dilraba plays He Simu, a ghost king who, while out feeding, crosses paths with young general Duan Xu. To her surprise, he is carrying an object that belonged to someone from her past, and she begins to wonder whether he is truly Duan Xu at all. The two start out probing each other and fall in love over a long tug of war with time and fate.
The glamorous ghost king gave Dilraba a distinctive role that generated plenty of buzz. Some viewers, however, felt she and Chen lacked chemistry as a couple, which cooled interest in the love story.
Ashes to Crown, starring Chen Duling and Zhou Yiran, is ninth at 86.87. The rebirth and revenge drama moves fast, pairing a heroine's comeback with the brisk storytelling of short-form dramas, and its satisfying payoffs kept many viewers coming back. Chen Duling plays Chu Zhao, a general's daughter destined to be sacrificed on Xiao Xun's road to power. Given a second chance at life, she resolves to change her fate and take control. Along the way she meets Xie Yanlai, a son of the Xie family born to a concubine, and the two join forces to stop Xiao's ambitions.
Opinion split after it aired. Some viewers felt parts of the plot lacked proper setup and that the bond between the leads was never fully built, which shifted the conversation around the show. Even so, it remains one of the year's most talked-about costume dramas.
Rounding out the list at 86.85 is The Nine Gates, one of the few series to break through a crowded summer season. It builds on the world of The Mystic Nine and again centers on Zhang Qishan, with William Chan, known in Chinese as Chen Weiting, returning to play the character nicknamed "Buddha Zhang," a big draw for the series. Set in China's Republican era with adventure at its core, the new show adds touches of mystery and fantasy, and the casting of Zeng Shunxi, also known as Joseph Zeng, and Chen Yao drew attention too.
In the story, Changsha is plunged into turmoil once more. Zhang Qishan teams up with Wu Laogou, and together with Huo Xiangu and the other members of the Nine Gates, they are swept into an adventure full of danger. As events unfold, rival factions emerge one after another, leaving room for the story to continue.
Six of the 10 entries are set in the past, from imperial-era romance and revenge to Republican-era adventure and a decades-spanning opera saga, while modern workplace romances and crime stories fill the remaining four spots.
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